(03-10-2015, 03:40 AM)ClassicVW_imp Wrote: (03-10-2015, 03:19 AM)HikerToo_imp Wrote: I like 4 cylinders http://www.cycleworld.com/2015/01/15/201...ew-photos/
I've owned many BMW boxer twins. Don't sell them short, they are capable of serious HP, and the R1200RT-P police bike is unequalled in its field.
Their love affair with and reliance on all that technology is why I left. They're great motorcycles but I wouldn't want to own a very recent one that wasn't under warranty due to that very same technology and cost to repair.
I've owned many BMW boxer twins. Don't sell them short, they are capable of serious HP, and the R1200RT-P police bike is unequalled in its field.
Their love affair with and reliance on all that technology is why I left. They're great motorcycles but I wouldn't want to own a very recent one that wasn't under warranty due to that very same technology and cost to repair.
Exactly. Unlike the BMW Rs of old, which were trouble-free and could be maintained out of the tool kit (I'm told) the new ones are computer controlled nightmares that have to be set up by $95/hour shop technicians -who may or may not know what they are doing.
I had a 2009 R1200GS. I gave it up, in the end, because the tall climb was getting too much for arthritic hips. But...from the day I bought it it vibrated like a thumper. Pulled strong, but just BUZZED.
On a road trip to Dallas (from Michigan) I needed warranty service. Which included adjusting the throttle body injectors, whatever they are. I got it back...and it was like the engine was replaced. Where before it chugged and shook, it had started to just purr.
I find out that SCHOOL for those guys to DO that, is a couple of months and mucho dinero. And not everyone who attends truly gets it. And, Dallas was a bit out of my way for regular service.
Given that it was valuable used; that I was an ordeal getting on; and that proper service was hit-and-miss and pure luck...I sold. Thought I was ripping the buyer off, until I saw that the NEW GSs had risen in price from about $15k to $20k. No matter...I rode that thing 12,000 miles and it cost me about $2000.
Since then, I lapsed, with an older oilhead, R1200RT. Same thing: Pulls but shakes and chugs. And I'm not in situation for another road trip to Dallas; or to find out that the last time was a lucky shot.
It's too bad. BMW should have kept the entry-level K75 three, instead of those Rotax F bikes with chain and belt drives.
