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Learned some very upsetting news about BMW repair manuals!

And people wonder why I never bought a BMW bike newer than my 84 R80RT. It is still going strong and was only to a BMW dealer the first ten years because the dealer then was a good place and a friend. Once he was put out of business by BMW and the boutique dealer stepped in telling me to buy a bike or forget service, I learned to work on the bike myself. I am also lucky I have a fellow nearby who owns an airhead repair shop for the things I can't do or won't do.

No complex electrical, fuel injection, antilock brakes, navigation, shift cams, yards of useless plastic fairing, just a motorcycle that does what I want it to do when I want it to. I don't need a computer to diagnose it, and luckily I don't have to be a master BMW mechanic to fix it.

Oh dear, I am on another rant about the modern BMW. Like someone else in this thread said, Honda Africa Twin looks a lot better.

As for the right to repair issue, it is sad the courts will decide the issue. In time Farmers may be able to get the diagnostics needed to "fix" their combines, and MacDonals will be released from the strangle hold the McFlurry machine company has on them. Or, it may go the other way and things will only get worse. St.

I totally agree. My bike is only 9 years newer than yours and it's my last BMW for positive certain and I do have the factory service manual.

Kind of a side note but my wife is a Rochester native and used to live in Spencerport. Her house was on South Union Street (torn down) where the new sheriff's station now is. She says she misses Wegmans. lol..lol.. I tell her she's gone to a better place but I'm not sure she believes me.
 
And people wonder why I never bought a BMW bike newer than my 84 R80RT. It is still going strong and was only to a BMW dealer the first ten years because the dealer then was a good place and a friend. Once he was put out of business by BMW and the boutique dealer stepped in telling me to buy a bike or forget service, I learned to work on the bike myself. I am also lucky I have a fellow nearby who owns an airhead repair shop for the things I can't do or won't do.

No complex electrical, fuel injection, antilock brakes, navigation, shift cams, yards of useless plastic fairing, just a motorcycle that does what I want it to do when I want it to. I don't need a computer to diagnose it, and luckily I don't have to be a master BMW mechanic to fix it.

Oh dear, I am on another rant about the modern BMW. Like someone else in this thread said, Honda Africa Twin looks a lot better.

As for the right to repair issue, it is sad the courts will decide the issue. In time Farmers may be able to get the diagnostics needed to "fix" their combines, and MacDonals will be released from the strangle hold the McFlurry machine company has on them. Or, it may go the other way and things will only get worse. St.

Part of my reasoning for not buying another one is the schizophrenic nature of their recalls/warranty/reliability issues. Broken throttle body pulleys are a thing now with 2005-2013 bikes. I was an early adopter that left me stranded and basically I fixed it on my own as I was out of warranty, but conversely, they'll replace fuel strips for 12 years after in service date. Which one has graver possibilities. There are other plastic bits that go bad too and their cars suffer from it as well. It just left a bad taste for me. They half bake things all the time, particularly with first year introductions. I just don't feel like rewarding it. That and my bike is paid for.
 
BMW most recently for cars maintains an online subscription service for service information. The DVDs were simply compilations of this information for motorcycles … there were never DVDs for cars. This is same information available to dealer techs. Switching to this delivery method for bikes changes little, except perhaps for the cost. My speculation is this is indeed the future for bike service information.

I’m more familiar with the Mercedes system and have used it extensively for my cars. Subscription normally runs something like $70 for 24 hours … during which time you can download and/or print a LOT. There is no such thing as a procedure that doesn’t contain a hyperlink to yet another procedure. It’s my speculation that for either of my cars there are likely 10,000 separate procedures. Subscription for a year is >$20K … this is obviously for independent repair shops. You can take to the bank that “right to repair” is fully covered by this, so turn off the hysteria.

Friend recently bought a Toyota … similar online repair info for those, too.

Maybe this is it

https://www.bmwtechinfo.com/#/login
 
I've had an R1250GS for about a year now and absolutely love the bike, so I am willing to put up with the complexity and servicing costs (though I plan to pony up for the extended warranty). However I just bought a Honda CRF 300L Rally to learn how to ride in the dirt. It is 'inexpensive and built to stay that way'. It is surprising how little maintenance there is, and they seem to expect you to do it yourself. The parts are also quite inexpensive. After BMW parts it is refreshing to see. I think I am going to enjoy this bike.
 
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