I have owned the bike from new and am planning a trans Russia trip in 2015. Having trawled various sites, including this one, it seems that the common cause for unreliabilty stems from an over dependence on so called adventure mods or upgrading standard parts with those favoured by rally inspired marketing. Call me naive but most of the people I know and the books I've read were people have made long and successful trips have done so on a bog standard machine without the fancy must have accessories. I don't want expensive forks, shocks etc that can't be repaired on the road. If its good enough for Ted Simon, Helge Pederson and the Mondo boys its good enough for me , I'd rather spend the extra cash on the trip. My bike and me , are and always will be, basic.

Here are Sam Manicom's, Tiffany Coates' and my 1991 R80GS which are pretty much the same as your GS Basic. All more or less standard apart from Sam's Acerbis tank, 630,000 miles and several around the world trips between them and all still in everyday use.
The only thing I would recommend is fitting the shorter rear shock from the R100R which I have done to both mine and Tiff's bikes, apart from a lower seat height we have both had in excess of 100,000 miles from a driveshaft, more than you get with the longer shock.
You are right, don't bother with the fancy upgrades, you don't need them and save your money for petrol, hotels and visas.



See what they have been up to here

http://www.sam-manicom.com/

http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk/

Spot on Mark. I also have a 43l tank, point taken re the shocker.

Hi, Mark gave me the link to your post. A while back I did an article on the subject of what you really need. Not much. I picked out the key points from that - things that were good to have and things that didn't work/weren't needed. I made some class mistakes and set off with far too much kit.

I still ended the trip with... too much kit!

Anyway, here's the link to those notes on my website. Might be something of use in there for you. I think the keys are, travel as light as possible. If you aren't pretty sure you'll need it, don't take it. Make sure your bike is in as best condition possible. Take it easy and enjoy the ride : ) Oh, and keeping out of jail is a bonus

The 3D Jigsaw Puzzle : Sam Manicom

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http://www.sam-manicom.com

Sam, that's really useful thanks. I should have included you along with Messrs Simon, Pederson and Mondo. As it happens I am re reading your books at the moment and making notes as I go. All the best and thanks again. Mark.

Coo, dunno about including but I do hope there are bits in my books that help. Writing about the things that go wrong... Anyway, good luck with your prep. All the best, Sam

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The Basic has a pretty short WP-shock. I wouldn't used a shorter one. The first shaft on my Basic lasted 148kkm.


Like you I've had a Basic since it was new, I also have a low-mileage Kalahari .The bike is great stock but there are a few modifications I think is essential, but it depends on your trip. Bigger tank, handguards, sumpguard, crashguard and small windscreen and maybe a voltmeter comes to mind. Most of these parts are fitted on the Kalahari. Heated grips might also be nice, BMW has a great (and expensive) setup.
IMHO the WP-shock performs well but it might be smart with an overhaul before a long trip.

I think Sam's list of spare parts and tools is a bit long, but each to his own.

When it comes to modifications I've done quite a few through the years. Some good and some bad. I like to modify stuff and when my Basic started to wear out after 180kkm I made some major upgrades.

Starting to get tired:

Hi AliBaba, Couldn't agree more - hence my comment 'I still ended the trip with... too much kit!' Far too much.

My bike now has 265,000 miles on her and I've only just had the gear box rebuilt - using parts that I carried for the whole trip! Even a clutch! Salesmen saw me coming!!!!

Now I'd cut right back to the essential spares like cables, filtres and electronics - black box etc. DHL and others can get parts to you pretty much anywhere and I often wonder how much damage I actually did to my bike just from carrying too much! I know what a complete chore it was trying to pick the thing up, when I'd dropped it... again!

I thought a key thing you mentioned was 'but it depends on your trip'. The beauty of bike travel eh. It's like the question, 'What's the best bike to take?'

Hmm better get on with some work. Catch you later. Sam

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HI, I did in 2011 a 34'000km trip with a R100GS PD, bike had already 100'000km before start. I spend a big amount of time, and a couple de thousands building it for the trip, lots of preventive maintenance.

I replaced the rear shock with an oelins and it was probably the best mod! The original one was almost dead, and not set for the extra weight, I travelled through Mongolia 2 up with approx 30kg of luggage! I changed the bearings of the gear box (preventive action), put wilbers springs in the fork, put a 4 caliper brake in the front, bigger sump to the engine, so that I can fit 1.3l more oil inside, to lenghten the oil change intervals, put a much smaller (and better) batterie, Y-tube for exhaust and a few other things...

My shaft gave up in Uzbekistan, although before the start of the trip it was checked and had no play! So for me, shaft is not more reliable than a chain.

The rims are weak, I broke both of them. Be sure to ride with tubes!!!! It was my biggest mistake.

The original luggage Rack from BMW was too weak and had te be repaired 3 times. Well, the welding job was not fantastic.

Anyway, through Russia, now, it's almost all pavel and good roads until Irkutsk, so you won't have too much problems. Russian ride chopper and sports bike on dirt anyway!

www.zimiontheloose.ch

I was out in Siberia last year withe a friend, we were both on R100GS PDs. My bike has done over 350 000 miles. The only repair necessary on the trip was to a broken clutch cable on the way home in Germany. Provided you keep on top of the maintenance these bikes will give excellent service. And although my bike has had a few mods, mainly in the interest of economy and ease of repair in the field, I agree with you that mods are unnecessary.

Nice, for some reason I like high-mileage bikes.


I inspected my shaft 7000km before it gave up - sadly I think it's impossible to judge if the shaft will last for another 5000km.

Unlike you I do find the shaft more reliable then a chain - simply because it lasts longer and no maintenance is required.

I think you have to struggle hard to find better rims... I use some Behr-rims and they are slightly better but mot much. Driving two up with heavy luggage is a killer for the rims. Yes, always use tubes.

The rack sucks

Have a nice trip

We used our R100GS for our trans Africa trip 2 up with 90kg of luggage. The only mods were a white power rear shock (dealer advised that the original equipment wouldn't make it to Dover!) and a bypassed oil cooler (recommended by Braken BMW and proved to be a bad idea). The shaft did fail eventually in Rouen on the return journey. The WP leaked a bit and was replaced by BMW. The only other fault was alternator failure in Namibia and we had problems getting a 17" tyre in Malawi.

Both the shock and driveshaft failures in our case were down to the bike being overloaded, although we had no subframe or rack problems. Interesting comments about fitting the R100R shock which reduces the angle on the UJ but in our case it was the rear UJ that failed andI find the bike a little low in standard form so it probably wouldn't suit me.

There are a lot of mods available for these bikes mostly rallye inspired bling but some useful improvements for overlanders have come from rallye bike development.