48K and must replace suspension

Long story short, someone on AdvRider asked about service costs in Europe (I assume Germany) for his K1600, specifically that the bike has 48K on it and he seemed to be saying that this mileage was time (or distance) enough to replace the suspension. It's not clear to me what exactly that means, but I assume it means replacing at least the shocks. a) Is "X distance cover necessitates suspension refurb" and b) if so, what should be replaced? I don't own a K1600, so I'm flying blind here.

Shocks wear out. Stock BMW shocks are not designed to be serviceable (not easily). Aftermarket ones usually can be rebuilt. I believe Ohlins and Wilburs suggest rebuilds at 25k mile intervals. That being said, my GSA with 68k miles still has the original front and the rear has ~48k miles on it. They are feeling a bit soft and have for a while, but I'm still riding since they aren't leaking and I like the way it rides (or I'm very used to it). My K1600 has 23k miles and I find it fairly harsh riding and am very tempted to replace with aftermarket just to improve the ride, not because I feel they are worn. BTW, none of them leak, unlike my original GSA rear that failed under warranty.

Thanks for the info. I'll have to look at my paperwork, to see what Öhlen says about the set I have. Every 25K sounds a little drastic to me. Like you, maybe I'm used to what I have. Or maybe they're fine for road use if not track use.

Anyway, I take it that there's no "they all do it" knowledge that 40K plus says "must be swapped". Which seems more reasonable to me.

27.8 percent of the posters on this Forum probably believe that the OEM shocks were shot on the showroom floor. Harley riders swap exhausts at the first service. Some BMW riders swap shocks at the first service.

PGlaves said:

27.8 percent of the posters on this Forum probably believe that the OEM shocks were shot on the showroom floor. Harley riders swap exhausts at the first service. Some BMW riders swap shocks at the first service.

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And that's the name of that tune.

I agree with Paul. Some people replace right away. As you can tell from my first post, I'm perfectly happy with the suspension on one bike and less so on the other. I'm also cheap and will probably continue to ride them both until a shock starts to leak then that set is off from replacement. Or it becomes very obvious that they are no longer dampening.

Sounds a good plan to me. I'm surprised, though, about characterizing your K1600's ride as harsh. I've ridden a couple of them, even managed to snag one over a long weekend, and enjoyed the ride. Comfort mode is, not too surprisingly, a little ...mmmm... marshmallow-ish, sport on the quite firm side, and normal came out about right. . All of that said, I'm quite happy with the after-market Öhlins the PO installed.

About the only thing that I really dislike is the "fly by wire" throttle. Part of that is my KRS' throttle is great for building wrist muscles, anything lighter is disconcerting. Once I get past that, though, I find that hard shock events, such as crossing train tracks, can lead to inadvertently twitching the throttle. The option to somehow create a controllable amount of drag (but never allow locking the grip, which IMNSHO, is letting Grim Death ride pillion) seems worth some thought.

Woodbutcher said:

I agree with Paul. Some people replace right away. As you can tell from my first post, I'm perfectly happy with the suspension on one bike and less so on the other. I'm also cheap and will probably continue to ride them both until a shock starts to leak then that set is off from replacement. Or it becomes very obvious that they are no longer dampening.

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The extra $1600 for a set of rebuildable Wilber struts transforms the K16GT. The handling and ride quality are dramatically improved.

The only BWW I've owned with excellent struts is my current RS with DESA. BMW got it right with this version of ESA.

Find someone (just sold mine) with a set of Wilbers and go ride it.

I agree that after-market shocks can be an improvement - assuming a competent installation and, more importantly, setup.The Öhlins on my bike definitely rock. My initial question, though, is whether the OEM shocks are likely to be at around 40-45K. It's my sense the answer is "no".