How reliable are these era bikes?

[nickrides]

Thanks for all the responses!
Those bikes are cheap and good looking IMHO quite the value if you get a good one.
I've got 3 bikes running now do I need a 4th?
Best Regards
Nick

 

[Mr_Canoehead]

Although Peter Egan says the ideal number is five, I believe that the ideal number of motorcycles is N+1, where N is the number of motorcycles you already own.

 

[RPGR90s]

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.

Very interesting. I had a 2002 RT (Single Spark) that was totally reliable until it sacrificed itself to a deer. (Thank God for ABS on that day I can attest). It's real UN-solvable issue was my inability to remedy the horrible surging.
Loved the bike, hated the surging.

Bought a new 2004 RT after the deer mishap based on one test ride where the dual spark motor totally eliminated the '02's surging.

Like Airhead's, Oilhead versions have strong opinions from year to year.
It just means we're passionate about our bikes.

 

[taran1900]

Nonsense. Not even BMW would do this to buyers.

Actually, BMW does do this to their cars. Specifically they use a lot of 3D printed plastic parts under the hood instead of metal and rubber. Almost like clockwork, BMW car owners start experiencing coolant and oil leaks around the five year mark as the plastic bits (coolant lines, oil lines, plastic valve covers) begin to degrade.

I saw some of this kind of plastic degrading on my old 2005 R1200RT. The plastic headlight plug disintegrated in my hands during one low low beam change. I ended up replacing all the bulb connectors with higher quality plugs from Autozone. I think the bike was around 6 years old when I first saw it. Those were the only electronic plastic bits on the 2005 that I ever saw in nearly 14 years of ownership and maintaining the bike my self. The rest of the wiring on that bike was fine after I sold it in early 2020.

I did replace the original fuel line connectors to the tank with metal ones as the original plastic ones went bad and leaked. Oh, and then there was cracking in the plastic fuel pump housing which was replaced under recall.

Compared to the cars, the impact of this plastic crap on the BMW bikes in my experience is minimal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cuUNZClgag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzTVoY94di4

 

[eastbay]

As it happens, I have an almost 20 year-old R bike for sale in the Marketplace of this forum. I have all service records since I bought it new.

http://marketplace.bmwmoa.org/classified/2002-r1150r-listing-23852.aspx

that's a nice looking reasonably priced bike. good luck with the sale.