Test rode 2014 RT - nice, but.....

[FJRPittsburgh]

OP-I'm active on both MOA and K16 Forums. The RT has had drive failures, and quite a few of them at that. A vast majority of those owners however will not give those 2 bangers up. Dedicated or maybe more-so stubborn old jack-asses. Personally I would not want one, air or water head.

Do yourself a favor... test drive the flagship (not my wording, but rather most ST bike reviewers) of all sport tourers... the K16GT. It clearly blows everything else out of the water, price wise also, so hang on. The battery is under the front seat (where it should be!) and it does weigh a bit more than my FJR, BUT it plays lighter!. Not only my words either, every past FJR owner who has naturally progressed to this bike will say the same thing. It's a beast that plays better than the FJR. Whenever someone (over there) finds out that I own an FJR, I usually get a response "oh, I had one of those before my K16!). It's all good, no haters or jealousy and they'll tell it like it is.

So test drive one, and for several hours at that! (almost all Beemer dealers will let you, make friends n chat some w your dealer first). After (lets say) 2+ hrs on the K16, you will first notice no vibration or hum period. You won't notice per-say ahead of time, just after your test drive and hop back on your FJR... so bring your wallet

. I'd say they're probably at least 50 of us on K1600forum.com that were (or still are like me!) owners of the FJR (and a few are Connie or ST ex-saddlers). It's a natural progression for ST riders to evolve into. Yes it has a million toys and gizmo's but you can order one without! (not me, I'm a gizmo and doohickey fanatic!).

To stick up for the FJR, it is a great bike for the money. If you wanna keep your fun at or around the $15K range, then stay with the FJR all the way. IF your pockets are heavy and you need to unload it sum... WHAT A FREEQ'N BIKE! It's all that and then some. Duly noted, it is very expensive! (3 Year warranty is standard for any of you "Deliverance" fans).

KJ,

Your bike is beautiful. I've seen it now on a few occasions. I like everything about it except the price. A couple of things I'd be interested to find out are: 1) Is the regular maintenance as easy to perform on the BMW as the FJR? 2) How reliable will the Beemer be over time? The answer to the latter will take years to determine.

I'm extremely happy with my 2008 AE. It does everything I want and more for sport touring. Fair price, regular gas, good gas mileage, easy to perform scheduled maintenance, excellent performance, and extremely reliable. If I were in a position to spend a lot of money on a sport tourer, I would consider the K 1600 GT or GTL. As for right now, I couldn't be more satisfied with the FJR.

I am a little jealous of some of the bells and whistles on your ride though.

 

[Slardy]

Maintenance on BMW? Not very much you can do yourself. Oh, you can change the oil. But, since BMWs have CANBUS, any electrical troubleshooting must be done at the dealer. You take it into a dealer and pay him $70 bucks to give you the computer read-outs which often don't tell you what is wrong. Maintenance on the any BMW is very expensive...you are at the mercy of a single BMW dealer if you live in western PA. One dealer! That means no competition. Bring a big wallet when you visit them. Call the dealer and ask how much is a valve check-adjustment on the K1600.

I have done all the maintenance on my 2007 FJR that now has 62,000 miles and it and it is still running like a top. Any maintenance item that you want to do is described, usually with photos, in this forum. My son had a 2000 K1300GT for 3 years. He sold it because he was so fed up with BMW and the dealer. He could not get proper service under the warranty. He waited 3 weeks (when the K1300 only had 3200 miles on it and it sat in the shop) before BMW would authorize the dealer to perform a warranty maintenance service to fix a problem with the K1300 stalling when coming to a stop. BTW, he paid the dealer 2 times ( $70 each time) to be told that they can not find the problem.

To change the spark plugs on his BMW, you have to remove fairing pieces AND the RADIATOR!. Estimated cost: $250 plus big bucks for each plug.

The initial cost of ~$25000 for the K1600 is only the beginning of your expenses.

Slardy

 

[CA G-Man]

Maintenance on the any BMW is very expensive...you are at the mercy of a single BMW dealer if you live in western PA. One dealer! That means no competition. Bring a big wallet when you visit them.
My son had a 2000 K1300GT for 3 years. He sold it because he was so fed up with BMW and the dealer.

The initial cost of ~$25000 for the K1600 is only the beginning of your expenses.

Slardy

Sounds a lot like owning a BMW cage. On top of it all they seem to genuinely believe that it's a privilege to take a day off work ('cause they can't do anything other than an oil change on the weekends) to drive 300 km round-trip for service, only to be told "you need to come back to have ______ done" when the on-board computer should have told them before you got there what needed to be done!

