How reliable are these era bikes?

BC1100S said:

IMHO ...
As long as its had it's scheduled services and had the brake lines replaced and the HES re-wired, this bike has a lot of miles in front of it.

Click to expand...

lkchris said:

These bikes are ticking time bombs because they were the first built following new German laws requiring auto parts be biodegradable.

The wiring harnesses on these bike are mostly falling apart at this age--just as designed--and you'll encounter problems and the need for repairs. Most will have had brake hoses replaced by now as well.

Questions on reliability of 20+ year old motorcycles are ... "interesting." These bikes were made in limited quantities and parts have to come from Germany and remain expensive.

Click to expand...

lkchris said:

These bikes are ticking time bombs because they were the first built following new German laws requiring auto parts be biodegradable.

The wiring harnesses on these bike are mostly falling apart at this age--just as designed--and you'll encounter problems and the need for repairs. Most will have had brake hoses replaced by now as well.

Questions on reliability of 20+ year old motorcycles are ... "interesting." These bikes were made in limited quantities and parts have to come from Germany and remain expensive.

Click to expand...

Mr_Canoehead said:

I have a 2005 R1150GSA that has been bulletproof. It has been on-road, offroad and generally ridden hard and currently has around 60k miles. Other than the ticking time-bomb that is the servo brakes, I have complete confidence in this bike. It currently sits waiting for me at Knopf in Heidelberg for our annual Alps vacation, so I currently only ride it once/year but when we get together, it's like meeting up with a dear friend that I haven't seen in a year.

I have four other bikes in the garage but I'll never sell that bike. It was the only bike I considered taking to Europe.

I can't tell from the pictures whether that bike has the servo brakes (late 2002's got them) but if the calipers say "BMW" on them, plan on removing the servo if/when it fails at some point. They are no longer available or are priced at more than the value of the bike (depending on who you ask). If you remove it, you will still have brakes, just no ABS. There are lots of instructions on how to remove it online.

Click to expand...

GSAddict said:

All the RT1150's came with servo brakes unless factory ordered w/o ABS option.

Click to expand...

Mr_Canoehead said:

I have a 2005 R1150GSA that has been bulletproof. It has been on-road, offroad and generally ridden hard and currently has around 60k miles. Other than the ticking time-bomb that is the servo brakes, I have complete confidence in this bike. It currently sits waiting for me at Knopf in Heidelberg for our annual Alps vacation, so I currently only ride it once/year but when we get together, it's like meeting up with a dear friend that I haven't seen in a year.

I have four other bikes in the garage but I'll never sell that bike. It was the only bike I considered taking to Europe.

I can't tell from the pictures whether that bike has the servo brakes (late 2002's got them) but if the calipers say "BMW" on them, plan on removing the servo if/when it fails at some point. They are no longer available or are priced at more than the value of the bike (depending on who you ask). If you remove it, you will still have brakes, just no ABS. There are lots of instructions on how to remove it online.

Click to expand...

BC1100S said:

If one regularly flushes the brake system and has changed out the rubber lines for braided steel, the servo brake system presents virtually no issues. I have two bikes with a combined total of 240,000km on them with no problems. Many here can attest to same.

Click to expand...

htomsett said:

Only problem is that now that these are aged bikes, there's usually no guarantee that all the previous owners followed the proper maintenance schedule.

Click to expand...

htomsett said:

Only problem is that now that these are aged bikes, there's usually no guarantee that all the previous owners followed the proper maintenance schedule. A fortunate buyer might be the second owner, and purchase a bike from someone who's done and documented all their maintenance since new.

Click to expand...

htomsett said:

Only problem is that now that these are aged bikes, there's usually no guarantee that all the previous owners followed the proper maintenance schedule. A fortunate buyer might be the second owner, and purchase a bike from someone who's done and documented all their maintenance since new.

Click to expand...

lkchris said:

These bikes are ticking time bombs because they were the first built following new German laws requiring auto parts be biodegradable.

The wiring harnesses on these bike are mostly falling apart at this age--just as designed--and you'll encounter problems and the need for repairs. Most will have had brake hoses replaced by now as well.

Questions on reliability of 20+ year old motorcycles are ... "interesting." These bikes were made in limited quantities and parts have to come from Germany and remain expensive.

Click to expand...

jammess said:

Having owned an '04 R1150RT (sold) and presently own a '93 R1100RSL I think if I were looking to buy an oilhead BMW I would concentrate my efforts on oilheads built between 1993 and 2001 which are the R1100 series. I think they have better build qualities and have fewer potential problems like trans input shaft and final drive issues and as I have only recently discovered much better and simpler to live with electronic control units (ECU) making problems like engine surging issues far easier to satisfactorily remedy. Just my very humble opinion.

Click to expand...

htomsett said:

I agree -- I think BMW added a few completely unnecessary complications to the R1150 models like the servo-assisted brake system (which is bonkers expensive and utterly pointless on a motorcycle), and there are loads of threads here and elsewhere talking about frequent R1150 stick coil failures. The extra engine displacement did almost nothing to increase the engine power from what I've heard. In contrast, I've not read much about R1100 coil failures anywhere.

As far as the smoothness upgrades go, 1100 engines can be upgraded to dual-spark, and both 1100's and 1150's can take Bosch EV14 fuel injectors which by all accounts make a huge difference in fuel atomization and burn. Can't upgrade an R1100 to a 6-speed transmission without serious machining work though.

I also think the R1100R/R850R looks a lot better than the R1150R.

Click to expand...