BMW R1150GS - tell me all

[Banesto John]

Sorry if this has popped up twice. I suck at forum things.

I'm asking this because I'm a bit of a newby to GS things. I know there are people on this site with lots of knowledge, so here's a request.

I am looking at a 2000 R1150GS. It has luggage, 39000 km, engine bars, spotlights, sheepskin seat, spare ADV tyres (not sure of brand), and it looks like it is in very good condition. The owner advises it has been serviced fastidiously.

What things should I look at? What are the issues with that model? Is 40000 km a lot? I suspect it isn't, I saw one with 145000 on it last weekend.

The chap is looking at taking my F800ST, and paying me a cash difference. We'd both win, as we can avoid the dealers percentage. I don't begrudge the dealers making money, but if I can avoid paying it I will.

Anyway, let me have your thoughts.

Thanks in anticipation.

[NordieBoy]

Get it checked out by a bike mechanic just to make sure.
39000km is just about run-in :D

Bars and spotlights certainly sweeten the deal.

Paging BusaJim.
Mr BusaJim to the white courtesy phone...

[Banesto John]

Hey Nordie

Great advice. I just rang the mechanic who has been doing the services. He tells me the owner has over serviced the bike, changing oil twice as often as required, changing brake pads at 60% wear.

Cool, the thing is looking sweeter all the time.

[cooneyr]

Drive shafts - there is something about these that can cause issues/break but I dont know what. Try searching the web for info on this.

Cheers R

[mountainboy65]

I had an 1100GS then an 1150GS. I love these bikes. Took mine through France, Spain, Morocco and also up north through Germany and denmark.
Yes, they are not cheap, but they go on and on. I just changed my oil every 6 months religiously. My only concern for real "adventure" biking is that they are heavy. You need to be aware that they are NOT an off road bike. Good luck!

[Banesto John]

Realistically, I am not an off road rider. My issue is I have done a lot of road riding, but my mates keep pissing me off by telling me about fabulous views from the end of this gravel road or that gravel road.

I am guessing I will want to ride on gravel roads, maybe beaches, maybe grass. I'm not an off roader.

What are your thoughts about the 1150GS against the 650 Dakar? Both are in the frame, but for different reasons. The 650 is more fuel efficient, and I am guessing the servicing will cost less. It can do more off road stuff. The 1150 can carry a pillion, and go most places.

Bloody hell, it's not easy choosing between two great bikes.

[mountainboy65]

I don't envy you the decision! If weight is an issue...YOU HAVE TO GET THE DAKAR. 220kg PLUS luggage etc is simply too heavy to lift. I have had to rely on friendly Moroccan shepherds more than once to extricate me from soft sand. If you are out for long distance cruising and comfort, then go for the 1150!

[jim.cox]

Drive shafts - there is something about these that can cause issues/break but I dont know what. Try searching the web for info on this.

Cheers R


The drive splines wear (especially if not cared for) which == $$ && effort to fix

[Banesto John]

I don't envy you the decision! If weight is an issue...YOU HAVE TO GET THE DAKAR. 220kg PLUS luggage etc is simply too heavy to lift. I have had to rely on friendly Moroccan shepherds more than once to extricate me from soft sand. If you are out for long distance cruising and comfort, then go for the 1150!

I have had quite a bit of time on K1100RT, R1150RT and R1200RT. I know enough to avoid putting them down, but I also accept that picking one up is a skill you have to have if you own one. The number of plonkers I have seen trying to pick them up forward amazes me. Slow speed cone work means you get used to picking one up, believe me. Either that, or you are a bloody legend at clutch feathering.

Yeah, sadly money comes into the equation as well. The 1150 is a few years older (2000) than the Dakar (2006) so is cheaper.

[Crisis management]

I would expect that if it has been well maintained you should have every chance of it being a good bike, they certainly do high mileages but suffer from drive line breakages if not looked after. You seem to have satisfied yourself of the maintenance side of things so rip into it and buy it!

[Oscar]

What are your thoughts about the 1150GS against the 650 Dakar? Both are in the frame, but for different reasons. The 650 is more fuel efficient, and I am guessing the servicing will cost less. It can do more off road stuff. The 1150 can carry a pillion, and go most places.

Bloody hell, it's not easy choosing between two great bikes.

The 1150 is far more sorted and brilliant at what it was designed for. The 650 in my opinion is probably the worst in it's class.

So the equation shouldn't be 1150 v. F650, but F650 v. 640Adv or Transalp.

[jim.cox]

The 650 in my opinion is probably the worst in it's class.

