R1150GS (Loz: just move on, nowt to see here)

Paging them wot know.

I'm looking to get another bike. Although the Tuono has served me very
well, I'm afraid it will depreciate quite a bit more as I put on the
miles (42 000 at the moment).

I've got a hankering for a R1150 GS for some strange reason. Can anyone
tell me what to look out for? The one I looked at, has about 44 000
miles. It's a yellow one, if that matters, has side cases and a tankbag
as well as heated grips. It's an ABS model of 2000.

 

They are shit. Get something decent FFS.

 

That'll be pretty similar to my yellow 2000 bike then. I don't have side
cases and wouldn't want them as the restrict filtering capacity.

Things to look for:
corrosion on the bits painted silver. Some are really bad after 5 years.
Mine is just starting to go on the fork brace & some other bits, which is
not too bad for a bike entering its 10th winter.

Has a topbox been mounted on the luggage rack? If so, check the rear
subframe is not cracked. Only happens if the topbox is overloaded.

Check the ABS works: the red lights won't go out until the bike is moving
so ask the owner to demonstrate if you can't get a test ride.

If the bike has the OE catalyst removed check to see if the owner has had
the thing set-up properly. They can run rich with a Y piece & end can,
shortening engine life.

If there is any service history, check to see if the alternator belt has
been changed. If not, get it done (or do it yourself, not difficult).

Manky looking mild steel spokes are better than stainless ones as they
don't break

The rest of the things to look for are generic used bike stuff, bearing in
mind age & mileage.

Don't be fooled by loads of Touratech bling. It adds **** all to the value
of the bike. The bike has the only options that affect price i.e. heated
grips, luggage & ABS.

 

Not a great road bike. Not a trail bike. Slow. Poor quality. POS

 

Yeah but I'd hardly expect you and me to agree on bikes!

I'm not saying they handle badly. Quite well for such a beast. But it is
way too porky for an off roader and utterly outclassed by a myriad of
road bikes. The engines wind up ok eventually but they have no real
surge, no GO.

I just won't touch the whole R1100 R1150 range with a bargepole and they
just *are* badly made unreliable POS. And that godforsaken Evo braking
system!

I can't comment on the newer R1200 and on ranges as I'd lost all
interest.

Considering Spete has loved the Tuono it doesn't really matter WTF he
buys though.

 

<narrows eyes>

Something wrong with Tuonos?

<thinks>

Of course. Anything else would be a step backward.

 

You're obviously missing the point:

Hog's allowed to criticise anything he wants because he pays tax.

 

See my channel on Youtube for slight off-road on GS's. The real
difficukt bits were done by them as well (Pyrennees). When I say
proper, I mean booulders and such (WavyDavy can vouch for this). Not
that I will do that in such an extreme, but I do have the off-road bug.
I just need a proper dual purpose bike, as I do big distances as well.

Spete

 

A nice Tenere then!

 

Aprilia!
<spit>

 

You are terribly terribly wrong you know.

 

<Curious>

How does that shorten engine life, unless it's running so rich that it's
washing the oil off the cylinder walls?

 

They're not super-powerful, but I really like 'em. And they're more
reliable than the 1200.

 

On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:38:23 -0000, "'Hog"

snip>

Nice isn't the word I used to describe mine when the key broke in a
pannier lock this morning (1).

The good thing is that Yamaha accept that the luggage locks are shit
and are replacing all the early ones under warranty. Mine are on order
as I type this.

(1) Pissing with rain, first day on a H&S course (2) and all my
non-biking kit in the panniers. Luckily the locks are so shit that the
top box key fits the panniers even though the numbers are different.

(2) I've already wound them up when they were discussing possible
consequences of getting something wrong and I said that a 30 miles
exclusion zone for the next millennium left their problems (3) in the
shade.

(3) There are 3 members of staff from a special needs school on the
course. They're not retards, they're 'challenged'.

I've got three more days of this shit and I reckon I've got a good
chance of being slung off if I say what I'm really thinking when we're
having group discussions. It's no wonder Togs H&S monkey has such
fucked up ideas.

 

You can go to jail for tax evasion.

 

Are we talking riding, style, build quality, or what?

 

<swims lazily up. sniff. swims away>

 

(The Older Gentleman) wrote in

**** knows, I'm going on memory not technical expertise - I've followed a
few where huge quantities of unburnt fuel seem to emerge from the exhausts.
There have been a couple of cases reported on UKGSer where pistons have
melted.

Most bikes with Y pieces run okay as people get them set-up properly. I
think changing one of the "looks like a relay but is really just a wire
link in a pretty plastic moulding" blocks, that puts the fuel injection
into a different mode, is a start.

 

I beg your ever so pudding.

"Management"

 

I thought the 1200 and more so the 1250 were an improvement. BWTFDIK about
new BMW's