Seriously looking at an '07 GS, 30K miles for extended travel in Mexico.

[its.metony]

Seriously looking at an '07 GS, 30K miles for extended travel in Mexico.  I ride an '06 RT with generational problems ... should have looked before first before falling in love..but lucky that none have happened to me and I love it:  the finest cruising motorcycle on the planet.     The seller disclosed his GS  had a final drive overhaul by a BMW dealer in '14 with no further problems.  I'm travelling to Las Vegas for it, will be doing some desert (demo) riding.  Never ridden a GS.  What should I be looking for?  I'm a lifelong BMW afficionado ... both cars and motorcycles.  It's not my first rodeo, but I have only one chance to fail ....

[dirtrider]

1 hour ago, its.metony said:

Seriously looking at an '07 GS, 30K miles for extended travel in Mexico.  I ride an '06 RT with generational problems ... should have looked before first before falling in love..but lucky that none have happened to me and I love it:  the finest cruising motorcycle on the planet.     The seller disclosed his GS  had a final drive overhaul by a BMW dealer in '14 with no further problems.  I'm travelling to Las Vegas for it, will be doing some desert (demo) riding.  Never ridden a GS.  What should I be looking for?  I'm a lifelong BMW afficionado ... both cars and motorcycles.  It's not my first rodeo, but I have only one chance to fail ....

Morning  its.metony

 

Look for about everything that your 06 could have except the wizzy brakes. But the 07 isn't in the clear on the brakes either as the 07 had some ABS motor brush sticking issues. 

 

Probably the biggest got-ya on the 1200 hexhead RT/GS/etc is throttle body plastic cams. The plastic TB cams have big issues with cracking. If the cracking progresses as typical then one day you will throttle up & the engine will quit pulling (they will usually idle but not accelerate or pull under power). It's pretty well a walk-home type deal. 

 

The other issue (hopefully already replaced)  is the FPC (Fuel Pump Controller) those tend to fail & leave you stranded.   If that 07 GS has the black high fin FPC then you are probably good to go, if it still has the silver  FPC then it could fail at about any time.  

 

The 1200 hexhead GS model also had some drive shaft issues so that is something to look at when you get a chance.  

 

There was also a fuel pump flange fuel-line-boss cracking issue with a resulting fuel leak but there was a BMW recall on that so make sure that was done.

 

There was also a brake line recall on the GS with (Jul 06,2006 to Jul 06,2007) build dates.

 

There was also a rear wheel mounting flange recall to install a steel wheel flange.

 

There was also some rear main seal and/or rear balance shaft seal leakage issues so look for that before buying. A slight seep usually isn't a big problem but any sort of real leak that leaves oil spots on the ground can ruin the clutch.  

[dmsantam]

DR has covered it all as usual. I will add that there are fixes to all the issues generally. I have a 05 hexhead GS and removed the whizzy brakes and ABS.

 

The 07 has a fuel strip for fuel level i believe, which often fails and needs replacing. My 05 has a float mechanism which is more robust. 

 

The plastic cams all seem to crack eventually, but there are alloy replacements you can get. The problem with the plastic ones failing are they tend to do it when you are rolling on the throttle very hard, and them breaking can cause an unsafe situation, when you need power. 

 

I personally love the hexhead GS platform. It's relatively lightweight, nimble, versatile and very capable. Also easy to work on! The only slight pain is the "sealed" final drive unit, which requires releasing it to drain the final drive oil, and filling through the speedo sensor, which is a tiny hole. I'm unsure if they changed that by '07, but that's how it is on my '05. 

 

[dirtrider]

15 hours ago, dmsantam said:

The only slight pain is the "sealed" final drive unit, which requires releasing it to drain the final drive oil, and filling through the speedo sensor, which is a tiny hole. I'm unsure if they changed that by '07, but that's how it is on my '05. 

 

Morning dmsantam

 

I haven't been able to figure out exactly when the bottom drain plug was added. According to my old manual the 2007 had the lower drain plug in 9/2007 production but didn't have it in 6/2007.  But the books are sometimes not exact when it comes to things like this. 

 

BMW was noted for using up remaining parts in the system so some might have received the new drive earlier & some might have received it later.

 

I worked on a 2006GS a couple of months ago that had the later drive with the bottom drain plug drive, the owner bought it used so apparently it had the drive replaced at some time in it's past life. 

 

That isn't a big deal, the bigger deal is the 2005 drive came with the smaller pinion bearing & those were failure prone if ridden hard.