Hi all, I've come across this product online and am wondering if anyone has had any experience with it?

BMW R1200 Tool Kit: BMW R1200GS, GSA, RT, S, HP2 Tool Kit

My dad and I are taking 2 GSAs around the world next year, and we're wondering if this sort of kit is worth taking on the trip.
Obviously we would be purchasing it prior to departure and giving it going over prior to departure, and not just heading out in the blind hope that we've got the do-it-all kit with us. I just don't want to waste $250 on something if anyone knows that it's not worth it.
It sounds like a promising offering, but perhaps the over-the-top writeup leads me to have a few suspicions...
Thanks a lot,
Angus

I seem to recall reading favorable things about the quality of that kit on ADVRider, although I could be confusing it with a different kit, so suggest that you look there.

Looks compact but I cannot see nor read about any feeler gauges so I am wondering how one is supposed to adjust the valves without?

Looks like a good kit, but IMHO you better putting your own tool kit together. It's much cheaper and then split it between the two bikes, (not the actual kit, but one person, for example, could carry the tool kit, whilst the other person carries the puncture kit).

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www.AdventureVagabond.com Mongolia & Siberia 2012: Adventure Moto Madness

G'day Angus,

For a lot less than $250 you can buy all the tools that you will need and not the ones that you don't, and believe me by the time your bikes are loaded up you will be regretting every gram of weight that is superfluous.

As long as you have the hex heads and sockets to fit the ones on the bike, an oil filter tool and the ratchet to drive them (basically the tools for a service) along with the standard tool kit, the only other thing that is nice for piece of mind is a GS911 diagnostic tool.

I'm in Heathcote so if you want to come and have a and a chat then you are more than welcome just PM me.

Chris

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Don't split the essentials!

Each and every bike should carry the essential tools for their bike. Consider a flat tyre with the other bike carrying the flat repair stuff. The other bike could be at the next fuel stop having lunch and wondering why the first bike has not arrived. Could be an hour before the other bike returns with the tools....

I thought the Ultimate R1200GS accessory was an AA card ???

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Mate, you seem to be an open and likeable fellow in general but you are not adding any value to the thread.



To angusgreene, as others have commented, that's a lot of cash for a toolkit. Assembling your own is cheaper and has the added benefit of making you consider whether each tool would be required. You may already be quite familiar with your bikes, but for many when they initially are getting set up to go on a long trip, they are not as familiar with their bikes as they could be. It's a great excuse to get a manual and some tools and fart around with your bike and do a few of the standard things so that you will feel more confident if anything will happen to you while on the road.

You may have also been searching through other sites but for most bikes, the sites specific to your manufacturer and even model are usually filled with incredible detail and the users are typically very experienced so usually there's a wealth of knowledge to access and learn from. Here's a good place to research tools and such and see how different people have approached it.

[url=http://www.ukgser.com/]UKGSer

I think you need to chill out a little mate !!

We can remove all humour and soul from every post and topic but then we might as well sit at home and read workshop manuals and analyse statistics.

I don't think anyone would really take my post as serious advice. If they have, then I apologise profusely and I will offer to cover the costs of all those who took out AA membership on my poor advice.

Tis but a forum.. Where like minding people share advice , good will, humour and friendship. !!

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Now to try and recoup with some good advice.

That tool kit is ridiculously overpriced. The company has obviously bought a load of $100 tool kits and marketed them at the "more money than sense" market.

Build your own custom kit with the tools that YOU like to use at your budget. On the roadside , unless you actually know what you're doing, there are relatively few repairs you can actually do.

No offence, but ESPECIALLY on on a new BMW.

You didn't mention your mechanical/technical experience ???

For a RTW, that tool kit seems very limited. You're best bet is to start working on your own bikes and find out the tools that you need and that you like using. You can build a very competent and quality toolkit for under $100. Especially second hand (ebay etc).

I've got about £5000 worth of hand tools and even more in equipment. I've been collecting and spannering for over 15 years and I'm still buying more and more stuff.

Just take the minimum tools for the jobs that you know you can do....

You'd need four support trucks to be able to fix all the potential problems on a GSA. The failures you're likely to have are non-fixable unless you're carrying fuel pumps, final drives and all the gaskets etc etc etc.

Once you leave home with a complicated bike, you've committed a lot of yourself to luck.

That's obviously just my advice and just my opinion. There are many to chose from. Your own experience is probably the best voice to listen to though.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

It all depends whether you plan to ride independent of your ride buddy. if you're riding together it seems ludicrous to me to carry more than you need to - share the load and reduce the weight. You'll never wish your bike was heavier. If you're riding together you shouldn't get so far ahead that you can't just stop and wait or turn around and back track. Conversely, if you plan to travel independently or intended to have long periods of extended separation, by all means carry your own kit. To double up unnecessarily is a waste and sharing kit is one of the perks of travelling with a buddy.

The oil filter tool is quite cumbersome, consider using a K&N filter, which is available in most places, and has the nut attached, now you can dump the tool. There's also the strap wrench, which I've never used, and I've heard of riders just pushing a screw driver through it for leveridge (don't know how practical that would be on the gsa). You'd be surprised how much you can do with minimal tools. Try to work on your own bike as much as you can and try to make your travel kit your only kit, you'll soon figure out what you can do without.

