Which Repair Manual

[Yankee_Dog]

I just bought a used R11500RT. I need a manual to help with what meager wrenching I plan to do. The question is, which manual should I go with.

 

Clymer or Haynes?

 

Genuine BMW $$$$$

 

One of the various CDs found on the internet.

 

Thanks,

 

Yankee Dog

[DEF]

Depends on the extent to which you will wrench you BMW.

 

I have the BMW CD. While very informative, accurate and easy to understand, it does not explaing operations in detail. The BMW CD implies that you are experienced with wrenching motorcycles.

 

I am not familar with the aftermarket manuals for BMWs however, my brother used Clymer to restore a 1970s vintage T100 Triumph. His comment was the manual was very helpful.

 

Others out there can likely give you a better answer.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Everything I've heard says the Haynes is better than the Clymer. I haven't seen the Clymer manuals myself, but I do have the Haynes manual for my bike, and it's a great reference for routine maintenance. Best bang for your buck.

[smiller]

The diagrams and line drawings in the BMW manual are helpful but it is not intended as an aid for beginners and assumes a fair degree of mechanical experience on the part of the user. If you can get one at a good price it's a worthwhile reference but otherwise I'd agree that the Haynes provides the most bang for the buck, and is also the best for a novice/intermediate mechanic.

[JcbKarl]

Most of the CD's I see listed on the internet say they are a 2001 release date. Is there a more current one? Or is this what everybody is using? I want to get the most current manual I can for a 04 RT.

[didrichj]

Earlier this month I purchased a copy of the oficial BMW CD manual (01 79 0 301 737) from my dealer who assured me it was the latest available. It appears to carry a date of 3/2003. I have seen a CD BMW manual advertised on the internet with another part number which the dealer looked up on his computer and informed me was for a previous (older) version.

[don_k]

Perhaps I am the only one stupid enough to have bought the Hayes, Clymer, and BMW manuals for the R1100 RT but I did it and here's my 2 cents worth.

 

The BMW manual assumes you have been through the BMW training. If you have not there may be some gaps left when trying to figure out how to do something based on it's instructions.

 

The Hayes manual is very informative and thinner than the other two. I have no real complaints about this manual at all. It tells you how to do just about anything you may need to do and does it well.

 

The Clymer manual is nearly as good as the Hayes but I have found one or two things over the years (I bouth all three books when I got my bike in 2000) where the clymer manual dissagree's with the Hayes and BMW manuals. I don't recall the specifics and as I recall they were rather minor and might just have been 6 of one, hald a dozen of another types of things. One thing I will give to the Clymer manual is that it has better pictures than the Hayes manual and the BMW one has only diagrams.

 

So there you have it. All three have good and bad points. The BMW manual is from the manufacturere and explains how they teach people to work on the bike they designed and built (but you might not understand it all if you haven't been to their training). The Hayes manual is small, concise and accurate (this is the one I carry on the bike with me). The Clymer has the best pictures.

 

Hope this helps some, but as I said it's just my opinion and I'm offering it for free so it's worth everything you're paying for it.

 

Don Kramber

[Trebor]

The Clymer will often have you jumping through hoops like completely removing the brake caliper to replace pads or removing the tupperware to replace the air filter (?).

 

Perhaps the training is worth it.

[ednap]

Do both manuals cover the electrics and provide wiring diagrams?