09-21-2016, 12:37 PM
Lol I dont mean to besmirch the BMW brand lol, but I live outside of Cincinnati. Not exactly a back woods town. We have pro football and baseball teams, world class zoo, world class symphony, and no BMW dealer ( or Ducati or Aprilia and I would have to drive 90 miles to nearest KTM dealer) I would have to drive 150 miles for anything BMW. This is the midwest where 80% of the motorcyclists in the US are living. Imagine being out in the boonies where 20% of the motorcyclists live..how many Euro dealers are out there? You can almost always find a Honda or Harley dealer, but the rest, to me, are by my definition " sketchy" in their dealership networks.
Just as there are CB1100 forums there are also BMW forums. I have been to the R1200R forum. Lots of complaints of bad fuel strips of course, but also many complaints of "I expected better quality", "my this broke," "my that broke," things I would never expect to break, and I personally know a guy with a Rockster whose final drive lunched on him leaving him stranded. Reading stories of guys carrying spare final drives on tour does not promote confidence, and either does reading of BMWs not finishing the Iron Man. Even on this forum guys complain about how unreliable and expensive to repair their BMWs have been. One of my best riding buds just got rid of his 1200GS and bought a Kawasaki Versys because he just didnt trust the Beemer andymore and was afraid of a huge future repair bill.
If you have a BMW and it's been reliable you don't know how happy I am for you, honestly...... like I said on paper the R1200R is everything I want. However I just can't bring myself to take the leap of faith knowing what I know and from reading what I have read written by BMW owners themselves.
Just as there are CB1100 forums there are also BMW forums. I have been to the R1200R forum. Lots of complaints of bad fuel strips of course, but also many complaints of "I expected better quality", "my this broke," "my that broke," things I would never expect to break, and I personally know a guy with a Rockster whose final drive lunched on him leaving him stranded. Reading stories of guys carrying spare final drives on tour does not promote confidence, and either does reading of BMWs not finishing the Iron Man. Even on this forum guys complain about how unreliable and expensive to repair their BMWs have been. One of my best riding buds just got rid of his 1200GS and bought a Kawasaki Versys because he just didnt trust the Beemer andymore and was afraid of a huge future repair bill.
If you have a BMW and it's been reliable you don't know how happy I am for you, honestly...... like I said on paper the R1200R is everything I want. However I just can't bring myself to take the leap of faith knowing what I know and from reading what I have read written by BMW owners themselves.