So how long would a K1300GT last?

2009 model that is. Had 22,000 miles when i got it last year. Now has 36,000. It seems like all the engine failures i have read about were caused by something catastrophic like the cam chain jumping teeth. Now assuming i am a good anal-retentive bike mechanic, what else would be prone to failure at maybe 50,000-100,000 miles? Yes i torque every bolt and screw in NM and everything on the bike has to be perfect. The reason i'm asking this is it seems like there are a lot of K1300GT parts for sale on ebay that came from broken down bikes.

truckerdave said:

The reason i'm asking this is it seems like there are a lot of K1300GT parts for sale on ebay that came from broken down bikes.

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There are two reasons for the parts on eBay. First, those are high performance motorcycles that are more capable than many persons who try to ride them well; and second, there are a lot of owners who are not anal retentive mechanics who torque every fastener in Newton Meters.

My broken down K1200S

I bought a 2008 K1200S, used with about 3,000 miles in late 2009. Loved it. Rode it all over the western states. Maintained it very well. Always garaged in NC and AZ. Engine failed at 82,000 miles. Just the best bike ever [for me]. I'm almost 77.

During a start after a 10 mile ride it sounded like a failed tensioner. Bike cold when started, but the noise did not stop until 3,000 rpms. Very odd for this bike. Rode it home 10 miles keeping the revs above 3,000 rpms where possible. Ran perfect about 3k.

Trailered it to an AZ dealer for brake flush, coolant change and tensioner evaluation. Started the bike to load on trailer, heard a slight ping, some rattle, but then fine. Rode 80 miles the next day. Ran fine, redline in higher gears. Super happy.

Surgery. Recovered enough to ride again. About a month of no starting the bike. When started a cacophony. Trailered back to dealer. No appointment. They suggested to drop it off. One month later they hadn't looked at it yet. Busy. I took it to a more local BMW service technician and they immediately opened it up [to a degree] and reported top end problems [not specific] and the repair could be $4,000 in parts and $1,000 or more in labor.

Stopped all work. Brought it home. Couldn't see spending $5,000 to $6,000 on this 'old', 'high mileage' bike. Neither did the mechanics.

Bought an 18,000 mile, pristine 2012 K1600GTL for $10,000. Sold the K1200S for $1,000. I like the K16, but it's no K1200S.

Did I make the right decisions? I'm 77.

mkrouse said:

I bought a 2008 K1200S, used with about 3,000 miles in late 2009. Loved it. Rode it all over the western states. Maintained it very well. Always garaged in NC and AZ. Engine failed at 82,000 miles. Just the best bike ever [for me]. I'm almost 77.

During a start after a 10 mile ride it sounded like a failed tensioner. Bike cold when started, but the noise did not stop until 3,000 rpms. Very odd for this bike. Rode it home 10 miles keeping the revs above 3,000 rpms where possible. Ran perfect about 3k.

Trailered it to an AZ dealer for brake flush, coolant change and tensioner evaluation. Started the bike to load on trailer, heard a slight ping, some rattle, but then fine. Rode 80 miles the next day. Ran fine, redline in higher gears. Super happy.

Surgery. Recovered enough to ride again. About a month of no starting the bike. When started a cacophony. Trailered back to dealer. No appointment. They suggested to drop it off. One month later they hadn't looked at it yet. Busy. I took it to a more local BMW service technician and they immediately opened it up [to a degree] and reported top end problems [not specific] and the repair could be $4,000 in parts and $1,000 or more in labor.

Stopped all work. Brought it home. Couldn't see spending $5,000 to $6,000 on this 'old', 'high mileage' bike. Neither did the mechanics.

Bought an 18,000 mile, pristine 2012 K1600GTL for $10,000. Sold the K1200S for $1,000. I like the K16, but it's no K1200S.

Did I make the right decisions? I'm 77.

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As long as you are happy and smiling when you ride the bike you have, then you didn't make a bad decision.

I've been looking further into this. On a very small percentage of the K bikes the ESA rear shock fails with less miles than mine. It can be rebuilt by a company in the UK but it ain't cheap. It's probably a very small percentage, as the owners whose ESA has not failed are not posting on the internet how it is still working just fine. Looks i would go ahead and change the timing chain, tensioner, sprockets, and guide rails as a preventative measure sometime around 75,000. I just freshened up the tensioner with a new O ring kit. Both removal of the ESA and the timing chain i can do myself. I've been working on bikes of all kinds for 50 years. With those two repairs it ought to make it to 100,000 miles which is realistically longer than i would, considering I'm 69 and have 3 other bikes to split up the riding between. You do the math.

truckerdave said:

It seems like all the engine failures i have read about were caused by something catastrophic like the cam chain jumping teeth..

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All the cam chain failures I heard about were on the K1200.
The chain and sprockets were updated on the K1300 plus a jump guard was added sometime around 2011 just to make sure.

truckerdave said:

I've been looking further into this. On a very small percentage of the K bikes the ESA rear shock fails with less miles than mine. It can be rebuilt by a company in the UK but it ain't cheap. It's probably a very small percentage, as the owners whose ESA has not failed are not posting on the internet how it is still working just fine.

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i suspect more ESA failures are not talked about is because it is not a sudden issue. shocks die slowly. owners don't notice the gradual decline and think they are still working... most any original car or bike shock is dead by 30k miles, but folks will swear that the are working perfectly. put a new shock on it and the light bulb comes on as to how bad the original one was.

I've got 105,000 km on my 1200 which has had all the recall upgrades specified by BMW. The ESA still works but I had the rear shock recharged with nitrogen last year - I installed a Shrader valve in the reservoir and "Bob's your uncle". I know both shocks are functioning as when I select "sport" mode versus "comfort" the suspension stiffens up very noticeably. "Normal" is somewhere in between which is where I usually have it set. As well, the preload adjustments still work on the rear shock. I just replaced the water pump but beyond that I see no future issues which cause me concern.

I too have other bikes to ride but I expect to have this 1200 for at least another 30k km, or more.

mlytle said:

i suspect more ESA failures are not talked about is because it is not a sudden issue. shocks die slowly. owners don't notice the gradual decline and think they are still working... most any original car or bike shock is dead by 30k miles, but folks will swear that the are working perfectly. put a new shock on it and the light bulb comes on as to how bad the original one was.

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I'm not disputing your expense with new vehicle shocks, but I've heard this "they are shot by 30,000 miles" claim for years, and that has not been my experience at all, at least with bikes and cars in the last 20 years. I say this realizing that someone may reply saying that since shocks deteriorate over time, I'm just acclimating and not noticing the decline. I have five bikes and three cars and I do change suspension on all of them over time, so my reply is that I do have new, aftermarket, upgraded reference points. I have one BMW bike with about 66,000 miles on it and the suspension is still doing very well in relation to how it was new. I ride it very aggressively on lots of mountain twisty roads, and the suspension does not hold me back. But, as a reference point, I have a few years earlier BMW sport bike with new Hyperpro suspension (which I think is a great value for the money) that I also ride very aggressively. The Hyperpro bits were a big improvement over that bike's OEM suspension, but those shocks were never very impressive to begin with. I have similar experiences with my later model vehicles.

I'm old enough to know what American car suspensions were like in the 60's and forward for several decades. They weren't very good to begin with, and thankfully, they did seem to be shot by or before 30,000 miles. I know that was certainly the case with most motorcycle shocks from the 60's until the last couple of decades. So, start with low end components and that "30,000 mile" statement had credibility, just like the 3,000 mile oil change. But, in my experience, both are no longer true, at least not for better brands of cars and bikes. And, trust me, I'm a guy who loves new tires and suspension.

Ok, flame suit on!

K1200GT Experience

We owned a 2008 K1200GT for 9 years and put 130,000 miles on her.

The Grey Ghost, our nickname for her, had all the problems.

The first was the cam chain jump at 40,600 miles. Bike out of OEM warranty, extended warranty contract covered it.

The clutch began not disengaging in the 60,000 mile range. Replaced the clutch basket, clutch pack and installed an upgraded oil pump drive gear at 78,500.

That one came out of my pocket though at a reduced labor cost due to upgraded drive gear replacement.

At 92,800 miles the rear drive was replaced. We got caught in a Haboob that packed the bike with sand. The rear drive was a mess. Replaced under the extended warranty contract.

We traded her in on a 2019 K1600GT Sport with 130,000 miles on her. She still went like stink and looked elegant.

This particular bike had some of the idle and just-plain-stall-out problems. Usually, a good cleaning of the throttle bodies with some silicone spray would keep the problem at bay for a while.

We liked The Grey Ghost so much that I've thought about buying a used one. Like the K13GTs there are some nice K12GTs out there.

It would seem that most if not all of the above problems have been delt with on the K13s, and you get a few more ponies.

The aftermarket suspension sellers certainly want folks to think OEM suspension is crqp right off the showroom floor. And I personally am thankful for that. For both my R1150R as well as Voni's R1100RS I was able to buy showroom take offs or very low mileage struts for a mere pittance on several occasions. Eventually that supply disappeared but it was great while it lasted.

truckerdave said:

2009 model that is. Had 22,000 miles when i got it last year. Now has 36,000. It seems like all the engine failures i have read about were caused by something catastrophic like the cam chain jumping teeth. Now assuming i am a good anal-retentive bike mechanic, what else would be prone to failure at maybe 50,000-100,000 miles? Yes i torque every bolt and screw in NM and everything on the bike has to be perfect. The reason i'm asking this is it seems like there are a lot of K1300GT parts for sale on ebay that came from broken down bikes.

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BMW hired the Ricardo Group to redo some of the engineering that had proven problematic on the wedge K1200 bikes. Intake systems, engine internals, etc.,, and the changes made the K1300 bikes markedly different from their predecessors. Some issues still appeared, but possibly in smaller numbers than the K1200 series. The K13s still needed the cam chain guard and an occasional refresh of the cam chain tensioner—some owners opted to install a mechanical tensioner instead. Clutch basket metallurgy seems to be less problematic and some owners opted for modifications to improve oil flow through the clutch. And a lot of owners have opted for reduced fuel mileage but improved mid-range mixture control by adding AF-XIED devices. And, a few K13s have tossed con read bearings (#4 rod, IIRC) but that doesn’t seem to have become a thing.

IMHO, the K13GT bikes were some of the best that BMW has produced. 160hp in a package with crisp handling, good luggage space, and all-day ergonomics (except the saddle). Then, after 5 years of developing the bikes BMW elected to discontinue and replace them with a six-banger offering nearly identical HP and torque numbers, more weight, increased maintenance cost (6 vs 4 on plugs and valve adjustments) and at a higher sales price.

So the resale is low on K13s because A) they’ve been discontinued for 10 years and B) parts availability for some repairs is problematic, like no transmission parts available—only complete new transmissions or shafts, and C) they aren’t the iconic R-bikes for which BMW has become famous. The above factors mean that a bike needing repair may be worth more as parts than as a complete bike, which is why you see bikes being sold as parts.

If you own a K13S or GT ride it, maintain it, and enjoy it!

Best,
DeVern

I had done my homework before i specifically chose the K1300 GT. I had a friend with a K1200 that upgraded to a K1300 so i had some reference to go by with his experiences. He since traded the K1300 for new K1600. Sorry i just don't like it. I already have a Harley Road Glide with a 110 HP(rear wheel) engine(very much rebuilt). I don't need another fast touring bike. Found a good low mileage K1300GT in decent shape for a decent price in March of 2020. I bought it for the long run. It's now repainted black and i just couldn't imagine owning a better motorcycle. On the ESA, mine still works as it should at 36,000 miles. All the settings from sport to comfort work exactly as intended. I am definitely going to keep the rear ESA shock clean from now on and probably give it a squirt of brake cleaner and WD 40 or something similar every now and then.

GTRider said:

Clutch basket metallurgy seems to be less problematic and some owners opted for modifications to improve oil flow through the clutch.
DeVern

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I forgot about the clutch basket. On both of ours I could hear a little clutch rattle after 50,000 miles.

Guess the jokes on me concerning the ESA rear shock. When i checked it today i noticed some oil on it. Checked it out and seems the shock has very little damping. It just bounces up and down like a worn out shock would. I thought it hadn't been riding too well the last couple of times i rode it. The preload mode and the suspension comfort/normal/sport setting mode still seem to work ok so i have to assume it's just the shock itself that went bad. Oh well. Looks like the shock will be taking a trip somewhere to be replaced or rebuilt early next year. Now i know the answer how long the ESA shock lasts. 36,000 miles.

truckerdave said:

Guess the jokes on me concerning the ESA rear shock. When i checked it today i noticed some oil on it. Checked it out and seems the shock has very little damping. It just bounces up and down like a worn out shock would.

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You probably already know this but in the "Comfort" setting there is little / no rebound in the rear shock. Of course, if its leaking oil, its fooked.

Lee said:

I forgot about the clutch basket. On both of ours I could hear a little clutch rattle after 50,000 miles.

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I think that rattle resulted from collapsing/collapsed clutch springs. I've read that some people try to shim them but its easier (and safer) to acquire a used K1300 clutch and associated updated parts.

BC1100S said:

its fooked.

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Is that a Canadian technical term

truckerdave said:

Guess the jokes on me concerning the ESA rear shock. When i checked it today i noticed some oil on it. Checked it out and seems the shock has very little damping. It just bounces up and down like a worn out shock would. I thought it hadn't been riding too well the last couple of times i rode it. The preload mode and the suspension comfort/normal/sport setting mode still seem to work ok so i have to assume it's just the shock itself that went bad. Oh well. Looks like the shock will be taking a trip somewhere to be replaced or rebuilt early next year. Now i know the answer how long the ESA shock lasts. 36,000 miles.

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My buddy's K1300GT ESA shock developed a leak and he was able to get it rebuilt here:

https://acceleratedtechnologies.ca/

Sent from my SM-T813 using Tapatalk

Lee said:

Is that a Canadian technical term

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How'd ya guess?