• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

R100gs

J

John Duncan

Guest
I'm considering buying a 1989 R100GS with 47K miles. I'm not familure with these bikes, anything I should watchout for?

John
 
John Duncan said:
I'm considering buying a 1989 R100GS with 47K miles. I'm not familure with these bikes, anything I should watchout for?
John
Three things:

The driveshaft, the Valeo electric starter and the omission of a circlip on the transmission output shaft.

The driveshaft can have quite a range of service. Someone I know got 141,058 kms (87,688 miles) on his driveshaft, but the norm is much lower depending on how the motorcycle was treated.

The Valeo electric starter tends to drop magnets. Even though they aren't supposed to be rebuildbable, at least not the motor housing portion, I have rebuilt the Valeo starter twice on my 1990 R100 GS. I have a write-up on my web site.

BMW in their infinite wisdom decided to delete a part in the transmission to save a few cents. They deleted a circlip and the corresponding groove in the output shaft that sits next to the front bearing. As a result of loading the transmission in top gear, it applies a side force on the ball bearing (not designed for side loads) and can fail. They usually go at the 80,000 mile mark. I use Dow Corning gear Gard M additive in my transmission which should help. I also drive at a more sedate pace which puts less of a load on it.

That said, I wouldn't part with my 1986 R80 G/S PD or my 1990 R100 GS for anything, not even with a new R1150 GS Adventure on the way.:clap
 
I owned a 92 for 4 04 5 years. Absolutely fantastic and I miss it. I bought a gs1100 in 95, have 72,000 miles now. Still miss the 100.
 
100 GS

They are excellent bikes. If ther is no rust and you are paying less than 4500 t's probably a great deal. I owned one for about 6 years. Any problem it ever had (very rare and few) was fixable in my backyard with basic tools. Dependable as all hell. Bought it in The Florida Keys and still miss it today.

Good luck.:clap
 
Back
Top