Afan
Elite Member
Plus they had a support team to pick 'em up when they fell.
Mostly they had only Claudio to help them.
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Plus they had a support team to pick 'em up when they fell.
And that Mongolian dude.Mostly they had only Claudio to help them.
I have 3 fancy German cars and 1 cheap Japanese pick up truck. I think the comparison with between German & Japanese motorcycles parallels the experience with German & Japanese 4 wheel vehicles.I think the deal with BMW is good marketing, good after sales service, a sort of elitism associated with the brand, and a reasonably good motorcycle. However I firmly believe that Japanese engineering is far better...
At one time that was true. In recent decades not so much. An over abundance of electronic sophistication kind of put paid to the “easy to fix” thing. Also, BMW used to be “the” bike for long distance. The Iron Butt guys all rode them. In recent times however the IB bikes have been largely Yamaha’s (last time I checked). The FJR and the Super Tenere were dominating.I have been told by people who do such things: if you're going to ride around the world, do it on a BMW. They're reliable and fixable in 7 languages on the side of the road. I do not know that from 1st hand knowledge.
Of course there are better ”off road” bikes. But if you could only have one bike….a GS would be a good choice. You can pack them like mules, they have great suspension, great gas mileage, they will run on the slab at 80 in 6th gear all day long and you can take the bags off and dazzle the crowd on the trials course at the weekend rally. It’s really no wonder they are so popular.Experts can do all sorts of amazing things offroad with big bikes of any brand, but that does not necessarily make those good bikes. The vast majority of motorcyclists are capable, but not expert. I count myself reasonably capable, or at least I used to be.
I have only ever owned two BM's. One was a R100Gs. It was a good bike and I clocked up 130,000kms on it. Was it reliable ? Yes it was, but I put that down to my care and attention rather than the brand. During that mileage I replaced one clutch, two gearbox bearings and a shaft. I discovered all of these before they failed completely. It was a nice bike though and I enjoyed good times on it with some mild offroading.
I only ever rode one big traillie offroad with some agression. That was a 2005 KTM 950 Adventure. That was a very capable bike offroad and it sailed thru sections where I saw my peers struggle with GS's. I only parted with it because if I dropped it offroad, I struggled in my mid 50's to pick it up. I have long believed that I should be able to pick my bikes up in a drop, unaided.
I think the deal with BMW is good marketing, good after sales service, a sort of elitism associated with the brand, and a reasonably good motorcycle. However I firmly believe that Japanese engineering is far better and for that reason I have not owned a BM since the late 90's.