10-Year Anniversary Freshen-up

Dakota shows how to attack turns!

200707 Dakota.jpg
 
I've just finished watching a TV show where they featured the BMW1250RS...I know it probably only shares a few things with your GS but the tester sure did love that bike....

Smooth was the catch phrase they constantly used.
 
They are a slick machine.

The wife and I were out in the truck the other day and she saw a couple riding by on an RT.

She said the lady on the back looked comfortable (she still has no intention of riding again though-thank goodness).
 
An interesting K1600 tale....

While out for a walk this morning I came upon one of my neighbours and we got to talking. He recently sold his K1600, he said other than the transmission issue covered under warranty, the bike was stellar. He is a "snowbird" and winters in Fla from Oct to Apr and rode the bike there and back...he put lots of miles on it and enjoyed the bike, just got too old and gave up bikes.

His riding buddy on the other hand had the same year K1600 (they bought them at the same time). They are both 'snowbirds" and rode together with their wives. His buddy's Beemer had nothing but issues, but my neighbour said some of them were caused by the rider.

The transmission recall was ignored and it let go somewhere in Arizona...the bike was flat-bedded to a BMW dealership and they paid his flight home, fixed the bike in a few weeks and shipped it to no cost to him...

A month or so later, it started acting up, lights were intermittent, other things stopped working (cruise, stereo, etc). He got it to a BMW dealership in Fla and it turned out the ECU fried-but not totally....all fixed under warranty again...last fall when they were riding them back here, the ABS light came on and started flashing...they stopped at a dealership and there was a relay which was fried but the brakes would work-just no ABS or traction control..no longer under warranty but they fixed it for only cost of parts...

He said they were both very happy in how BMW treated them, but both of them sold their bikes...
 
An interesting K1600 tale....

While out for a walk this morning I came upon one of my neighbours and we got to talking. He recently sold his K1600, he said other than the transmission issue covered under warranty, the bike was stellar. He is a "snowbird" and winters in Fla from Oct to Apr and rode the bike there and back...he put lots of miles on it and enjoyed the bike, just got too old and gave up bikes.

His riding buddy on the other hand had the same year K1600 (they bought them at the same time). They are both 'snowbirds" and rode together with their wives. His buddy's Beemer had nothing but issues, but my neighbour said some of them were caused by the rider.

The transmission recall was ignored and it let go somewhere in Arizona...the bike was flat-bedded to a BMW dealership and they paid his flight home, fixed the bike in a few weeks and shipped it to no cost to him...

A month or so later, it started acting up, lights were intermittent, other things stopped working (cruise, stereo, etc). He got it to a BMW dealership in Fla and it turned out the ECU fried-but not totally....all fixed under warranty again...last fall when they were riding them back here, the ABS light came on and started flashing...they stopped at a dealership and there was a relay which was fried but the brakes would work-just no ABS or traction control..no longer under warranty but they fixed it for only cost of parts...

He said they were both very happy in how BMW treated them, but both of them sold their bikes...
Seems like all manufacturers have issues sometimes, the difference is in how they treat you when it happens.
 
Seems like all manufacturers have issues sometimes, the difference is in how they treat you when it happens.
True but BMW has a problem. Too many recalls and one-off failures for a top rated motorcycle. When it comes to touring the top issue after comfort and storage space is reliability. Goldwing failures are fairly rare but almost every BMW guy I know has found himself let down at some point. They have to fix this or people are going to stop buying their bikes.
 
True but BMW has a problem. Too many recalls and one-off failures for a top rated motorcycle. When it comes to touring the top issue after comfort and storage space is reliability. Goldwing failures are fairly rare but almost every BMW guy I know has found himself let down at some point. They have to fix this or people are going to stop buying their bikes.
My older brother has a few older BMWs and is a die hard fan of them but won't touch a new one..

He has many friends who are die hard BMW riders who have sold their bikes due to reliability issues.

One of them is a 75 yr old who had a 2019 S1000RR (and could ride it hard) and he said it broke on him and let him stranded twice.
 
True but BMW has a problem. Too many recalls and one-off failures for a top rated motorcycle. When it comes to touring the top issue after comfort and storage space is reliability. Goldwing failures are fairly rare but almost every BMW guy I know has found himself let down at some point. They have to fix this or people are going to stop buying their bikes.
They do seem to build rather unreliable bikes.
 
I was at my Triumph dealer saturday , and a like new GS1200 was traded in on a Tiger 1200 . I was a bit surprised . Reading above statements , and other horror stories about BMW's going to guess the GS must of let him down a few to many times . Even had new tires he had put on before trade in .
 
We got it things worked out and the design actually looks better IMHO! Funny how errors often improve the design. Now I know why Hayabusas are always photographed on the right side!

Sent this to the painter this morning:View attachment 1598966

View attachment 1598967

View attachment 1598968




I think we resolved the issue and got both sides similar but not symmetrical. It is amazing but I never noticed that the kanji is graphically very directional and doesn’t look correct even on the OEM decals. After this revelation, I simple enlarged the kanji even further then cropped it. Simple enough and we use the same colors and basic concept for both sides. What do you think? I actually like this even more than the original design and I’m ready to finish this up so you can get paid!
Looks good! Thinking seriously about going with a big kanji on my '19!
 
So I took the BMW GS 1250 to the shop today as it has another recall. Amazing, but this bike is so good I sort of have just accepted this routine. Anyway, the ride was awesome in the morning - cool with a light fog and the Pandora was picking a perfect soundtrack.

Anyway, I have been thinking about the new Busa. I like the looks and the electronics that make it a legitimate modern bike. I still plan to see what the dealer will give me on the very Hayabusa I built in this thread, but I'm not 100% sold on the Gen 3. When I dropped off the GS, I looked at an S1000RR. 435 lbs., 205 hp, Euro 5 compliant, and pretty dam comfortable too (it's bigger than a lot of superbikes). The crazy thing is the base bike is only $16K and the decked-out version is $23K.

I got to thinking wow this really puts Suzuki's efforts in context. BMW is getting 18 more horses from 34% less displacement and is still Euro 5 compliant. Yes, the Busa has 110 lb-ft torque to the BMW's 83, but it's trying to move nearly 600 lbs to the Beemer's 434. The BMW has an industry-leading, mature electronics suite, and rider comforts like heated grips and cruise control.

Even crazier is the base BMW is cheaper than the Busa by $2K. I have been thinking all day that Suzuki left way too much performance on the table in this deal. When I look at the Gen 3 from the standpoint of a second hooligan bike, I'm not sure why I wouldn't go to the S1000RR?
 
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