getting complicated

[steveg]

These new BMW' S are getting pretty hard to self maintain,  I've serviced my 2000 R1100RT in every way imaginable for over 200,000 miles. Nothing that I wouldn't tackle but this 2020 R1250RT seems out of my reach as a DYIER. Just plain scares me. What are others thoughts on this. Inquiring minds want to know

[TEWKS]

Have ya met Boxflyer yet?  Not sure if he has a specific shiftcam video produced yet but he could explain your path forward with this new technology. 
 

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCeJAqO8pJpydWQ4z6iNOs9g

[Boxflyer]

Thanks TEWKS, I could use a little reinforcement here in the middle of winter to keep me going.

 

I'm trying to break up 2+ hours of recording I took doing just the Cam Timing and Valve Clearance checks on a 2020 R1250RT when it was still warm....it's a long process!

 

Steveg...I'll probably be doing a WetHead/ShiftHead Tech Day in the spring up here in Rhode Island...maybe we can meet to take some of the apprehension away from doing ALL the basic routine maintenance on these bikes.

 

 

[Hosstage]

It does make me appreciate my archaic no valve maintenance needed hydraulic lifter push rod Harley. Honestly haven't touched the motor in over 100,000 miles.

But I do appreciate an overachieving flat twin motor.

[MikeB60]

Just nuts, bolts and electrical connectors.  Oh yeah some zip ties as well!

[wbw6cos]

.....and more HP!   Shift Cam, baby!   

[60Aviator]

9 hours ago, steveg said:

These new BMW' S are getting pretty hard to self maintain,  I've serviced my 2000 R1100RT in every way imaginable for over 200,000 miles. Nothing that I wouldn't tackle but this 2020 R1250RT seems out of my reach as a DYIER. Just plain scares me. What are others thoughts on this. Inquiring minds want to know

 

Funny you should say that. BMW is using that thought as the reason they are not providing any maintenance DVDs to owners now. BMWON magazine did an article about this too but threw us owners under the bus and basically said suck it up! Bought my last BMW if this doesn't change.  

[Dann]

I got lucky I guess.

I was able to get the BMW Repair Manual  when I bought my 2019 R1250RT

[steveg]

I have the repair manual on disc but when you look up valve clearance its not as easy as my 1100 ,

[JamesW]

I have no doubt that routine maintenance would be almost as easy on one of this new bikes as it is on my ancient R1100RSL but... may the saints help you if you ever have anything close to a major failure on one of these new hi-tech wonders especially if your warranty has run out.  You will man your wallet and good luck finding the expertise necessary to do the work in a reasonable time frame. This is especially true in my part of the world.

 

Oh, and you can keep your horse power.  The 90HP on my 1100 at about 540 lbs is just fine thank you and more than adequate.

[realshelby]

Well....I would MUCH rather maintain my Wethead over the Oilhead it replaced. Everything on it, besides the air filter, is easier to keep up. Assuming you don't have an alternator failure I think major repairs are MUCH less likely on the newer BMW's and just as easy or easier to access and service. 

Made one valve adjustment. My Oilhead usually needed that every other major service. Then there was replacing the clutch...and maintaining the braking system. 

As far as service costs at a Dealer, I think any major failure would be in the same price range for a newer RT than the older ones. IF they even took on the work. 

[Skywagon]

Agree with Terry. My local dealer has a sign posted saying we don’t work on bikes older than 2004. That pretty much puts oilhead owners on their own. 

[JamesW]

6 hours ago, realshelby said:

Well....I would MUCH rather maintain my Wethead over the Oilhead it replaced. Everything on it, besides the air filter, is easier to keep up. Assuming you don't have an alternator failure I think major repairs are MUCH less likely on the newer BMW's and just as easy or easier to access and service. 

Made one valve adjustment. My Oilhead usually needed that every other major service. Then there was replacing the clutch...and maintaining the braking system. 

As far as service costs at a Dealer, I think any major failure would be in the same price range for a newer RT than the older ones. IF they even took on the work. 

 Hard to argue that especially since I've never owned a BMW newer than my long gone '04 R1150RT.  You are certainly correct when you talk about clutch replacement on the dry clutch BMW bikes but it can bed done and without too much hassle or expense for one with sporting blood🙃.  Kind of like my FJR with its wet clutch and you don't even have to remove any body work to access the clutch pack.  But, if you own one of the wetted/camhead bikes with their complexities you might very well one day man your wallet big time and that doesn't appeal to me at all just so I can go down the road on two wheels.  Nope, not for me especially when I'm soon to age out of motorcycles completely.

 

And come to think of it, I have a factory manual and a Haines manual for my oilhead and I have a BMW dealer not too far away in southern Oregon that wrote the book on airhead/oilhead BMWs as well as an independent shop with a good rep  60 miles distant that works on all BMWs built before 2005. So no worries other than I have to pay BMWs inflated prices for parts. Grrrrrr....  I tend to keep cars and motorcycles for long periods of time and I would definitely have a problem with one of these new high tech wonders out of warranty.  Kind of like owning a Tesla with an 8 year battery warranty with a replacement battery that costs about $18K to replace.  Just what I always wanted, NOT!

[Hati]

3 hours ago, JamesW said:

But, if you own one of the wetted/camhead bikes with their complexities you might very well one day man your wallet big time

 

Sorry James, that is an urban myth. There is no evidence of your theory on the forums. None. Your theory is usually adopted by owners of the pre-wet head bikes. I was the same until I replaced my old hexhead with a '21 WC and have done the research on how much the wet heads fail. 

[Hosstage]

Don't ever get a car with those fancy 'lectric windows, nothing but trouble just waitin' to happen!

