R1200 RT Glamour Pics

[Speedygg]

Email from my brother:

Pablo,
Check out the latest pictures of my new beautiful motorcycle.
I bought a brand new 2012 R1200RT 11 days old and have already experienced a rear crankshaft oil seal failure. Marcos
Poor guy, he had a used RT1200 that he road for a couple of years only to find that it had crankshaft oil seal failure along with some other issues. Not sure why he went off to buy a new one of these, but he did. Older brothers never listen to there younger counter parts.

Here are some pics he sent me of his "new" bike in the shop. Ouch!

 

[03HiYoSilver]

OUch!

Surely does not look like an easy job...but at least helping support the local economy.

 

[oldryder]

it's amazing to me the problems the BMW's have. I was seriously considering an RT1200 as a replacement for my GL1500 and FJR but after researching the problems I'm just going to keep the FJR. The beemers seem to have more than their share of catastrophic and (if out of warranty) really big buck mechanical failures.

The RT's have a history of final drive failures that as far as I can tell from the forums have never really been resolved. I won't buy a bike (particualrly one with a premium price) if I have to be worried about a major failure that can take 3 weeks for the dealer to fix.

 

[Speedygg]

it's amazing to me the problems the BMW's have. I was seriously considering an RT1200 as a replacement for my GL1500 and FJR but after researching the problems I'm just going to keep the FJR. The beemers seem to have more than their share of catastrophic and (if out of warranty) really big buck mechanical failures.

The RT's have a history of final drive failures that as far as I can tell from the forums have never really been resolved. I won't buy a bike (particualrly one with a premium price) if I have to be worried about a major failure that can take 3 weeks for the dealer to fix.

I should have filed this topic under Never-Ending Pointless Recurring Threads

 

[lonerider]

Not very impressive; 11 days is a pretty short service life for a seal, IMHO. Hope BMW steps up and stands behind their product and makes it right for him.

 

[NMRoadRunner]

Something like this would make me throw up all over the salesman that sold me the bike, :dribble: while the service manager stood next to him holding his hand for support. :assassin: I couln't imagine riding the bike afterward, every little sound, rattle, squeak, vibration would have me stressed out. Scratch the LDR stuff on this scooter, it's got bad JuJu now!

 

[FJRay]

I have done a couple crank seal and clutch jobs on older K bikes and its unbelievable how complicated it is. You start with the rear license plate and work your way foward. On the older K bike if you were real tricky you could get the trans out without pulling the entire ABS unit.

Our beloved FJR is a dream to maintain.

 

[JR'SFJR]

I have also been there several times on older K bikes, checking-lubing splines we don't trust. Recently did my LT again at 87k, replacing engine rear main and trans seal while in. FJR is the deal.

 

[Surly]

Seems the best he can hope for is a good resale on the Beemer so can get on the bike he should have bought. The FJR.

Regards

Surly

h34r:

 

[Fontanaman]

Now that is funny putting the post under never ending pointless recurring threads. Amazing that people don't get it. They must have more $$$ than moi.

Back in 2004 I was thinking of buying a new motorcycle. My 1988 BMW R100 RT was just not cutting anymore. I wanted I bike I could ride not work on constantly.

I considered buying a BMW RT1xxx (what ever the heck the engine size was), a FJR and a Vstrom. I bought a Vstrom and now have 88,000 miles on it. Back then BMW was having serious surging issues with the oil heads and a host of other issues such as spline and failing rear ends. I sold my airhead not long after - good decision - twas the only bike to leave me stranded.

Now I have an 09 FJR with 18k and love it. I still have the Vstrom - it is for sale and it is a fine and very reliable machine.

I got to hand it to BMW they have turned their product line over a lot lately to attract riders outside the pipe and slippers crowd. Unfortunately BMW has design issues, leading to lot of maintenance headaches. Persnickety fuel injection, drive train failures, the K1200 and K1300 radiators plug with road grime/calcium chloride and the engine over heats. The later is a design trade off with a engine tilted 60 tilted forward. The radiator is right behind the rear tire near the pavement. To make matters worse they turn the product so quickly they can't fix the problems making it hard to re-build their sagging product quality reputation.

Oh yeah and did I mention they also charge 40% more than the competition.

BMW - Bring My Wallet!

Sorry to hear of your brothers misfortune Pablo. Alas it was predictable.

 

[Speedygg]

We can slam BMW as much as we want. However, truth be told, I wish I had a GS in my stable. Defies all logic, but damn, I think they are awesome bikes when they aint broke.

 

[RadioHowie]

.....but damn, I think they are awesome bikes when they aint broke.

Kinda like saying "I love my (wife/girlfriend/mistress/SO) when she's not a *****."

Problem is, for some of us, they're ALWAYS a *****!

 

[wfooshee]

In my case, somebody else's ***** now.

Still trying to catch up with the sudden $$$$$$$$$$ hit, though!

 

[HotRodZilla]

My next bike is gonna be an 800GS. Different FD system, but my brothers GS-A has around 40k miles on it, and he rides the **** out of it. Never a problem. I wonder how many of the BMW issues are self induced by dorks messing with **** they shouldn't mess with...

 

[DELETE-PLEASE]

Ticks me off. When I test-rode a BMW R1200RT, it gave me the biggest smile I thought I could get. I love EVERYTHING about that bike...except the paranoia it would give me by owning one. AWESOME bike, PERFECT for me (height, weight, power, smoothness), but worrying about whether I'm going to make it....kills me.

I'm not sure what my next one will be. I'm getting the itch slowly for a new bike, and a 2nd Gen FJR is way up on the list, but I still wanna do a little more reading about the Tiger 800....sounds great for me, but I wonder how it'd handle me and the wife simultaneously....

 

[Fontanaman]

Yep BMW makes a fine bike if you can afford the initial cost and on going maintenance. I can't and I don't trust 'em. Seems the Rotax engines are more reliable than other BMW models and have a reliable chain drive.

For me 800cc seems a bit small for 2 up riding. I have a Vstrom DL1000 and I really prefer the FJRs more connected to the road feel vs. the taller Vstrom. The taller bike gets hammered by the wind a lot more too while the FJR is more stable in the wind.

I think the 800cc Tiger decked out for one up dual sport riding would be a very nice machine. I would still want my FJR though - I just love how it munches miles with ease.

 

[Zorlac]

.....but damn, I think they are awesome bikes when they aint broke.

Kinda like saying "I love my (wife/girlfriend/mistress/SO) when she's not a *****."

Problem is, for some of us, they're ALWAYS a *****!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[Mike-H]

Yep BMW makes a fine bike if you can afford the initial cost and on going maintenance. I can't and I don't trust 'em. Seems the Rotax engines are more reliable than other BMW models and have a reliable chain drive.

For me 800cc seems a bit small for 2 up riding. I have a Vstrom DL1000 and I really prefer the FJRs more connected to the road feel vs. the taller Vstrom. The taller bike gets hammered by the wind a lot more too while the FJR is more stable in the wind.

I think the 800cc Tiger decked out for one up dual sport riding would be a very nice machine. I would still want my FJR though - I just love how it munches miles with ease.

Who sez you can only have 1 bike? :blink:

 

[Fontanaman]

Send me a pm if you want to buy a slightly used Vstrom. For me one bike us enough. The other tends to sit and devalue.