I would agree - I tried an F650 and found it disappointing.

I've also tried the 1150 GS and thought it a fat slug suited mostly to road riding.

Aparently the new 1250 is much better - it certainally has more power

I wonder what the new F800 is like?

My money would go on an old R100GS...

[Balrog]

Hi pde964

Sorry I'm at work at the moment so can't spend to much time replying :)

If the servicing has been done then I would expect 39,000 to be nothing on
these bikes. As NordieBoy says, just about run in.
Regarding the shaft drive. I'm sure some of them have failed, but its hardly
an issue for 99% of the rest of us. I've hammered the crap out of mine
and its never missed a beat.

Picking up the bike. Yes with all your luggage on its a mission. But if you take
the luggage off and use the right technique, most of the time you can get it
up yourself. And of course if you have your pillion on, no problems.
( once they calm down about the reason you're having to pick the bike up :) )

As for the off road ability.
These bikes are big, and they can be scary at first to ride off road.
They are in fact, very capable in the dirt, you just need to practice and learn.
I take mine all over the place, and so far the limitation has been the idiot in
the pilot seat, rather than the bike

Jim

P.S If you do ride off road I highly recommend this DVD
http://www.dualsportriding.com/

[Oscar]

I would agree - I tried an F650 and found it disappointing.

I've also tried the 1150 GS and thought it a fat slug suited mostly to road riding.

Aparently the new 1250 is much better - it certainally has more power

I wonder what the new F800 is like?

My money would go on an old R100GS...

The 1200/1150 GS's are surprisingly competent off road (which is high praise from a KTM owner).

Speaking of which...
I've managed to restrain my self up 'till now, but for God's sake get yourself test ride on a KTM!

...there, that feels better.

[Banesto John]

You have been very restrained so far..........

I had a friend who owns a few bikes recommend KTMs. I've been on Beamers for a few years, so it's hard to lose loyalty.

Teasingly, does KTM stand for Keep Throwing Money at them, as suggested on several blogs I've read (the devil made me ask that!!)

[Oscar]

You have been very restrained so far..........

I had a friend who owns a few bikes recommend KTMs. I've been on Beamers for a few years, so it's hard to lose loyalty.

Teasingly, does KTM stand for Keep Throwing Money at them, as suggested on several blogs I've read (the devil made me ask that!!)

I've owned an LC4 Enduro for four years with no problems at all.

My 950 Adv had one gearbox problem which was fixed under warranty, plus a couple of service updates (the last one seemed to be a major rebuild of the rear brake).

I understand that there are a couple of issues with early 950's, but these seem to crop up as often as BMW spline issues....

[cooneyr]

Teasingly, does KTM stand for Keep Throwing Money at them....

Thats too many words so that cant be right :D

Cheers R

[NiggleC]

I had an 1100G/S for 65000km & 6 years.(97% mileage was sealed road) I certainly looked after the final drive (oil changed with every engine oil change) but it still needed a new bearing and shimming at 67000km. If i was going to own one of these bikes again i would get the final drive bearing changed every 60000km. And of course its a one off item so be prepared to pay about $200.00 for the bearing alone. There wasn't a BMW dealer in ChCh at the time so i had to send the final drive elsewhere and they merely replaced the bearing. 3 months later i had a slightly wobbly rear wheel again so i had a mate whose a "gun" mechanic check the preload and sure enough it was incorrect so he hand cut some shim sheet to achieve the correct spec's and it was perfect for the following 30000km i owned it.
Get the feeling i was annoyed??
And a handy hint for everyone. The alternator belt size is 611 (also a one off item). Don't pay the exorbitant amount demanded of a genuine part, just go to Repco or Supercheap and get a 610 for about 1/3 of the price. Do what i did and buy 2 and carry the second as a spare.

anyway all the info you could ever need is on the website "ukgser"

cheers
Nigel

[Oscar]

anyway all the info you could ever need is on the website "ukgser"

cheers
Nigel

Or on advrider.com (which started life as bmwgs.com).

[clint640]

You have been very restrained so far..........

I had a friend who owns a few bikes recommend KTMs. I've been on Beamers for a few years, so it's hard to lose loyalty.

Teasingly, does KTM stand for Keep Throwing Money at them, as suggested on several blogs I've read (the devil made me ask that!!)

The big BMWs are certainly good at what they're made for, but you would be silly to buy one without trying out a KTM 950/990 too. The KTM twins are a little more dirt oriented than the BMWs.