 

[HotRodZilla]

Maintenance on BMW? Not very much you can do yourself. Oh, you can change the oil. But, since BMWs have CANBUS, any electrical troubleshooting must be done at the dealer. You take it into a dealer and pay him $70 bucks to give you the computer read-outs which often don't tell you what is wrong. Maintenance on the any BMW is very expensive...you are at the mercy of a single BMW dealer if you live in western PA. One dealer! That means no competition. Bring a big wallet when you visit them. Call the dealer and ask how much is a valve check-adjustment on the K1600.
I have done all the maintenance on my 2007 FJR that now has 62,000 miles and it and it is still running like a top. Any maintenance item that you want to do is described, usually with photos, in this forum. My son had a 2000 K1300GT for 3 years. He sold it because he was so fed up with BMW and the dealer. He could not get proper service under the warranty. He waited 3 weeks (when the K1300 only had 3200 miles on it and it sat in the shop) before BMW would authorize the dealer to perform a warranty maintenance service to fix a problem with the K1300 stalling when coming to a stop. BTW, he paid the dealer 2 times ( $70 each time) to be told that they can not find the problem.

To change the spark plugs on his BMW, you have to remove fairing pieces AND the RADIATOR!. Estimated cost: $250 plus big bucks for each plug.

The initial cost of ~$25000 for the K1600 is only the beginning of your expenses.

Slardy

That's 99% baloney. The maintenance on my brother's GS is cheaper and easier than my FJR. Valve checks are a breeze and oil changes utilize any oil he wants. The Canbus system is not difficult. Just gotta use the old brain. Don't listen to so much myth.

 

[Slardy]

I would agree that the decades old technology of the Boxer GS (recently updated into the 21st century with water cooling) is easy to maintain. You mention that the valves are easy to adjust, but you did not mention that you have to do it every 6000 miles. As you know, after the first valve check/adjust many FJRs will never need further adjusting. I have 62000 miles on my FJR and the valves are still in spec.

You can not do a valve adjustment on the K13000gt without removing the radiator and at least half of the fairing. And tell me that CANBUS does not complicate maintenance. Trouble shooting with CANBUS is nye impossible for the DIYer. And if you can't do these things you take it to a dealer who has little competition, due to the paucity of dealerships in the US and pay top $$$ for there service and parts.

Did you notice the recent Consumer Report reliability analysis that showed that the Harley was not last in reliability? Guess which motorcycle was last.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

And tell me that CANBUS does not complicate maintenance. Trouble shooting with CANBUS is nye impossible for the DIYer.

The CANBUS does not complicate maintenance. What does the electrical system have to do with routine maintenance? Troubleshooting is another matter. That can be overcome with a GS-911.

Ease of maintenance on a BMW depends on which bike you own. One of the reasons I went with an RT. Maintence is easier than it was on my FJR.

Valve checks are called for every 6000 miles. A valve check on the RT is much easier and quicker than it is on an FJR. No need to pull the tank on an RT

. Just like the FJR, many of the BMWs need little to no adjustments after getting settled in. Once settled in, many of the BMW owners extend the check to 12000 or more miles.

 

[RadioHowie]

OP-I'm active on both MOA and K16 Forums. The RT has had drive failures, and quite a few of them at that. A vast majority of those owners however will not give those 2 bangers up. Dedicated or maybe more-so stubborn old jack-asses. Personally I would not want one, air or water head.

Do yourself a favor... test drive the flagship (not my wording, but rather most ST bike reviewers) of all sport tourers... the K16GT. It clearly blows everything else out of the water, price wise also, so hang on. The battery is under the front seat (where it should be!) and it does weigh a bit more than my FJR, BUT it plays lighter!. Not only my words either, every past FJR owner who has naturally progressed to this bike will say the same thing. It's a beast that plays better than the FJR. Whenever someone (over there) finds out that I own an FJR, I usually get a response "oh, I had one of those before my K16!). It's all good, no haters or jealousy and they'll tell it like it is.

So test drive one, and for several hours at that! (almost all Beemer dealers will let you, make friends n chat some w your dealer first). After (lets say) 2+ hrs on the K16, you will first notice no vibration or hum period. You won't notice per-say ahead of time, just after your test drive and hop back on your FJR... so bring your wallet

. I'd say they're probably at least 50 of us on K1600forum.com that were (or still are like me!) owners of the FJR (and a few are Connie or ST ex-saddlers). It's a natural progression for ST riders to evolve into. Yes it has a million toys and gizmo's but you can order one without! (not me, I'm a gizmo and doohickey fanatic!).