[JamesW]

5 hours ago, Hosstage said:

Don't ever get a car with those fancy 'lectric windows, nothing but trouble just waitin' to happen!

 

😂 Got to agree.  If I could I'd probably have crank up windows.  As far as Internet forums go or more broadly as far as the internet goes I don't put much stock in even 40% of what I might read.  Best car I ever owned was a new '69 VW bug and it had a speedo and, wait for it, a gas gauge.  I was happy.  Just make sure the spare tire was inflated and the windshield washers would work.  Life was good.😊

[steveg]

On 2/27/2022 at 3:19 PM, Boxflyer said:

Thanks TEWKS, I could use a little reinforcement here in the middle of winter to keep me going.

 

I'm trying to break up 2+ hours of recording I took doing just the Cam Timing and Valve Clearance checks on a 2020 R1250RT when it was still warm....it's a long process!

 

Steveg...I'll probably be doing a WetHead/ShiftHead Tech Day in the spring up here in Rhode Island...maybe we can meet to take some of the apprehension away from doing ALL the basic routine maintenance on these bikes.

 

 

That would be great,  when were you planning the tech day? I'd be interested for sure. Just hope the time table works

[Scott9999]

Lol, slightly off topic, but not really.

 

I was just getting around to finally mounting my Zumo to my 2018 RT, via that nifty "E-nav XT" installation bracket some Italians worked out on their 3D printer.  Now, I've always been a guy who religiously read ALL the directions before starting out a task, but I can also say that I've been mechanically minded enough to figure most of the stuff out without directions.   Installing this little bracket is easy peasy.  But still ....

 

There's a tiny screw that retains the power plug in the bracket.  I CAREFULLY tightened it, knowing that the plastic might not hold.  Yet, it never really got tight ....  before it stripped out.🙄  So, I dabbed some superglue on the threads to ensure it doesn't vibrate free (something I hate to do - too permanent). 

 

Well, anyways, this post isn't about that.  I'm looking for all these Zumo and E-nav XT pieces, and then I figure out that I haven't seen my actual Zumo GPS since our trip last December, and I see that it's not in it's box.  So, I'm scrounging around looking for it, hoping to God that I didn't leave it in the car where it would have probably been stolen while the car was being serviced, etc. (e.g. "all ahead full", full panic!).  Well, I finally found it.  But as I'm scrounging, I've realize that I've got this ... this .. .STUFF ... strewn around my home office, and in boxes in the garage.  I've bought some new tupperware boxes to organize all my motorcycle stuff in, but they are still empty.  I've got my helmets, jackets, uninstalled tank bag, uninstalled Zumo, uninstalled rear brake lights, uninstalled Cardo unit, and ... then I've also got some "gun things", certain electronics and stuff, which I'm also trying to organize, then gun tools, tools for the bike, tools of all kinds, which either don't have a place yet, or just don't have a place, period!

 

Just bits and pieces of technology strewn about. 🙄😨😖  

 

I'm telling my wife (via text at work) that I've just about had all the technology I can stand (and technology has been my entire career!).  I'm frustrated.  I have the greatest urge to just SIMPLIFY my life. 

 

Which is why .... I bought a 2018 Wethead RT, which really isn't complex or technical at all, right?  😣😣😣😣  (I can't see my wife, but I'm pretty sure that she's laughing at me right now.)

I was thinking about my first dirt bikes back in the 1970's.  So simple.  Small engine, easy crank ignition, points, plugs, on the handle bars a front brake (which may or may not have actually worked), a clutch, a throttle, a kill switch (not nearly as important as the throttle), and that was about it.  You could learn all you needed to know in about 3 minutes, and then off ya went, ridding all day long until you had to mix and load up more 2-stroke gas.  Ahh, the simple life!

 

It's not so much the complication of technology that bugs me, it's just the effluvium of technological existence that gets to me.  It's all the bits and pieces of an unorderly, modern life, and things ya gotta remember about each bit or piece.  ("Hmmm, I wonder what device that connector, or that little wire harness, came from?  Oh, well, into the shoebox it goes!")  

 

/end rant

 

(Short story:  Once upon a time, a man sailed the seas, and rounded the globe.  Spent many years at that craft.  One day, he hoped off his ship, picked up an oar, and started walking to town, then past town, then further inland.  He finally came to a little hamlet where someone asked him, "Hey, whatcha got there hanging off your shoulder?"  He put the oar down, and said.  "I've had a hard life at sea, and shall never set foot on a ship again.  I put it in mind that if I ever found a town that had never seen a ship's oar, then that was the proper home for me."  Similarly, and for probably a dozen times, as I was sitting at my desk behind a computer or computer console since 1985, I've thought, "Some day I'm going to put this keyboard over my shoulder, and I'm going to walk inland, until I meet someone in a town that's never seen one of these things ...". 😁  Hmm, but that was in a time before the ubiquitous internet.🙄😖)

[Boxflyer]

Steveg,

When is a good time for you.

I'm doing several WetHead and ShiftHead Tech days at the START Rally as well as the Un-Rally that are hosted by a group on this forum.

There are some dates being checked out for a summer Tech Day in the Akron and Indy areas as well...more as these dates firm up.

 

Hope something works out.

Brad

[steveg]

Probably some time in June

[Hati]

21 hours ago, Boxflyer said:

I'm doing several WetHead and ShiftHead Tech days

 

Have you got any dedicated shifthead videos in the works Brad?

[wbw6cos]

See his post above on Feb 27; it is in the works.

[Boxflyer]

Yes, during filming, I missed some critical video about the actual sim replacement procedure.

 

Maybe I can get some of the missing details next week when I'm doing several 12k services at START.