Can't really comment on the reliability of the twins (check out orange crush on advrider.com for that) but I've put 50 000 virtually trouble free km on my KTM 640 now. Parts for it are no more expensive than the jap stuff, & are often cheaper & delivered quicker.

Clint

[Taz]

I own NiggleC's 1100gs now and it's up to 114000K and almost run in. I had to replace the final drive pivot bearings after my South Island trip due to play in the rear from the rough gravel roads and tracks and that's all so far. Pivot bearings only avail from BMW at $57 each (2 Needed) fitting was well within the scope of the home mechanic with a bit of skill and the manual he supplied with the bike covered this in detail. The manual says that the final drive bearings needs to be done by a BMW agent but I would think that I could do it just as well if not better than the apprentice at the shop after reading his post.
Andy.

My south Island trip here just to give you an idea of what roads the GS can handle...... Gravel roads are roads not off road. :)
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=67930

[Banesto John]

I;m looking at the 1150 this weekend. I'm fairly sure it will soon be mine

[Banesto John]

I had an 1100GS then an 1150GS. I love these bikes. Took mine through France, Spain, Morocco and also up north through Germany and denmark.
Yes, they are not cheap, but they go on and on. I just changed my oil every 6 months religiously. My only concern for real "adventure" biking is that they are heavy. You need to be aware that they are NOT an off road bike. Good luck!

Just a query. Having changed the oil every 6 months "religiously", does that mean I have to include a prayer mat with the purchase? I mean, am I going to have to kneel and pray every time I want to change the oil?

[Oscar]

Just a query. Having changed the oil every 6 months "religiously", does that mean I have to include a prayer mat with the purchase? I mean, am I going to have to kneel and pray every time I want to change the oil?

Ya might as well get one, BMW owners pray a lot:


"Please God, stop those KTM's passing me and making me wet mine undergarments....."
"Please God, don't let that noise be another drive shaft spline..."
"Please God make me look as cool as Ewen & Charlie..."
"Please God make me as rich as Mammon, so as I may afford to purchase the incredibly overpriced BMW accessories..."


Amen.

[Balrog]

Don't buy one pde964, there's one already included on the BMW's vast array of built in accessories.
Just press the button and it pops out. :)

Its right next to the automatic ear plugs that drop out when you park next to a KTM rider.
So you don't have to listen to all their bullshit :lol:

[NordieBoy]

Don't buy one pde964, there's one already included on the BMW's vast array of built in accessories.
Just press the button and it pops out. :)

It's wired to a BMW accessory plug so you don't have to get cold knees.
Stored by the 12v compressor for inflating the water-wings for river crossings :D.

[BM-GS]

I had an 1150GS for about 8 years and 90,000km, and I'd have kept it if there wasn't a mismatch between the seat height and my wife's inside-leg measurement. We now share a shorter bike.

You don't say if it has ABS or heated grips, but I'd take the grips over the ABS. I found it kicked in a bit early and you had to use both brakes to get a benefit rather than a lurch forward into whatever it was you were braking to miss. However, using both brakes (like one should) means you can brake stupidly and live, and pull up 250kg of bike and whatever of rider very, very quickly. The grips make any weather a non-problem. The BMW handguards are also brilliant.

Driveshaft splines are not greased at the factory, so if anyone ever goes in there (worn Paralever bearings is the usual excuse) get that done. Mine seized and it went unnoticed until the bearings were being changed - lots of unneccesary wear on the doings as the suspension movement pushed/pulled the shaft against the bits at the end. That was at ~60,000. The gearbox input shaft broke and that needed the bike splitting in half. Some do, some don't - nobody knows why, or what, or when. $3,000 at 85,000km

Most bits last well. Engine can drink a bit of oil. If yours was run on old dinosaurs then it should be about bedded in by now, but if it's been treated to fresh synthetic every 5,000km it'll probably keep drinking. The manual says 1 litre per 1500km is not unreasonable...Unless you're the one filling it up! Checking the level means running the bike til properly warm, leting it rest on the sidestand for ~10 mins and then sitting it on the centrestand. The bike can hide a lot of oil otherwise, and overfilling is as bad for them as being low.

There's a great resource or 3 on the web: micapeak.com, the GS mailing list and advrider.com are all great, but the 1150 bits are now getting buried under 1200 stuff.

One last thing to check: the brake pipe where the line goes over the front mudguard should be kinked to avoid the speedo cable or the pipe gets worn through and the front brake fails. Almost certainly done by now, but you REALLY want to check that. Spiral hose wrap around the pipe is another indication of mod-done.

BMW luggage is generally pretty waterproof (even with serious stuffing) and hold more than you'd expect. Beware: the luggage is wider than the bars...

