1150gs advice

[Nzpure]

Is it really worth while buying a r1150gs with 150 odd thousand kms on the clock?
Also if it is and had a good service record etc, whats a a fair price?

[dino3310]

your looking at that one on trademe arnt you

[Nzpure]

your looking at that one on trademe arnt you

caught! I have seen a few with staggeringly high kms with still fairly high price tags i just wondered if they are dreaming or they do alot of kms and they are just like a car?

[Paul in NZ]

They will run almost indefinitely - as long as you have an inexhaustible pile of cash to service them and replace parts.

Of course there are some who would argue that even a brand new one isn't worth it.

[dino3310]

yip like a car big an heavy

from what ive picked up if its got a good service history they will tick up a couple hundred Kms no problem.
Its early in the day so all the bmw owners are at work so no doubt they will be along this evening with some words of wisdom

[Nzpure]

They will run almost indefinitely - as long as you have an inexhaustible pile of cash to service them and replace parts.

LOL wont everything

Of course there are some who would argue that even a brand new one isn't worth it.

I was under the impression they were a very solid and reliable bike...

[dino3310]

I was under the impression they were a very solid and reliable bike...

so was i, although i hear they dont like water

[Paul in NZ]

LOL wont everything .

No - some things fail in ways that make them totally unfix able but BMW usually has good spares back up and a happy talent for building things that fall to bits in incremental amounts. Yes - it needs lots of servicing etc but its all doable.

I was under the impression they were a very solid and reliable bike...

I'm NOT a BMW fan boy at all so take my comments with a pinch of snuff. The BMW myth of super tough reliability was born in the 50's and 60's through to the early (very) 70's when they really did turn out a money no object, best it can be type bike. Unfortunately while it was easily twice as good as a BSA or Triumph etc of the period it cost 3 times as much. Eventually they went to volume production and they have never achieved those standards since. Make no mistake they are fine machines but BMW also drop some horrendous clangers as well. I've never considered the later GS series as being amazingly reliable compared to say a Honda. However the average BMW owner just seems to accept it as part of the deal (things like rear drives catching fire etc) whereas if happened to a Suzuki etc the whole world would hear about it.

As an example Vicki and I were out and about on the venerable LeMans a while back. Some BMW propeller head at a cafe came up to us and complemented the bike and told me hes always fancied owning a Guzzi one day but couldn't take the unreliability etc. I thought thats odd as its not really any worse than any comparable bike including his well used boxer. Ah yes - but apart from 5 gearbox rebuilds and a motor refresh plus occasional final drive rebuilds his beemer had been perfectly reliable. ah hemmmmm

Beemer owners also seem to fall into two camps.

Scruffy dirty weirdos of uncertain sanitary habits who seldom wash and regard cleaning a motorcycle (or anything else) a crime against nature. And certainly nature is quietly reclaiming their bikes.They ride their bikes until they are about to collapse in a giant heap once the bungee that's holding the frame together breaks. They value their bikes highly when selling them as they are so obviously super reliable and question your ability in bed if you suggest it could do with a wash. I'd rather be riding than polishing they scorn. Be warned - a chap I know once bought an R80 that turned out to be a Honda TransAlp once he had washed it.

The second lot simply glisten - their clothing, their bikes, their immaculate (and correctly stamped and filled out) service logs plus a file of real time GPS records of every journey along with the birth certificates of every person that had sat on the bike accompany them. That is what all the luggage is for. Once in the mid 70's I rode up to the Cold Kiwi on my Norton Atlas (the old site). I regained consciousness to the sound of every unsilenced bike in Christendom being started by teetotaler serial bed-wetters determined that all should rise - even the corpses like me. I wiggled to the front of my tent to try and find a spot to get out of my sleeping bag that was not awash with vomit or spinning as badly as my head was and there - right across from me was a guy in snow white leathers astride a perfectly white BMW just leaving the site. The mud and shite that was glued to everything else didn't even coat his tyres. He looked like he had been dunked in Armourall and given a good buffing - with the sun rising behind him the was a blazing halo of light surrounding him. For years I thought God rode a BMW to the Cold Kiwi. Be warned - these types take applications from prospective purchasers seriously vet them all. You may not live up to their standards but if you do the bike will come with tools and spare parts.

Up to you really...

[Oscar]

so was i, although i hear they dont like water

You are correct...






It was a deep crossing, but other products of the Greater Reich made it:



Some of our Italian allies tried to avoid the stream, and this happened:

[Gremlin]

It depends what you're after...

The 1150GS is probably a bit more bulletproof than the newer 1200GS but then you're buying a tank, so go figure. The 1150G is agricultural, but there is also less to go wrong. The 1200GS is lighter, better performance, but probably a bit more goes wrong.

I had a KTM 990SM before the 1200GA and the KTM definitely liked some pampering in the shop... buckled the front rim twice, broke the rear sub frame twice and so on. The 1200GSA has been bulletproof in comparison (with far more shit thrown at it). Yes, it's had final drive seals and a new headlight (honestly... how many bikes need a new headlight at the 1 year WOF check?) Would I have anything else for what I do? No.

As with any bike, it depends how it's been looked after...

If you really want something reliable get a CB900 Hornet. The installation of a soul was forgotten during construction, but I haven't broken one yet, and that's really saying something...

[manakau.KTM]

I am amazed at peoples' perception of Guzzi reliability when the machines just seem to go and go. Particularly the big block models.

Scruffy dirty weirdos of uncertain sanitary habits who seldom wash and regard cleaning a motorcycle (or anything else) a crime against nature. And certainly nature is quietly reclaiming their bikes.They ride their bikes until they are about to collapse in a giant heap once the bungee that's holding the frame together breaks. They value their bikes highly when selling them as they are so obviously super reliable and question your ability in bed if you suggest it could do with a wash. I'd rather be riding than polishing they scorn. Be warned - a chap I know once bought an R80 that turned out to be a Honda TransAlp once he had washed it.

As Guzzi owner, I have to admit this description fits alot of Guzzi riders (not myself of course)

[Eddieb]

something hasn't worked

Between the square brackets at the beginning and end of your quote should say [QUOTE] and instead in yours they probably say [HTML] or [CODE] or something. don't change anything else, just those words.

[Nzpure]

I am amazed at peoples' perception of Guzzi reliability when the machines just seem to go and go. Particularly the big block models.

Scruffy dirty weirdos of uncertain sanitary habits who seldom wash and regard cleaning a motorcycle (or anything else) a crime against nature. And certainly nature is quietly reclaiming their bikes.They ride their bikes until they are about to collapse in a giant heap once the bungee that's holding the frame together breaks. They value their bikes highly when selling them as they are so obviously super reliable and question your ability in bed if you suggest it could do with a wash. I'd rather be riding than polishing they scorn. Be warned - a chap I know once bought an R80 that turned out to be a Honda TransAlp once he had washed it.

As Guzzi owner, I have to admit this description fits alot of Guzzi riders (not myself of course)

Should look like that