To stick up for the FJR, it is a great bike for the money. If you wanna keep your fun at or around the $15K range, then stay with the FJR all the way. IF your pockets are heavy and you need to unload it sum... WHAT A FREEQ'N BIKE! It's all that and then some. Duly noted, it is very expensive! (3 Year warranty is standard for any of you "Deliverance" fans).

The Kool Aid is STRONG in this one, Obi Wan!

 

[BanjoBoy]

Sure a valve adjust on the R bikes is simple, butt ya gotta do it 4:1 compare ta da superior FJR. and don't ferget the rocker arm end play, to change the timing belt, 'n plugs all w/ the special Bring Mor Whiners tools. Oh, 'n if yer a do it yourselfer you just void the warranty yer gonna need. :luser:When I dun had me an R1200whatever, the maintenance wuz simple, butt yer always have'in ta do something. And even checking the oil was lame; I swear, every time I looked at the sight glass I got a different reading. How do they do it?

Butt the maintenance on the K bikes is dreadfull at best, and very expensive, butt worth it if ya wanta ride a bike w/ too many cylinders, to many spark plugs, too many throttle bodies, too many gears, too much heat, 'n too little reliability.

OP-I'm active on both MOA and K16 Forums. The RT has had drive failures, and quite a few of them at that. A vast majority of those owners however will not give those 2 bangers up. Dedicated or maybe more-so stubborn old jack-asses. Personally I would not want one, air or water head.

Do yourself a favor... test drive the fagship (not my wording, but rather most ST bike reviewers) of all sport tourers... the K16GT. It clearly blows everything else out of the water, price wise also, so hang on. The battery is under the front seat (where it should be!) and it does weigh a bit more than my FJR, BUT it plays lighter!. Not only my words either, every past FJR owner who has naturally progressed to this bike will say the same thing. It's a beast that plays better than the FJR. Whenever someone (over there) finds out that I own an FJR, I usually get a response "oh, I had one of those before my K16!). It's all good, no haters or jealousy and they'll tell it like it is.

So test drive one, and for several hours at that! (almost all Beemer dealers will let you, make friends n chat some w your dealer first). After (lets say) 2+ hrs on the K16, you will first notice no vibration or hum period. You won't notice per-say ahead of time, just after your test drive and hop back on your FJR... so bring your wallet

. I'd say they're probably at least 50 of us on K1600forum.com that were (or still are like me!) owners of the FJR (and a few are Connie or ST ex-saddlers). It's a natural progression for ST riders to evolve into. Yes it has a million toys and gizmo's but you can order one without! (not me, I'm a gizmo and doohickey fanatic!).

To stick up for the FJR, it is a great bike for the money. If you wanna keep your fun at or around the $15K range, then stay with the FJR all the way. IF your pockets are heavy and you need to unload it sum... WHAT A FREEQ'N BIKE! It's all that and then some. Duly noted, it is very expensive! (3 Year warranty is standard for any of you "Deliverance" fans).

The Kool Aid is STRONG in this one, Obi Wan!

Yeah it is.

There, I dun fixed it fer ya

 

[NMRoadRunner]

And now all of these fine German made motorbikes with electronic suspension are being recalled or replaced. WTF? That's going to leave a mark!

 

[beemerdons]

OP-
I'm active on both MOA and K16 Forums. The RT has had drive failures, and quite a few of them at that. A vast majority of those owners however will not give those 2 bangers up. Dedicated or maybe more-so stubborn old jack-asses. Personally I would not want one, air or water head.

Do yourself a favor... test drive the flagship (not my wording, but rather most ST bike reviewers) of all sport tourers... the K16GT. It clearly blows everything else out of the water, price wise also, so hang on. The battery is under the front seat (where it should be!) and it does weigh a bit more than my FJR, BUT it plays lighter!. Not only my words either, every past FJR owner who has naturally progressed to this bike will say the same thing. It's a beast that plays better than the FJR. Whenever someone (over there) finds out that I own an FJR, I usually get a response "oh, I had one of those before my K16!). It's all good, no haters or jealousy and they'll tell it like it is.

So test drive one, and for several hours at that! (almost all Beemer dealers will let you, make friends n chat some w your dealer first). After (lets say) 2+ hrs on the K16, you will first notice no vibration or hum period. You won't notice per-say ahead of time, just after your test drive and hop back on your FJR... so bring your wallet

. I'd say they're probably at least 50 of us on K1600forum.com that were (or still are like me!) owners of the FJR (and a few are Connie or ST ex-saddlers). It's a natural progression for ST riders to evolve into. Yes it has a million toys and gizmo's but you can order one without! (not me, I'm a gizmo and doohickey fanatic!).