Best bike I ever owned, if a bit fat for lane-splitting.

[pampa]

BMW :doh: ... I have a cross challenge which shaft broke on 10k/h fall ... and look this one as well http://forum.bmwor.org.nz/index.php/topic,1152.0.html
snippet BMW 1200 GS written by the owner....

<quote> "
We dropped Max off at experience.

"Dear Dear" observed Sebastian, the mechanic. "That sounds like the clutch. If you're lucky, that will be the only thing wrong. If the gearbox input shaft is damaged, it will be VERY expensive."

"Dear Dear" Observed Gunnyrob. "How long till he's fixed?"

S: "At least a month, I'll call you with an estimate in a couple of weeks."

" Dear dear" I thought, "That's me pretty well *ucked!"
"
</quote>

In the other hand my GS Dakar has 80000k and runs well.

Pampa

[offrd]

No such thing as the perfect woman, and its about the same with bikes...

Each to their own really...

I did 1200km two up on the CCA on the dakar, it had enough power to still pull the front up, or kick the cook off if i had wanted to twist the heated grip hard....

I did not buy a 1150GS after watching some on youtube going off road, and saw one up the wrong way in a big puddle, as i often ride rough stuff solo and dont tow a crane with me i opted to go from the funduro to the dakar rather than the 1150.

I do like the look of the 1150GS, i also like the looks of some of those KTM's!

At the CCA i mentioned to the wife i wanted to trade the dakar in on a KTM because the metal flake orange was awesome and they looked really cool... That went down .... not the best.... I still have the dakar and i do not regret it at all.

My advise is to follow your gut instincts, you know what kind of riding you will be mainly doing i am guessing, and you know what bike you like.

well thats my 0.02cents

feel free to :bash:

[Banesto John]

Best bike I ever owned, if a bit fat for lane-splitting.


I'm also too fat for lane-splitting, so maybe the 1150 is the bike for me. Tee hee.

Actually, BMW riders are generally too nana-ish to lane split, so it's not an issue.

[Banesto John]

Ya might as well get one, BMW owners pray a lot:


"Please God, stop those KTM's passing me and making me wet mine undergarments....."
"Please God, don't let that noise be another drive shaft spline..."
"Please God make me look as cool as Ewen & Charlie..."
"Please God make me as rich as Mammon, so as I may afford to purchase the incredibly overpriced BMW accessories..."


Amen.


Bless me father for I have sinned. I have worn BMW riding pants for a long time (taking them off for cleaning etc), and often marvelled at the quality of the knee armour.

I now know this is aimed at the texture of the BMW prayer mat, which I have found on the internet. The mat appears coarse, and would damage plain trousers. I'm advised that this is the off-road prayer mat, and comes as an option only on the GS models. You have to send BMW Motorrad your VIN number so they know you have a GS before they will send out your prayer mat.

Of course, for road bike riders, on the website there is a link to the on-road prayer mat, one which is significantly smoother. This is designed for use with normal riding gear. It comes standard on the K1200RS (oooo eerrrrr), as you have to pray for forgiveness for excessive speed on those. The road version is far more metro-sexual.

Perversely, I am thinking that the on road prayer mat could lead to fatalities as believers are mowed down while praying. A thing to avoid, I suggest.

[BM-GS]

With respect (and a long delay, sorry) my first personal experience with "nana-ish" BMW riders was flippin' scary. I was taking advantage of a generous paid-for-by BMW 2-day test ride around Devon & Cornwall (in Pomgolia) with a bunch of BMW owners who looked genteel & respectable on the outside, but who had realised that many of their steeds, especially the white-ish tourer ones, look a lot like police bikes at first glance. Using this fact to their advantage, they terrorised the other users of the very narrow Cornish country lanes (about 1.5 cars wide, climb the bank to pass) by hooning around at double-the-limit speeds and basically bulldozing all the other traffic out of the way.

After 2 days of that it was a shock to find it didn't work quite the same on my ZZR-600!

After buying the GS, I added some extra driving lamps to light up corners on the long winter evening commutes and I found them very effective at clearing a path through the traffic-snarled numpties trapped in their tin boxes. Lots of lights usually means cops and a wave for those who make an effort to speed me on my way might encourage them to do it again. And impersonating a landing Jumbo-jet does clear a path through traffic quite well...

[_Shrek_]

Actually, BMW riders are generally too nana-ish to lane split, so it's not an issue.

maybe i should take off my badge's so people wont know it's a BM thats lane spliting :innocent: