R100GS advice in Aus-bloody-tralia
 

I am novice when it comes to R100PD's (good with land rovers though).

I want to ride from Aus, to Europe, and hopefully down into South Africa over the course of 2 years.

I am currently looking at 2 R100 GSPDs. Both have approx. 90 000 kms. (Seems to be pretty common that people sell at 90K over here?)

Unfortunately, pictures and the sellers word is all I have to go by as bikes are located across the other side of the country. The asking price is about A$6 900 ' 92 or A$7 500 '93. These prices are pretty much on par with the market in AUS, and to be honest, they are only getting more expensive.

The '92 has had some recent work done to it:
replaced the drive shaft universals in March of 2006. The valves, valve springs, seats and guides have been replaced in August 2006, new fork springs, and steering bearings.

The '93 has no pannier rack, so added $$.

I realize it is kind of a ridiculous question, but from experience with your own PD's, and considering I hope to rack up a good 70 000ks, what 'preventative' maintenance prior to departure should I be factoring on top of the purchase price?

Any advice would be super.

Also forgot to mention, the '93 has had rear frame strengthened for previous 2-up travel (strengthened or cracked and repaired? unfortunately just cant see the bike prior to purchase). Front brake also has a floating disc.....if you had to buy blind, which would you choose?
BMW R100GSPD - eBay BMW, Road Bikes, Motorcycles, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 24-Nov-07 14:18:07 AEDST)


1993 BMW R100GS PARIS DAKAR - BikePoint

Kind regards

-Spare rotor
-New brushes for alternator
-Change pushrod seals
-Change timing chain
-Piston rings
-Carb rebuild
-Øhlins shock
-Top end job
-Check all bearings (steering, wheel, swingarm)
-Change oil and filters
-New battery (?)
-Check rims for cracks (not likely but they are expensive)
-Adjust ignition and check that advancement works
-Check driveshaft
-Clean and lube starter
-Install fuel filters
-Change oilseals in gearbox (if you are paranoid)
-Cange fork-oil, clean the forks and inspect the bearings
-Install a voltmeter

The shock probably costs more then all the other stuff on the list, so pick a bike with a good shock!


Hmm, a long list but you can do most of the job in two days. I went on a 50kkm trip when my bike had almost 90kkm, check here; http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...long-tour-7818

How about looking for a standard GS instead of the usually much more expensive PD's? Fitting an after-market tank from Acerbis gives you more volume (43L instead of 32L) and a lower centre of gravity. The PD and standard GS are otherwise identical.

Re luggage you'll need to think about something sturdier than the standard Beemer set. This is good for tarmac, but will never last on African pistes or Ozzie backroads... Something like Metal Mule or Touratech, or maybe even home-made ;-)

Hans

Insure it for more then it's worth and then burn/crash it and reap the rewards to spend on an everyday GS parts are much more common.

roflmao
 

:rofl:
isnt that how the aussies got there in the first place, by being criminal?
no offence meant but it did tickle me did that!

Martyn

Bin the starter motor and git a Nippon replacement or have the magnets bolted in (Valeo).

J

Have a look to see what I did on mine - left menu near the top, "Johnsons Trip"

All very good advice above. I would +1 the starter motor, the Nippondenso is an excellent alternative, much lighter, completely re-buildable in any country (it's like Toyota) and uses much less amps. I use Panasonic batteries...bulletproof! I would seriously consider changing out the un-reliable charging system, either for the Omega 400w, or the other solid state one thats become quite popular (whats the name??) Make sure your tranny is up to date, and if opening the box, i would sugest the lower 1st. gear. Make sure your driveshafy u-joints are greasable and check the rubber boots for cracks. The heads are usually only good for about 50-70k miles before requiring complete re-build. Replace the cables, they're cheap. Always bring a spare clutch cable. It's funny, the throttle cables seem to last foreever, but the clutch will go south in a hurry! If you pull out the gear-box, inspect the clutch closely, especially the splines. They're not that expensive to replace anyways. Learn the in's and out's of maintaining the bike! Put together a proper tool-kit, and only use this kit when you work on the bike. As great as tubeless tires are, ALWAYS carry at least a spare front, if not both and the equipment to patch them along with tubeless tire plugs. Carry some 10m of rope and an ancor...the front brakes suck! Improvements can be made with an EBC rotor (anything but Stainless Steel!) Lots of info out here on improving the brakes. If your carrying a load or two-up, re-enforce the sub-frame, it's kinda weak stock. Follow all of the recomendations above and you will have the ultimate touring bike. There's something to say simplicity. I also own a 1200GS, but i'm afraid to leave dealership range with it!

Thanks
 

Just a quick note to say thanks for all your advice, appreciate your time.

Also noticed a '92 100GS that has come on the market with only 6 000 ks....

R100gs
 

Al,

what site is the new one on?

Cheers
Ivan

need 8 posts

8th postsssss

Grant - you started with a new bike .. on a ten year old bike?

Replace the

front shock seals
steering head bearings
paralever drive shaft
paralever rear bearings

hall efect switch
spark plug caps and wires
accelator cables
clutch cable
clutch plate

And same from above
-New brushes for alternator
-Change pushrod seals
-Change timing chain
-Piston rings
-Carb rebuild (include new needle and seat.. they ware.

Have the rear shock overhauld ......


Other side of the country .. that would be Darwin then? :)

OOF! Why not just get a japanese bike and not do anything but ride it?

