GS 1200 rear bearing. Do they usually break down?

[Miquel-Silvestre]

Hi. I´m at Budapest preparing the next step on my way to Mongolia. I met here a good non official BMW mechanic and he told me If I ride off road I will get a rear wheel failure because the bearing. Tipically BMW problem, he says.

But this is an off road trip. He asks less than 200 euros for the whole fixing, so I think he is not trying to rip me off. The problem is the part shouldn´t arrive till monday 8th June and my Russian visa (a nightmare to obtain it) starts on 11 th and finishes on 14th. If I wait for the part, I will have to cross Ukrania as a thunderbolt and I don´t think it´s a goo idea to ride so fast there.

I don´t know what to do because this bike is only 25.000 km and never got into the wild. I feel her perfect but I don´t want to imagine what could be if the rear wheel bearing fails in Kazajstan. He also could ship the part to Ukrania and I can get it there, but it seems not an easy work to replace it. Would know Kazajstan mechanics how to fix it even with the workshop book? Does someone know anything about these kind of bearing problems? I rode a R80 GS (1992) all over Africa and nothing wrong happened with the rear wheel.

Thanks.