R1200 Powertrain Failures

[Yankee_Dog]

or lack there of. While sweating over the data on powertrain failures and trying to remember the SN of my 02 R1150RT I noticed a distint lack of R1200s on the list of any sort. It seems to me that the R1200 have been out long enough for the problem to have appeared if it is going to.

 

Is it possible BMW solved the problem with the R1200s. I notice a chocolate color in my trans oil when I changed it. I love the RT but I see an FJR in my future if the R1200 are going down the same road as the R11xx.

 

Yankee Dog

[Ken H.]

Do leaks count? If not, 20K on our 12GS and no issues.

[SageRider]

Only time will tell....

My 1100 tranny bearing failure occurred at 49K miles. My 1200 currently has 23K completely trouble free miles.

Spline issues others suffered appear to have been caused by manufacturing outside of required tolerances with insufficient quality control to prevent problem from escaping factory.

 

Anything I could say would be a WAG.

My personal assumption (based on the deafening silence coming from BMW on these issues) is that BMW has done nothing to improve their processes and that I am playing the percentages hoping that the bike I now have will be more reliable than the last. If the 1200 isn't more reliable than the 1100, then this time it's goodbye BMW.

[steve.foote]

I love the RT but I see an FJR in my future if the R1200 are going down the same road as the R11xx.

 

Is that to say that FJR's don't have mechanical failures? I'd suggest hanging around some of those boards before taking that as gospel.

[Marty Hill]

3 friends of mine in atlanta have had powertrain failures. 2 new 12 GSA's and 1 new 12GS. On the other hand many, many thousands have been sold and have had no probs. I have over 70k miles on 3 12GS's with only two bulb failures.

[keithb]

At 22K miles I had the clutch and tranny seals replaced due to leaking. All under warranty. We will see what happens in the next 20K miles or so. No problems whatsoever with engine performance.

[BamaRider]

Been a member of the ST boards, since 2001 (joined sametime I came here) I've NEVER seen a post there from a guy with a motor, transmission, or power train failure. That would include bike models all the way back to 1992, many with well over 100k miles. Just doesn't happen.

 

One of the things I find odd is how low the reliability bar is for guys owning BMWs. If a guy makes it to 50k miles he's shouting how reliable the bike is. I know, I fall into that catergory. If anything were to fail on my ST other then a light bulb in the first 100k miles, I'd be very dissappointed, and feel as if I bought a lemon.

 

But if I can get there with the RT, without a major problem, I'd feel like I was the exception. Has ANYONE on this board ever made it to 100k on a BMW totally glitch free? I can fill a entire page on the Honda side.

 

I love my RT, and I love riding it, beautifully styled, functional, with all the items a good touring bike is suppose to have, but even after 35k miles, I don't fully trust it.

 

A guy can't come here and say a bike with only 25k miles is reliable, way too early to make a call. When I log another 65k miles I'll give a verdict, but at 35k, closing arguments are still a long way off.

[steve.foote]

Been a member of the ST boards, since 2001 (joined sametime I came here) I've NEVER seen a post there from a guy with a motor, transmission, or power train failure.

 

I spent a couple minutes browsing through the ST1300 Tech forum over at ST-owners.com and it's full of problems with bearings, coolant problems, shifting issues, etc. Pretty much the same stuff I see here.

[BamaRider]

Send me a link from that forum about a ST with a failed drive train, motor, or transmission. I gave up after 15 pages.

 

Keyword searches "failed drive train" did not return a single thread, but I'm sure there might be some guy out there with a 92 or 93 ST 1100 with broke drive lash, but I wasn't able to pull it out. I'll bet my next months pension you won't find a 2000 or later model with a failed big 3, no matter how many miles is on it.

 

But you alredy made my point succinetly, your quick scan failed to fine ONE issue of the BIG 3. Just minor stuff like coolant leak, bearings, blown fuses, dead batteries.

 

Now run that same search on this bbs and see what ya find.

 

 

[steve.foote]

I'll bet my next months pension you won't find a 2000 or later model with a failed big 3, no matter how many miles is on it.

 

When you made this claim, I thought, "Ooo, hoo, hoo, I've gotcha!" However, after spending about an hour searching the web in a gazillion different ways, I couldn't find anything substantial regarding any major failure of an ST1300 engine or transmission.

 

I don't know much about the rear-drive, and how a bearing failure comes into play, but nothing there either (other than said bearings).

 

I did find plenty of issues about coolant and oil leaks, various bearings failing and quality control problems. But those are not major powertrain failures.

 

So, Sir, where should I have my sword delivered?