I lost 12 weeks in the riding season over 3 years with an R11GS, and had a total runaround from BMW NA and 3 dealers involved.

The aftertaste that left has had me off of BMWs ever since.

Ewan and Charlie really have done a great job on selling the GS as the essential RTW tool.

I'd rather RTW my 200 cc Chinese dual sport or 125cc Yamaha dual sport (which is based off a delivery / commercial bike platform) than any current BMW.

Simple, easy to fix bikes, especially the Yamaha. I can have the carb off in 30 seconds and access the sparkplug and valves without having to remove any bodywork.

Either can go about anywhere a GS can, and I've taken both through trails and 'roads' without incident where I would have dropped a GS or needed assistance to get through.
Some places have involved water transport and stuff that just isn't feasible on a big bike.

The Chinabike only has 4000 miles on it, so far faults have been restricted to missing / loose bolts and a sparkplug.
The YBR is coming up on 12k miles and has been faultless apart from standard service items.

And both bikes are ridden hard and put away wet, often fully loaded with 1 or 2 passengers and luggage in 3rd world environments.
Both have been dropped multiple times.

Service / repairs / mods are done by 'techs' with minimal tools and no shop manual. No torque wrench, often they use an adjustable wrench dur due to the lack of the proper tool, working on the sidewalk.

I reckon a modern BMW would wilt under that kind of treatment in short order...

Instead of waiting for weeks for parts or suitable tires, usually the local 'engineering' shop can cobble together what can't be sourced from the dealer or generic parts store.

And for the cost of one of the major services on my GS (including the parts replaced at my or BMW's cost) I can buy either of these 2 bikes new, including tax, title and 1 year free service.

Sent from my Android chinaphone, excuse the spelling

In France it's possible to do an BACC (A level) course in how to operate the various diagnostics machines. Successful students then get jobs in dealerships as 'junior service managers' at the age of 20 having never held a spanner in their life, supervising a team of hairy arsed mechanics with years of experience but who don't know a volt from an amp.

What's an obd2 reader - I have the other things on your list but not sure if I need one of these obd thingies

Only strictly speaking for the supply of the part which he was told that he needed without any doubt.

Surely the dealer in Lima would have been able to do the programming required. I suspect it just has to be coded to match the ring antenna. I would think it is reversible or you may have to chuck away the eprom and fit a new one.

Even with CANBUS a wire is a wire and still need to conduct electricity from one end to the other.

I don't think that BMW are liable in this situation but I think they need to look at their training and spares support. They should respond to the OP and perhaps make some sort of offer of compensation.

Obd2 is on board diagnostics version 2. It looks like a 1970's electronic calculator and let's you see why a lot of can systems are doing their computer-sez-no routine. Bikes don't have to meet the car standard but most speak the lingo you just need a bit of bodging to find the hi and lo on the diagnostic plug. Phone apps exist that speak obd2 but I've never had cause to try one. Time will come when the app reboots the bike, charges your PayPal account and fills your inbox with spam about the newest bike, just like Microsoft!

Andy

Ok, I hear you. I´m sort of uncomfy with this CANBUS stuff, but I might end up learning details if I get onto a more modern bike. Well, conducting electricity, that may well be. But I was asked by Missus to look at one of her friend´s top modern BMW today, which was not starting. Well, the battery was dead and whilst BMW has a nice 12V cigarette lighter plug, one can´t use a regular charger but it needs to be a BMW approved charger to not damage the CANBUS by sending current to the battery through the friggin´ wire..... Since she did not want to shell out some funds for that charger, I did what I needed to do - give it a push start in 3rd and took the thing for a spin ...
Whilst I still sometimes have the idea to get me a 1200 GS Adventure for my 50th birthday next spring, there are more and more reasons not to and to go for an LC8 990 Adventure. Or the new Triumph Explorer which I did ride for an hour last week - what a hot thing!
Cheers
Chris

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