To stick up for the FJR, it is a great bike for the money. If you wanna keep your fun at or around the $15K range, then stay with the FJR all the way. IF your pockets are heavy and you need to unload it sum... WHAT A FREEQ'N BIKE! It's all that and then some. Duly noted, it is very expensive! (3 Year warranty is standard for any of you "Deliverance" fans).

The Kool Aid is STRONG in this one, Obi Wan!

Yes it is RadioHowie, but that is because KJ - Top_Speed1 is having hot sex with the beautiful Debbie and you are having geriatric sex with your right (left?) hand! jes' sayin' and nuff said, ese!

 

[Top_Speed1]

Maybe strong but truthful from one that owns both bikes, not just a one-sider looking in.

And Don, it's the weekend and it's hott n sunny here (yes!). So it's going to be a boating weekend with plenty of drinks and lotion if ya get my breeze.

Remember it's all about the 3 Bee's, eh!

Boating

Booze

Bikini's

 

[Blind Squirrel]

And now all of these fine German made motorbikes with electronic suspension are being recalled or replaced. WTF? That's going to leave a mark!

Ummmmmm, no. Not all ESA bikes are being recalled. Only the 2014 RT.

 

[beemerdons]

Maybe strong but truthful from one that owns both bikes, not just a one-sider looking in.
And Don, it's the weekend and it's hott n sunny here (yes!). So it's going to be a boating weekend with plenty of drinks and lotion

if ya get my breeze.

Remember it's all about the 3 4 Bee's, eh!

Boating

Booze

Bikini's

BMW's

KJ, I had to fix your post 'Bro! Plus, you forgot to mention that BMW won the Isle of Man TT race.

BMW wins Isle of Man



Michael Dunlop wins Isle of Man TT on a BMW !
https://www.superbikeplanet.com/2014/Jun/140602a.htm

https://www.superbikeplanet.com/2014/Jun/140602a.htm
https://www.superbikeplanet.com/2014/Jun/140602a.htm

 

[art miller]

Interesting back and forth on the negatives and defensive positives for owning a BMW motorcycle. My 04 R1200C Montauk was pretty reliable but maint. costs were typical of any German vehicle. Availability of dealers was always a concern when on long road trips. One of my riding friends owns an 05 R1200RT and has had two final drive failures (BMW would not offer a dime as it was out of warranty), a recall on the fuel pump and it used oil until it had 30K miles on the engine. He owns two BMW cages and has had a series of maintenance issues with both. His remark on BMW is, "There will never be another BMW vehicle in my future".

 

[Warpdrv]

I still keep waffling on thoughts of a k1600.... might have to wait it out a bit longer, see if they can work out the rest of the small issues that still seem to plague them.

OL blue fjr never let me down yet, Id have a rough time if I was stuck with a bmr that had too many issues. If I did get one Id likely keep OL blue just in case...

 

[Denver_FJR]

Interesting back and forth on the negatives and defensive positives for owning a BMW motorcycle. ...

Yeah, for an FJR forum, we do talk a fair bit about BMW motorcycles, heh.

 

[art miller]

Warpdrv, rather than waffling over whether to get a K1600, why not just buy a new candy red FJR1300ES. You will get essentially all the attributes of the BMW at less $$'s, cheaper insurance, lower cost for gas (regular gas), and no harassment form members of this forum. Seems like a no brainer to me!!!

 

[AKjitsu]

At the risk of stating the obvious: There's a reason why every time the Germans go to war they get their faces stomped.

 

[Warpdrv]

Warpdrv, rather than waffling over whether to get a K1600, why not just buy a new candy red FJR1300ES. You will get essentially all the attributes of the BMW at less $$'s, cheaper insurance, lower cost for gas (regular gas), and no harassment form members of this forum. Seems like a no brainer to me!!!

Needless to say I'm thrilled with the FJR..... superior engineering that was obviously well thought out and tested before release - a far cry from what bmw does for their customers... Not a huge fan of the red meself, though I saw one in person at Road America and it looked pretty nice, but I'm in no hurry honestly.... I will just have to wait out a new color I guess...

Then all the damn farkling to do over bahhh.....

 

[beemerdons]

At the risk of stating the obvious: There's a reason why every time the Germans go to war they get their faces stomped.

Stomp? jes' sayin' and nuff said, Banzai!