Well, we are talking about a 15 year old bike that should be used for another 70kkm. Most Japanese bikes don’t even last 70kkm wihout serious work :yinyang:
Two days of preparation isn’t that bad, or?

Greetings Al

I went through the same search that you are doing now about two years ago and I would be very wary about buying any GSPD without actually seeing it or knowing it's history.

All the PD's I looked at (with one exception) had done over 100k even when the owners had them listed as 70k (the odometer only counts up to 99,999) I suspect the bike you mention that has done 6k is in that category.

In the end I bought one that had done 120k and I was the fourth owner but I had every service/parts receipt since the bike was new so knew what had been done to it.

While nothing was particularly wrong with it I ended up stripping it down to the frame cleaning and regreasing everything which was very worthwile as I found some non obvious problems (frayed wiring, stripped bolts) including bodgey work done done by others.

I also ended up doing virtually all the things suggested by the other people in this thread as they are known(?) faults of the GSPD and has been said earlier any +10 year old bike needs significant work and this will cost you money and time

Is there a particular reason you wanted a GSPD? While I am very with happy mine now and since we are travelling two up I wanted a bike larger than a 650 single, that and a few other reasons (shaft vs chain, simple tech) was why I choose it, but a new(er) KLR650, DR650, F650, etc may be an option for you. You will still need to spend money but at least you have a known bike. Also a loaded GSPD is a weightier beast to pick up!

Finally if you are travelling two up I would recommend at upgrading the alternator. We discovered that running two electric vests (78watts extra) on top of the standard electrics on the GSPD was enough to prevent the battery from being properly charged even though we were at highway speed for virutally all our travel. Getting on the bike and finding a totally flat battery in a Canada carpark after three weeks of travelling did not make me a happy camper. Bugger.

Regards

Ian

We started in spring '87, with a brand new 1986.

Grant

Gs
 

Hi Grant ,

Are you still riding on your Bemmer or did you change bike recently.?
Just curious to see if after so many years you guys can get over changing bike .

Still going.
 

Grant and Susan are still riding the same bike ... why change when you are happy with what you have and it does the job? It takes a while to build up knowledge and confidence in the bike, make those mods that make travel more enjoyable. So there is considerable personal investment (time) in a travel bike.

But there have been some 'replacements' ... ?


My suggested things to do on the secondhand bike are what I'd expect to have problems with in the next 70kkms if they were not replaced. Doing them now means they should be ok for the trip.

forget BMW!!!!!!!
 

Hi, save your money on a second hand BMW and buy a new DR650 SUZUKI. It will serve u very well and u can actually lift it yourself with out doing youself an injury. I had a 89 R100GS from new, did over 120,000ks on it and now thay i ride JAP bikes im so much more happy. All the best in what u do. Brian B:thumbup1:

85,000 mile PD
 

My PD has done 85,000 miles (not km). It's had a few things go wrong with it in that time. However, it's been ridden in harsh conditions, and crashed a few times. But there's very little rust, and it has actually never stopped working. The starter motor failled: no problem, I use the kick start. An exhaust valve burnt out: no problem, it ran at half power for long enough to get me to a garage. The gearbox imploded: I still managed to limp on at 30mph for 50 miles. The repairs have been relatively cheap, and in many cases I have been able to do them myself with few tools and almost no experience. MotoBins is wonderful.

And that's why the R100GS is such a great bike. It just doesn't stop! Surprisingly, 3 of the UKs top GS experts have responded to my question "what should I do in preparation for a long trip" with the answer: "just make sure the basics are done well and regularly".

So my advice to anyone buying a PD is to check to see if those basics have always been done. If so, expect to own it for a very long time.

Here's what I've learned:

Religiously stick to the service schedule.
Constantly top up with oil.
Keep the levers and cables at the back of the carbs clean.
Keep the carbs in tune.
Don't let water get into the box through the speedo cable (oops, broken gearbox).
Treat the shaft components as a consumable item (like a chain would be).
BMW batteries and Valeo starters are rubbish.

And here's the damage suffered on that learning curve:

Alternator rotor failed at 30,000.
Gear selector return spring broke at 35,000.
Battery replaced with a Hawker gel at 40,000.
Gearbox output shaft bearing broke at 50,000.
Exhaust valve burnt out at 60,000.
It's on its 3rd shock, an Ohlins - which is not as tough as people claim (ask Ted Simon).
Plug leads replaced at 80,000 (the connectors just disintegrate).
Starter motor replaced at 80,000.
Downpipes and Y-piece replaced at 80,000 (holed badly).
Headlight mount broken (currently the light is fixed in place by wrapping a series of cable ties under the peak and over the crash bar).

In addition:

Replaced the shaft at 40,000 as a precaution before a trip.
Replaced all control cables every 20,000.
Replaced the silencer with a Laser ProDuro.

BMW stock versus Tourtech
 

Open any top box of any BMW stock luggage set for a GS and gee whiz - go figure "Built by Tourtech" is stuck on the inside. Son of a gun. Tough boxes, I know I've beat mine up pretty good and would buy another set tomorrow if I needed them. Ps. They are ugly. In a pretty sort of way. No, come to think of it they are just plain ugly. But I like em. They work, they're dry and you can use them as lawn furniture. So there.

Touratech top box
 

Stu

Have you had a Touratech top-box fall off yet? I've heard of this happening. Mine came close, with one of the mounting plate bolts breaking. Once the bolt went, it was possible for the box to tilt up far enough to slide over the lock.

That could have been nasty for whoever was following.