The best tip i ever got was not to buy a BMW when i was young. Now many years later i can only pass this on. Seen tooo many BMW breaking down and becoming more costly to repair then two new bikes.

v strom, transalp or AfricaTwins are great, reliable and way cheaper.

Hi,
I have a R 1200 GS IN Europe. That bike is superbe for the good roads like in Europe.

For South America I have a V Strom 650. This bike is light and fast enough for the roads in SA. Enough power.
I have made a tour with this bike and am very glad.

I suggest that you should buy a new V Strom 650 and put some Touratech on it and enjoy.

Djin

"others that they are overrated, overweight and unreliable."

This. I've own 3--all bought new. I now ride Japanese bikes. Just one man's opinion.
If you go for the BM, have the final drive bearings replaced.

Any bike can be unreliable. I have owned a range of bikes including BMW's and here are my observations as someone who goes travelling

The cost of the carnet for your trip could seriously influence your bike, I would investigate that first and decide what your carnet budget is and work back from there

As for the bike I have travelled long distance on both a 1200GS and a 650GS but only 1 up. I like both bikes and so far reliability for me has not been an issue.

I rode my 650GS across North America twice covering 18.500 miles. In that time we only changed the tyres and had an oil change. We left them for 6 months in a storage locker and they started first time!

I now prefer the 650GS as its lighter, and has much longer fuel range but then I am only 1 up.

Look at your route and see what type of riding you will be doing.

I have just come back from Nepal, riding an old Royal Enfield with road tyres across some serious off-road stuff due to an unexpected diversion. It coped much better than many acclaimed off-road bikes. The moral of the story is that most bikes will go almost anywhere its normally the riders experience that will be a problem first.

Hope you have a great trip

There is nothing cheap to replace on a 1200GS. Of any variety.

Funnily enough, the most expensive parts are the ones which are the weaknesses.

In a nut shell with nutshell prices.

Fuel pump 200 quid
Fuel pump controller 80 quid
Drive shaft 200 quid
RWD rebuild 800 quid
New RWD if too far gone 1500
Clutch replacement 600 quid
ABS pump 1500 quid

And don't forget that a BMW charge 100 quid an hour and most jobs require their specialist tools or diagnostic equipment so you might as well add anything from £200-£800 labour on top of those prices. But people pay it. Like they're buying a coffee. Would make my jaw drop.

So yes, a BMW is a nice bike while it is running well. But they don't run well for long and they are expensive to fix. That is where many people get tripped up.

Now there are MANY MANY BMW fans. They tend to have deep pockets and very short memories...

Ref: I'm an EX BMW main dealer technician.

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

Just reading over the list above reminded me of why many of the 1150 owners remove the ABS system altogether; that era of ABS was particularly troublesome.
Later versions of BMW ABS maybe less so? I guess that is what happens when a manufacturer is first into the market for bikes fitted with ABS; from 2016 it will be compulsory for all new bikes sold within the EU. Traction control may follow.

+ there are quite a few independent BMW service places in the UK nowadays. There must be one for nearly every county, in the same way that BMW allocate their main dealerships to each county "territory".
In some cases these independents have upped sticks from the main dealers (and in some cases after many years of working at the same location) and set up their own business, in some cases taking their customers with them.
Here is one case of a rebuild which gives a clear indication of the work involved.
http://adventurebikerider.com/forum/...e-rebuild.html

Setting up independent garage services in the UK was given massive encouragement a few years ago with the EU legislation concerning servicing of vehicles - fundamentally, this killed off the restrictive practices of the trade.
All reports I have seen and heard elsewhere are very complimentary about the independents. I suppose they have to try harder.

__________________
Dave

Dave,
The problem some indies have is that BMW won't sell them or allow use of the proprietary software or computers to download codes and such to diagnose faults.

In some cases clever aftermarket companies hacked systems and built gizmos allowing indies to diagnose BMW systems, download error codes, tune and whatnot.

But BMW Continually change bike computers and software, making it very tough for indies to compete without specialized "dealer only" analytic equipment.

I agree about early 1150's ... lots of problems. My BMW GS test bike lost it's clutch (NO abuse on my part) on a BMW sponsored press ride!) Some red faces on that one.

But BMW has had ABS since "about" 1995 or so? Maybe earlier? I tested one of the very first K100RS with ABS ... kinda sucked ... but it was cool because no one else had it then! BMW just aren't always great at problem solving.

We hear lots about failed BMW GS drive lines. (shaft or bearings or trans or whatever) This a long and tragic story that's gone on since the very first Oil Head motors!

In 2003 (or so) when Yamaha introduced the FJR1300, Yamaha simply used a shaft drive system they'd used on their cruiser models back in the 80's. With very little alteration, this ancient system was bolted straight onto the
FJR ... and very few drive lines have every failed ... and this a bike with about 30% more HP than the GS or any BM twin.

This bit of Yamaha history was told at the official USA FJR press introduction ... along with engineering drawings I did not fully understand!. But I trusted enough to run my FJR test bike up to about 145 mph on the empty Anza Borrego desert roads. No failures but plenty of dragging of hard parts through corners and cooked legs from the HOT engine.

But then you don't hear much about BMW RT's failing compared to GS's. I used to believe it was off road use ... but the fact is ...many many GS drive line failures happen even to those who NEVER go off road!

POINT IS ... BWM are just a bit slow at solving serious engineering problems.

Ever heard of Gold Wing, or any Japanese shaft drive cruiser losing it's final drive? I'm sure it's happened .. but I never heard of it .
Only guys drag racing V-Max bikes ever blew shafts. (150 HP)

I had a 2006 1200GS, sold it with 55k kms on the clock (stupid me). While I never had any problems with this bike and I never had any problems with my present 2009 1200RT, there is quite a few issues with these bikes, just read the respective forums. I have a second bike now, the 2014 Suzuki DL650ABS and I love it. Great for beat up secondary and hard packed roads, very comfortable, good handling, enough power. Highly recommend.

__________________
2009 BMW R1200RT
2014 Suzuki DL650

The inherit problem with motorcycles is "there is always one better,faster etc.
Get your bike after due consideration n go,might also be good to know the problems which come with the model,if none all the better.

.... and don't forget the warranty on a new bike , wich can be very nice, too

Although some manufacturers such as BMW and Triumph will often not honour the warranty on a bike that has not been used as the manufacturer intended, as in overlanded. You will also have to get it to an authorised dealer to get warranty repairs done and ones outside of your home country might still want paying.