R1100GS reliability report, after kicking it 17 000+km witho
 

So if anyone wonder's about if it's the right choice bike?

Did a Iran expedition from Estonia to Iran via Turkey and back.

Started the expedition with 42 000 km on the clock and trip was more than 17 000km without any service except tyre changes and adding additional engine oil. It was not smooth riding - a very fast riding, often 800km or more per day on smaller roads, typically moving 110-130kph. The weight of the bike exceeded more than allowed when we were two up on it and full of luggage - the rear suspension kicked into maximum often going though deep holes that there was alot on East-Turkey and Iran roads. My girlfriend never complained about the seat or comfort of riding on full days, it's probably the most comfortible stock enduro seat out there, no need for aftermarket tune-up.

Bike had no mechanical problems, except the telelever's ball joint nut got loose two times afer lot of Elburz and Zagros mountain roads filled with pot holes in Iran. Both times got help from local garage having torx key that i didn't had with me. One minute and it's tightened again. The problem it got loose the second time was it was not locktited. But i tightened it very good the second time, and it stood OK till the rest of the trip with no problems.

What i'm amazed the rear suspension didn't give up on such stress and often kicks to maximum position that was scary at first.

Second thing is poor quality of Iran fuel - low octane and leaded. I had catalythic converter with lambda (O2) sensor - no problems. Valves did some bad noise on low-rpm accelerating, but except that, bike ran very fine. I'm sure i poisoned the lamda sensor with leaded, but looks like the Motronic brain adapts very quickly - later i felt so called "surging effect" the oilhead bmw's are known, but it was only when engine cold and accelerating somewhere between 3-4Krpms. So sure it is the poisoned lambda after thousands of kilometres of leaded fuel. But engine proved it works nearly perfect just like there is no lamda if it's disfunctional somehow, it was positive surprise for us after horror storyes we heard about poisoned lamdas and blocked catalythic converters.

Per 17 200 kilometres the air-oilcooled engine took 1 litre and 250ml of oil, that included crossing Dasht-e-Kavir deser on more than 40 degrees heat and riding 130-150kph and Iran cities in traffic jams, the engine temperature never got close to critical, my registered maximum was 7 bars out of 10 (9-10 bars mean overheating) blocked in Tehran traffic with 37 degrees Celsius heat. The bike mostly ran on 6 bars on these conditions (in Europe it does mostly on 5).

The dry clutch never did any strange things or overheating as people have told me they do in very hot conditions.

Fuel consumption was the best 4.7L/100km and the worst 6.3L/100km. Average about 5.3L/100km.

No gearbox or shaft drive problems when the bike already reached 60K since new and i did no maintance on it. Basically just kicked the bike all the trip, we were a bit hurry afterall.

ABS in cooperation with telelever saved us crashing 4 (!) times in critical situations in Romania, Turkey and Iran on the whole trip. Can't imagine life without them anymore...

The R11xxGS for two uping - probably the best and the most secure (telelever, ABS) and relatively maintenance free (FI, paralever, separate oils for gerbox and shaft and dry cluch that don't dirty the engine oil) at the same time it's probably the most easyest to maintain (very simple boxer design) enduro for these conditions and those parts of the world.

Though, in the end, just like via irony when we planned to get home in the same evening, we crashed indeed in Poland, got kicked off the road reckless car driver's fault. Here you see the result and some other reasons why the boxer is very secure bike after the "crash-test": http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52958

The strong aluminium luggage on the back and boxer cylinders with guards in front protected our legs on falling on high speed, without them we'd both be in hospital now with broken legs.

Same bike again? Definately!

For soloing, maybe something else smaller and lighter, but for two up - I highly recommend one!

Hope this helps the confused people about the different myths and gossips that go around the bikes, Margus

[This message has been edited by Margus (edited 22 September 2005).]

welcome back margus!! hope you have a good travel and riding!



------------------
ride safely
ozhan u.
'97 F650
www.ozhanu.com/gezi

That's a great testimony Margus! Glad you made it home (relatively) safe. How did the bike fair in the crash? It sounds like it was ridable?

Margus, I think I agree with most on your nice and detailed review. i am riding the same bike (27K at start, 30K so far added in Europe and Asia), however I have some negative comments (besides all the good stuff!) - I do realize that some of the problems listed below are pretty common:

- standard suspension not good enough two up with luggage off-road, it actually broke down and I had to replace it
- the frame broke just below the riders seat, at the right side (but could be due to suspension problems in Mongolia)
- A front fork seal broke
- The battery became unreliable, and I had to put a Chinese one in in UB (get a new one when starting a trip?)
- The fuel filter leaked and had to be replaced immediately

I definitely recommend anyone to change the suspension when going rough and tough on the 1100GS! i have a Wilbers now and that is going really well, what a difference..

Martijn

Martijn,

yes, as i noted the spring of rear suspension was too weak for the high load we put onto it - it kicked itself into maximum position often going through potholes. But in the end it brought us home without any problems. Sure i'd recommend to put Öhlins or Wilbers with stronger springs any time too after what we experienced going more than Gross weight allows. We had absolutely no problems with the front stock Showa suspension though.

About the frame - did you had TT Hard Parts installed, the frame reinforcement kit? It's absolutely essential for R1100/850GSes doing offroad or full of lugge, costs almost nothing indeed.

As for battery - yes, we put new battery on before the trip.

Fork seal - i replaced the dust seals lately with fresh ones because the old ones were detoriarated a bit, i think this was maybe the reason your's - sand or mud got past the old dust seals into forks and damaged the oil seals. After the oil seal is broken sure replace both oil and dust seals. The dust seals on all forks on all bikes are the most important in long-term, they keep the fork's working space clean from dust and mud. Even better is to use complete fork protectors, available from Touratech.

Had no problems with fuel filter, though had a spare one just in case with me.

Cheers, Margus

[This message has been edited by Margus (edited 23 September 2005).]