BMW - When to replace your bike ..how many kms?
 

Hi members

Can anyone tell me how many kilometers can you do on a BMW 1200GS or the 800 GS before its time to replace it. I want to go through Africa, Europe, Australia, UK and the Americas...

Are you serious? Throwaway society. Just replace what breaks or is wearing out?

It's a good job not all BMW owners have abandoned their classic airheads.

Most seem to be good for 30-50000 miles if serviced if the literature is to be believed.

The problem is failures of components before those mileages due to various known issues - a search of forums here and on ADVrider will give more info.

Hi Fern
 

Loved your reply ... It's just that I want to buy a bike for a RTW trip from Aussie and want to keep it for a while .. I had a quick look at your blog .. Where are you now ?

i just returned back from egypt on my 1200 GSA 20088. and some one who just returned back from africa to europe on an old gs adv and his bike did so far just over 150.000 km yes believe it

Hi Docs
 

Hi docs ... 50000 miles ??? Is that all .. Surely you can get more out of a BMW ???

Mr Brown ...
 

Now you are talking.. That's what I want to hear .. I'm hoping to spend at least 2 years on the road

I rented an 1150GS once that had 110000 km on the clock and it went beautifully. It's still used as a sweeper bike for the rental co when they do tours. 30 to 50000 miles my arse. No complicated machine is maintenance free, unless you think that replacing a bearing means the whole bike should be thrown away.

Sold my R1150GS last year with 107,000 miles on it, was still running great. It had done two RTW trips over 3 years, one of which was two up (previous owners). All I ever was regular, standard maintenance such as oil/filter changes, throttle body synch and valve adjustments as per the schedule. It barely blew a bulb on my year long trip on it. Would have happily done another big trip on it but only sold it as I was moving to Malaysia.

With proper maintenance, almost any modern bike should be capable of high milage. The problem is, that when they go wrong they can be more complicated and are generally not as repairer friendly as older machines. On the other hand older machines can be less durable because the materials and engineering design is generally less well developed. So they need more frequent attention.

Personally I prefer older bikes because they are easier to fix on the road. If you choose carefully and maintain them properly they will give good service.
My old airhead GS PD has over 350000 miles on the clock (335000 miles were put on by me). Still on the original bottom end. Simple layout and easy to fix.

I read a post on an internet forum once posted by some pissed up Scottish twat who couldn't read...... does that mean I should generalize about the Scots?

Later model BMW bikes have a very poor reputation for reliability with a warranty work rate of about 30%; F800GS camchains seem to give up about 50,000 miles and it is not a trivial job (engine has to come out). And that's before we start on the final drive, fuel pump controller and AWS issues of the GSA.

You pays your money, you takes your choice; no sense being rude to someone whose opinion you disagree with.

I personally endeavor to make docsherlock tow me and my shitty bikes out of the bush at least a few times this summer:)

As mentioneded by others, long answer, but many modern bikes (and vehicles) can go a long way these days.

At low miles, the list of parts that need to be replaced as part of regular maintenance is fairly short. As it ages, this list gets longer and then when you hit very high miles you end up looking at large capital items that may need to be replaced. They can keep going, but at some point the question is whether the additonal yearly investment is worth it. Most vehicles don't get to their theoretical maximum useful life, and instead are scrapped when the running costs exceed that of a newer vehicle, they degrade due to lack of use, or they are deemed unsuitable to current tastes.

On the vehicle side, I've got over 350,000 km on my 1999 Toyota 4Runner. It's getting close to end of life.

On the bike side, I've got about 40,000 km on my F800GS which is not much at all. I bought a 1200GSA that has 192,000 km, runs fine. Conversely, I have a KLR650 with about 60,000 km, which feels like it is starting to get up there but who knows, might go another 40,000 which is pretty good for a single cylinder at that price point.

Basic point is that if you are looking to get a lot of miles out of your bike, IMHO there are quite a few options. A modern bike that is commonly used for overland travel that is well maintained and ridden well will get you around the world and back again. When you get home, the miles will be high, and it'll take a fair bit of TLC whatever the make, but the memories associated with it will make it the best bike in the world, for you.

You can do what you want, I ain't Scottish.

My point is, these are complicated bikes which need to be serviced correctly but generally are reliable and last a long time, and a new camchain as per your example at 50,000 miles (around twice the circumference of the earth) isn't that big a deal.

High mileage??
 

My '06 my 1200GS now has 120,000km on it.

The first trip was from Singapore to the UK, the second from TDF to Pruhoe Bay then across the US.

One puncture and two drive housing seals are the only problems. Serviced pretty much on time, sometimes by the dealers sometimes by me.

There's no way I'm ready to get rid of or trade this BMW yet. I'd have no hesitation in starting another RTW trip on the same bike.

My mate who came with me on the first trip has 110,000 on his now and is keeping it as well.

Go for it and enjoy!!

