Advice on BMW R 1150 GS/BMW R1200GS.

Get a V-strom thou. In between the two and at least £2k cheaper

Originally Posted by Jackie_Black

Get a V-strom thou. In between the two and at least £2k cheaper

different kettle of fish no?

Its a massive dual sport/road tourer thing.
Will do basic off road but no where near as hardcore as a 990 adventure. Will also go much faster than it looks like it should

There are a couple of well publicised issues (ie lots of noise) with the 1200. ie Final drive failures and gearbox spigot alignment issues that takes out the clutch spline. There have been reports of cracks developing (or failures) in the swing arm and FD housing.
As I said lots of noise. Issues occur on any bike and given the number of these bikes on the road he'd have to be really unlucky to hit one. Like any SH bike, go over it with a fine toothed comb and if in doubt, take someone who is savvy with these bikes along for the ride.

The shocks (Fr & Rr) generally don't last that long. Rebuildable Ohlins or similar are a definite plus (expensive hit otherwise). Crash bars are also a big plus to protect those cylinders, preferably since new.
The accessories list for these bikes is long and very expensive so it might pay a big dividend to pay a little more for a nicely optioned bike.
Warranty is a definite plus.

Cheers

[Rich]

Cheers guys some really great input, I'll pass it on to my mate.