Focus on your bikes weaknesses and what is likely to go wrong. Consider your skill level, and the bikes technology you're unlikely to be able to fix most things. There's no need carrying kit for jobs you can't do by the roadside or by yourself, or tools that you don't know how to use. You're also going to need to think abut replacement parts or workarounds, for example, consider a fuel pump bypass cable and a ring antenna... but don't carry one each. You can always canibalise parts off your buddy's bike, which is a good way of finding faults. If your staying in a first world industrial country and your going to be their for a while don't forget about membership to breakdown services: they'll get you to a garage, they might be able to fix and or replace parts (although unlikely) but they might have contacts that could help you out.

You can't, and shouldn't try to plan for every eventuality, just think about getting things that can get you out of a tight spot and keep you on the move. But don't worry too much, there's always people that will help you out, And remember when things go tits up it's when the adventure really starts. I was in Siberia when I got one of my many punctures, and completely shredded my last tube and ruined the threads on the end of my axle trying to bash the damn thing out. I didn't have a file to grind down the last few crossed threads when out of nowhere a fella stopped to help. Before I knew it he drove off with my axle in hand, to I don't know where, to file it down for me, He returned some time later with it completely sorted.

Not five minutes later a lovely young couple also stopped, gave me some nosebag and refreshments and took off with my completely knackered tube, taking it into the nearest town to get me a replacement. They returned with a fairly close match which we managed to bodge and which got me into town. We became good friends and I stayed with them for 4 days. It was the best part of my trip. Another time I put my bike on the back of a car transporter lorry, which took me into the nearest town, that was a great experience. Think about the Hubb's communities section to find locals that might be able to get you out of a pinch if needed.

Have fun

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__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

A couple of responses:

It might be overpriced, but I would not say ridiculously so if the tools are high quality. I don't know about you, but I've always found that quality tools are rather expensive.

Whatever the price, I would say that it is probably targeted toward the "more money than time" crowd rather than "more money than sense". Just because someone doesn't want to troll e-Bay to assemble their tool kit does not mean that they lack "sense". I live in a big city with stores full of crap Chinese tools. It took me literally a year, including tools from Europe, to assemble the kind of tool kit that I wanted. I'd pay $250 for a complete, quality toolkit in a second.

Yes and no. I am a very poor mechanic but broke down once near Baikal, in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't fix it after a few hours on the road side, but was able to find a cell signal and call a friend who posted the symptoms on ADVRider. After pushing the bike a few kilometers to a hotel, I was able to get a wireless internet connection, dianose the problem from ADVRider, and then fix the bike. I was glad I had all my tools (and a Russian SIM)!

oh boy, here we go again... Sure, GSAs might break, just like any other moto or any other piece of machinery. There's a few spares you should bring, and after that, sure, you might break down but probably not.

As usual, a wealth of knowledge and replies! Thanks a lot everybody.

Dad and I will be spending 99% if not 100% of the ride together, so I'm pretty sure that we're planning on travelling with the single tool kit, and enough spares for both bikes.

Dad raced for 10 or so years and prepped and maintained his own bikes (everything from singles to 4's), and has worked on cars and the like for the last 30-odd years. I've got less experience, but have worked on all of my dirtbikes over the years. We're by no means mechanics, but we're both pretty practical.

We're buying new GSAs, which are shimmed (meaning something that is a bit more cumbersome than the old tappeted heads), and we're planning to have them for at least a couple of months to learn our way around them before we head off. And as mentioned, this will more than likely mean that we'll get a pretty good idea of what we need to bring in terms of tools....

Chrispy mentioned the 911GS diagnostic tool. Has anyone had any specific experience with these? We'd been planning on bringing one along for the trip. I'm going to be filming a lot of the trip, so I'll have a laptop there to talk to it, as well as my iPhone....

You're dead right... Good tools are expensive. And they will last a lifetime. However, on a bike trip you don't need GREAT tools. They are prone to getting lost, stolen, borrowed etc etc. You certainly don't want cheap crap tools but you can get good a good quality kit for not a lot of money.

My travel kit is worth about £150 and it's bigger than anyone else's I know. I don't take my good stuff travelling. I use Draper Chrome-Vad stuff usually. Approx prices from memory.

10pc 3/8 6-point Socket set on rail = £20
Ratchet Driver = £15
Universal joint = £5
10mm extension = £5
HEX Key set = £15
Large & Small reversible screwdrivers = £10
Needle nose pliers £ 10
Pipe Grips = £10
Ratchet combi-spanner set £30
Feeler gauges = £10
Multimetre = £20

Total = , approx £150

I class this as a SIMPLE kit. Stuff a complete novice can use with a little practice and with a little practice and guidance. I reckon this is the minimum anyone should carry. I bought most of these NEW on Ebay. It's all quality stuff that I trust with any job.

A cycle pump and some dulux levers are also a must but that's another thread all together.


I know you say "here we go again", and again, you're dead right !! I'm like a broken record. Just an opinion though ole' chap.

For me, it's always "Keep it simple". I can't think of anything less simple and stress free than any of the big electronic expensive 'travel bikes' and I know how to fix them. If I was a novice, they would terrify me.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.