Hi Tom,

Thought that (TIC) post might bring you out of your torpor.

I'll happily tow the KLR and F800 but the 1200 might give the wee strom a hernia..... esp over the Crow's Nest.

I've got a 1981 R65 in the shed with about 300,000kms on the dial, changed the battery a few times, wheel, swingarm and head stem bearings changed, cam chain changed, fed it Pennsoil from new, about 75% of the 300k would have been two up, probably 100k of dirt roads. Not unusual for the R Series bikes.

A few other bits and pieces have been changed - carb diaphrams, hand grips, HT leads, rear wheel after a bingle, I think the coils as well.

A good rule of thumb is to replace your BMW motorbike AFTER the warranty expires and a few miles BEFORE catastrophic and costly final drive repairs are needed.:scooter:

That's what I try to do.

I have not been successful in this strategy... :(

My '83 G/S 800 has done 280,000 km and the '91 GS 800 265,000 km and neither of them need replacing.

This is all about the point at which a vehicle becomes 'beyond economic repair'. Just one example of this is companies that offer extended warranties on cars are writing vehicles off if they are more than a couple of years old and have had an incident which causes the air bags to go off simply because it is so expensive to reset them. The car is then sold on at 20% of it's market value.

With modern bikes there is so much non essential gubbins fitted, there comes a point where the owner may look at the market value versus cost of repair and decide that it's not worth the outlay even on a low mileage bike.

In a travelling situation you would obviously be better off with a simple machine that can be fixed at the roadside. If you prefer to use something full of technology, whether it's new or not is going to make little difference to the risk of a catastrophic failure which will be a serious hassle and expense to fix. Assuming you have kept up with the maintenance of the bike and replaced all the rubbish OEM components that were supplied as suspension with the new bike and you then suffer one of these catastrophic failures, replacing the bike is not necessarily going to be the most economic solution.

In summary, older low tech machines will go on forever, modern hi tech bikes could give up at any time and it's certainly not a function of mileage

My BMWR100 GSPD has been retired after clocking up 260,000km.

Its in a hanger at work, having been stripped down to nuts and bolts...cleaned and rebuilt again. There was no part of the bike that showed any wear and tear that was of concern, as over the years I have simply maintained, repaired and replaced parts as needed.

The only reason that I have retired the bike is because I have bought a BMW G650GS, The newer BMW is a lot lighter and gets almost exactly twice the distance for the same amount of fuel...about 75mpg, and with its new exhaust it appears to be getting even more efficient.

The old BMW is still useable, and I was actually thinking of using it as my off-road bike.

Wonder how many times this is 'beyond economic repair'?

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...1-42-bmw-70477

And how many kms would something 70 years old have ? Say 5,000km/year = 350,000km ...

1993 R100GSPD 97,000 miles, just about run in! Don't waste your time with new fangled oilheads. The old bikes are easy and cheap to keep running.

This "when to replace" talk sounds like consumerist (i.e. the common Japanese-) biker talk - buy a brand new, ride some 30 000 - 50 000 km sell it and buy brand new again. But claim around the forums how reliable the bikes have been. I think you cannot decide much about your bike unless you ride it well beyond 150 000 km.

My old worn used and abused R1100GS is around 260 000 km now and obviously it would be pointless to sell it. It's probably worth less than 1000EUR since nobody else cares what hardships or milestones its been through or if it's been to 6 continents and visited 80 countries other than me. It's simply the bike I have and I cannot afford anything else without taking away my trip budget. I'll probably just ride it till it's beyond repair, but not sure if it'll happen in my lifetime and I'd gladly take this bike into my own grave as well to continue my adventure travels in the heavens. :mchappy:

Cheers,
Margus

My 2004 R1200GS has now reached 169,200mls which for foreign people is about 270720km and it's going in for an oil change and a service tomorrow if I can get my fingers untwisted in time. Ride safe.

My 2005 R1200GS has over 230 000km :thumbup1:

One thing about older BMWs was that you could take off all the cosmetic items - side covers, mud guards, tank (not so cosmetic), tappet covers, store them, put some old ratty replacements on, and when you came to sell the bike you could put back all the nice shiny bits and pieces and with a bit of forethought a new speedo about 10,000kms before you were to sell. Hey presto a 300,000kms bike that has 10,000kms on the clock and looks lkie it just got out of the showroom. Not that I'd ever do anything like that!!!

replacement parts don't have to be expensive, you could bike a near whole bike from the brakers yard...

It seems that the 1200 ain't doing too bad
 

Sticking with one of the bikes in the OP question (only because it is getting the biggest response), it is good to hear some real feedback, by which I mean from owners, about the 1200GS.
(All as reported in the posts below).

It still leaves the question open concerning when these bikes will finally keel over and die, but this under-stressed big cc engine seems to be very capable of racking up big mileages. There again, BMW fans have always known that! :innocent: