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Disappointed and Discouraged in BMW
- Thread starter brucen8uty
- Start date
36654
New member
The John's flag down the prostitutes as they lap the block? Seems odd...
pglaves
#13338
SeabeckS
New member
SeabeckS
New member
brucen8uty
New member
I didn't put in all the details. The BMW rep said they would kick in $400-500 if, after tearing the engine down, it was found to be a manufacturing defect. The service manager said it would cost me around $700 for them to do it. So I would have lost $200-300, if BMW decided to pay off, which was not guaranteed. What would you do under those circumstances?
If I wanted to keep the bike I would pay for the teardown if I wanted BMW to even think about helping. It has to be torn down for repair either way and that shop time is not free.
If I wanted to keep the bike and not looking for fault, I would tear it down myself and be riding or letting it go.
Most of us realize it sucks to have a fairly low in BMW averages mileage bike let go, but after warranty is over it's a tougher stance to take to expect any help. If BMW finds a failed part, good for you as any help is better than none.
You just never know how those previous 40K were operated. Even with service records, no knowledge of a overheat/sit in traffic occurrence a few times or the driving styles of previous owners.
We have many second owner bikes with a lot more mileage, only Helen's '02 lost a chunk of valve at 104K...I am waiting on the heads to come back on that one. My 09 Hexhead did break a valve early in it's life under original warranty and I still had some cost on my part to get it back. Didn't keep me from getting another one.
Threads like this seem to derail often, especially in Winter.
Sorry for your woes, it is part of owning anything with a motor in it.
If I wanted to keep the bike and not looking for fault, I would tear it down myself and be riding or letting it go.
Most of us realize it sucks to have a fairly low in BMW averages mileage bike let go, but after warranty is over it's a tougher stance to take to expect any help. If BMW finds a failed part, good for you as any help is better than none.
You just never know how those previous 40K were operated. Even with service records, no knowledge of a overheat/sit in traffic occurrence a few times or the driving styles of previous owners.
We have many second owner bikes with a lot more mileage, only Helen's '02 lost a chunk of valve at 104K...I am waiting on the heads to come back on that one. My 09 Hexhead did break a valve early in it's life under original warranty and I still had some cost on my part to get it back. Didn't keep me from getting another one.
Threads like this seem to derail often, especially in Winter.
Sorry for your woes, it is part of owning anything with a motor in it.
I'd fix it. Its not worth much in non-running condition.
88bmwjeff
SF Bay Area
I would not teardown the whole engine, but rather I'd have them pull the head, piston and cylinder on the damaged side. I'm not familiar with the Oilheads, so I can't really comment. But removing the head on an airhead is about 15-20 min-max and I can't imagine an expert mechanic should be able to take the head of in less than an hour if not a half an hour. The comment I always hear is how quick and easy it is to remove the head and/or cylinder on these boxers. With the head and cylinder off, they should have been able to give you enough information if additional teardown was warranted. I don't know what the hourly rate is where you live, but for me it would be about $100 gamble, and that would have been worth it to me.
88bmwjeff
SF Bay Area
He did fix the bike. He chose to replace the engine with a good use engine, if I remember correctly.
jerrytango
New member
Another BNW rider in eastern NC : An opinion
"Maybe someday I'll get over it. Truly, I still want to believe in BMW as I always have, and to accept that I just had bad luck with one of their bikes. At this moment, it's hard to believe I will ever buy another. I could have bought a brand-new Kawasaki Versys 1000LT for what I've got in this 2006 R1200RT. BMW ought to be thinking about that."
Hello--I am also in eastern NC, New Bern to be exact. I recently bought a used 2008 R1200RT from Lejeune Motorsport in Jacksonville. It had 18K miles and now almost 20K. Garcia Moto in Raleigh did a 18K service (for $800) and all is fine so far. Your story is a sad one and I commiserate with you. Others have found fault with your complaint but I think you are in the right. To want to get something off your chest is laudable. BMW should have been a little more helpful. Such is life.
I don't know where you live but if you are near New Bern, I'd be happy to ride with you sometime, if you are looking for company on the road. I am retired and planning a cross country ride in the Spring.
In any event I hope you solve your problem quickly with the BMW. I have thought of buying a new one as some recommend to avoid breakdowns, but the huge price tag ($23,000) keeps me from doing it. I paid $6500 for my 2008 BMW and as long as it keeps going without too much expense, I'll ride it for a good while. My other bike is a 2011 Triumph Speedmaster 850cc. So far no problems.
Regards,
Jerry Scott
jerrywscott@aol.com
"Maybe someday I'll get over it. Truly, I still want to believe in BMW as I always have, and to accept that I just had bad luck with one of their bikes. At this moment, it's hard to believe I will ever buy another. I could have bought a brand-new Kawasaki Versys 1000LT for what I've got in this 2006 R1200RT. BMW ought to be thinking about that."
Hello--I am also in eastern NC, New Bern to be exact. I recently bought a used 2008 R1200RT from Lejeune Motorsport in Jacksonville. It had 18K miles and now almost 20K. Garcia Moto in Raleigh did a 18K service (for $800) and all is fine so far. Your story is a sad one and I commiserate with you. Others have found fault with your complaint but I think you are in the right. To want to get something off your chest is laudable. BMW should have been a little more helpful. Such is life.
I don't know where you live but if you are near New Bern, I'd be happy to ride with you sometime, if you are looking for company on the road. I am retired and planning a cross country ride in the Spring.
In any event I hope you solve your problem quickly with the BMW. I have thought of buying a new one as some recommend to avoid breakdowns, but the huge price tag ($23,000) keeps me from doing it. I paid $6500 for my 2008 BMW and as long as it keeps going without too much expense, I'll ride it for a good while. My other bike is a 2011 Triumph Speedmaster 850cc. So far no problems.
Regards,
Jerry Scott
jerrywscott@aol.com
crucian
New member
I had a 62 Renault Dauphine in high school. Beat that...
I'll take that challenge. Mine was a Renault Caravelle, complete with orange racing stripe to go with the 18hp lawn mower engine.
shortythorne
shortythorne
"Maybe someday I'll get over it. Truly, I still want to believe in BMW as I always have, and to accept that I just had bad luck with one of their bikes. At this moment, it's hard to believe I will ever buy another. I could have bought a brand-new Kawasaki Versys 1000LT for what I've got in this 2006 R1200RT. BMW ought to be thinking about that."
What you are saying is true to a certain extent, but like someone else said, anything with a motor can be problematic. There certainly are "other" brands way more affordable, and I agree that BMW sometimes has their head in the sand. Owning and riding a BMW motorcycle is like nothing else in the motorcycling world. You will not find a better "family". I am BMW loyal and I wouldn't trade what I have found with this brand for anything else.
My parents had a Dauphine. Dad was the parts manager at an Oldsmobile dealer that also sold Renault. I think that Dauphine was a 1964. At the end of the year, the general manager called my Dad and said "you just bought a new Dauphine". They needed to sell one more car to meet a target, and get significant kickbacks. So Dad bought a Dauphine for a ridiculous price - it was either $400 or $600. The Dauphine was Mom's car, since Dad got furnished with a demo. I believe it replaced a 1949 Chevy. I remember the cool thing about the Chevy was sitting in the back seat watching the road go past through all the holes in the rusted out floor. The Dauphine got replaced by a new 1968 R10, which is what I learned to drive on.
The Caravelles were cool. I never sat in one, let alone drove one.
Sorry to further hijack a BMW thread. I haven't thought about those Renaults for years.
I agree with you Gail...but only sort of. I do like my F800GT. It's a sweet bike, and I believe it'll last for quite awhile. But I just don't have that confidence in the larger, more expensive "sophisticated" models. Especially any newer BMW with a shaft drive.
What you are saying is true to a certain extent, but like someone else said, anything with a motor can be problematic. There certainly are "other" brands way more affordable, and I agree that BMW sometimes has their head in the sand. Owning and riding a BMW motorcycle is like nothing else in the motorcycling world. You will not find a better "family". I am BMW loyal and I wouldn't trade what I have found with this brand for anything else.
Bruce (the OP) bought his BMW thnking it would work...and then had two major failures in less than a month. And on a bike with less than 50,000 miles. That's bad.
I was just reading on Motorcycle.com about motorcycle reliability. At the bottom of the list was Can-Am. Just above the Can-Am, was BMW. It'd be easy to disregard what the study's results were, but the sample size was huge (over 11,000 responders). If all responders had the same questions...then it seems like the results must have some semblance of accuracy. It would be easy to say that only a very very small percentage of BMWs have a major failure, and that this owner was an anomaly, but that study indicates that many more BMW owners have major problems. And unlike the Can-Am...there's no mention of how the cost to 45% of the owners was $0.
From Motorcycle.com:
Like the Motorcycle.com article says, BMW has excellent technology. But the reliability isn't anywhere's near what other manufacturers are able to produce. And this on bikes that are supposed to be capable of riding around the world.
Lastly, if "anything with a motor can be problematic", then why is it the BMW was at 40% for major repairs and the top four on the list were at around 10%?
