Thoughts on the GS ?

[DarrenSV650S]

Complete gearbox failure
£400 a year for 'warranty'
Slow responding throttle and feels disconnected
Struggles at high speed
Bad aerodynamics
Front end goes light over 90mph
£350 services
High insurance
Corroding calipers, shock and bike in general



Ooooh yeah, sign me up for one of those!

[DJ123]

To add some context/real life in to this:

Complete gearbox failure - bad luck that can happen on any vehicle
£400 a year for 'warranty' - on a bike worth £10k, it's not really a lot when you consider that a 2K repair means you've had/got 5 years cover free!
Slow responding throttle and feels disconnected - it's not a lightweight sports bike. A 250kg (+ passengers) weight bike is probably worse off with a light snappy throttle
Struggles at high speed - aerodynamics of a brick . . .
Bad aerodynamics - see above
Front end goes light over 90mph - unless you're in Germany it shouldn't be a problem
£350 services - BMW labour rate is £120 per hour . . . .
High insurance - much sorted after bike and worth a lot of cash. like any super bike
Corroding calipers, shock and bike in general - like most Japanese bikes do . . .

Nothing out the ordinary really. It's an 'adventure' bike, yes it can go off road if you want but it's more the adventure of packing it with luggage and riding off to wherever.

[Adam Ef]

There's plenty of history of "reliable" japanese bikes having major failure issues. Classics like the FZ1 generator magnets coming loose and destroying a few engines. Not even a Yamaha recall on that... owners just had to know to get it changed out themselves before the inevitable happened.
I found the throttle just needed winding on a bit further to get the same feel as an immediate sport bike would have. As you say, that can be a good thing. Plenty of people buy sports bikes and do throttle mods too (SV with R1 throttle? Street Triple with the Speed throttle?) as they can have slower feel than wanted too.
I found the aerodynamics pretty good for the type of bike it is. Better than the problems I had with the Tracer which became a big part of why I got rid of it. So I was very aware of focusing on the air flow smoothness, affect of the screen positions etc to make sure it didn't have similar problems.
I don't think it's the sort of bike I'd ride much over 90mph.

I did get a trial insurance quote for a fictional 2013 GS and it was lower than other bikes I've been quoted for. It was less for a whole year than just the additional cost I paid putting my GSXR on my insurance instead of the Street Triple for the few months remaining on my policy. Got a feeling the GSXR is going to be a shock when I try to get a whole year!
Even my impressivley corrosion resitant Honda has areas that haven't avoided some corrosion and flaking.


Overall I think if I had the money to spare for the upkeep of one (or better still if it was a paid business cost) and I was putting lots of commuting miles on one for a well paid job then I think I'd have one. It's a very easy ride. Very different to any other bike I've tried. As it is I'll keep coating my VFR800 in ACF50 and only taking pictures of it from a distance to avoid showing it's battle scars.

[L3nny]

Some confusion it seems: the throttle isn't slow to respond, in fact the fueling is pretty much perfect.
I was talking about the rear suspension, as it's a little on the soft side, it feels like it's wallowing a little on a bumpy road. It's not though, it's just doing it's job really well, but after years of riding sports bikes or bikes with basic suspension it feels strange at first.

[Adam Ef]

One thing I really liked was the electronic suspension modes. Being able to change from standard to "dynamic" on the fly and firm things up is amazing. You can have super plush (maybe slightly bouncy) suspension for normal (*terrible UK*) roads and then when you hit a decent patch or want to press on put it in dynamic and it feels solid. Same for the throttle. I think the "slow" feeling on the throttle I experienced was the regular mode compared to the immediate grab of the GSXR / Street Triple that I've got used to recently. The dealer wouldn't let me put it in dynamic to ride away and insisted I needed to get used to it as "dynamic throttle mode is aggressive". I switched it pretty quickly once I'd set off and found it much better. So, you get a choice of reponse and suspension feel at the press of a button, which is great. It's the only bike I've tried where the modes actually seem useful. All others I think you just need the "mode" of knowing the throttle and using it accordingly for the conditions.


I realise I sound like I'm slowly trying to talk myself into owning one and I probably would if money allowed and the worries of horror stories were put aside. They are a very very popular well selling bike though, so there are bound to be a lot of people with problems who are vocal about them on the internet.


I think it was mentioned earlier in this thread that with the extra cost of them I think people expect them to never have reliablility issues. Something goes wrong on a 7k adventure bike and you kind of feel it's not great but you know it was 7k. A bike you've paid 12k for has issues and you feel very differently about it. In reality it's all a substantial amount of money for whatever bike you get.

[Adam Ef]

I also know of people who have had plenty of reliabilty issues with Ducati, KTM and Moto Guzzi bikes. All premium cost, fairly new bikes.

[L3nny]

Another bonus is the BMW dealers are great. While my local Suzuki dealer is a dingy, oily, shed. The BMW is a posh, carpeted, warm showroom where you can sit and drink free lattes.
When I had the gearbox issue, they recovered the bike, gave me a brand new GS (850) as a loan bike and swapped the gearbox without me having to do anything.
Suzuki on the other hand were terrible when I bought my brand new V-Strom. I had to call head office and get them to speak to the dealer so they would carry out a recall the dealer swore didn't need doing. While the work was being done they said, "Well we can give you a 125 scooter if you want, but you'll have to pay for insurance" If I ever buy a brand new bike again, it will be a BMW based purely on the service.
Go to your local dealer, they normally have demos and let you take them out for a few hours.

[Adam Ef]

I'm working at home today and always have youtube reviews etc on in the background (part of where my interest in certain bikes comes from when you hear of real world user reviews.)


Currently listening to someone who had the top of the range Triumph Explorer 1200. In just under two years it didn't start properly from new. Triumph denied any problem. Then it stopped altogether and Triumph had it for two months during the best summer weather trying to sort electrical problems without even an apology, no courtesy bike and no updates or calls to the customer unless he pestered them. He pointed out that unfortunately when you come to get a new bike after that experience you find it really hard to go for the same brand knowing how you've been treated.

[Seeker]

I think the problem lies in the ubiquitous expression "German Engineering" - it has come to mean everything that is well built and perfectly functional - we even get it on shampoo now. Since BMWs are generally priced higher than most other makes we expect perfection. In the UK we view BMW cars as being upmarket, reliable products but if you read US car web sites (like jalopnik.com) they view them differently - ok for 1or 2 years then get rid of them before the bills start.
German engineering is good but it used to be much better (imho).

[STRAMASHER]

GS ? Done all my research 7yr ago. Bought a Honda! (Closest was a Yam S10)


Have a good look at UKGSER. Brilliant resource. i know lots of ex-owners with tales that make you shiver, going back to even the 1150.