After many years of riding singles (mainly KTM LC4s) I'm starting to tire of the discomfort on long journeys on sealed roads. One option I'm considering is to change to a twin-cylinder machine. I use my bike for commuting, trail riding, long distance trials, short rallies and overlanding. I've investigated the KTM 950 Adventure but it just seems too big, for me at least, for all the activities above (I recognise that most do-it-all machines will be a compromise). I only want to own one machine as I like to take care of my bike and don't have the time to look after a garage full.

So, along comes the BMW HP2. Despite the price, this looks a suitable candidate - not too heavy but comfortable on the highway. I guess someone will sell a larger fuel tank for them, and as I travel very light I wouldn't care if they didn't sell a baggage system.

But I'm put off by the complexity of the fuel injection system. I've done some research on how these work - they don't seem too complex, but still have the following questions:

1) Has the BMW FI system been known to fail much?

2) Is it feasible, cost and size wise, to carry all the sensors involved in the FI system or possibly a complete system as spares?

3) Is it possible to diagnose faults with the system whilst 'on-the-road'? For example I understand that there's some data bus involved - is some sort of handheld plug-in analyser, or, say software for a PDA available?

One other question. Are factory workshop manuals and spares catalogues available for BMWs?

Cheers,

Ian.