Nice pictures!
The open landscape (despite the colors) makes me think of Iceland. But it’s not hard ground, it is ashes from a volcano.




Nope, not super heroes and no death wish! The GS happens to be a great bike for traveling

Going in the soft stuff is not that bad:

Going up:


Going down:


Beside the highest dune in the world:


Sorry that there are no actions-photos but that’s hard do take when you are alone I slept beside the bike where the second picture is taken. In the middle of the night I started to slide down and had problems finding the bike, it was dark out there!

Personally I find big stones worse (like in front of the bikes on your latest picture). Guess I should find a place with large stones and practice for a bit, but now it’s all covered with snow….


This starts to get real , maybe it’s time to work.

Superb pics AliBaba in the dunes!!!

For sure it wasn't made for very technical tracks. It's rather a rallye bike with enhanced offroad capability as much as it is possible for a 175kg dry weighting bike.

HP2 was an experiment from BMW, since Dakar rallye is closed for the big twins then this time they experimented to answer the question: "how would 80kg more weighting, but 100+ horsepower bike compete with 250 to 450cc bikes in the cross country conditions?"

They weren't aiming for the nr.1 spot, rather top 10-20 (over 300 riders in the track), they had no experiences in CC series offroad. BMW together with HPN has lot of experience in rallye (multiple wins Dakar/UAE etc), but the CC series were completely something else.

But the bike did surprisingly well in fact. On 2005 Simo Kirssi finished European CC overall 2-nd spot! Imagine what a 175kg dry weighting bike can do against 100kg weighting bikes if you're rider enough.

Indeed HP2 raced in it's own "academical 100+HP" class in the CC series and the crowd understood it and loved it, in fact almost every CC race the beastly boxer was undoubtely the crowds most favourite bike, it just was so unique experience to see such a big and powerful bike racing, and the fact how well it raced. Organizers sayed that they got about half more spectators just because of the HP2s on the track on some races.

For sure boxer's very low centre of gravity for better handling and loads of low-rpm torqe for better dirt traction was part of the game, air-shock etc innovations. But I still think in any case it's 10-20% about the bike and 90-80% the rider.

I hope in the future they'll do separate class for the big calibre rallye/offroad bikes. I think it'll be very interesting to see them gigants racing in suitable conditions, maybe it's because I'm kind of bored with 125/250/450cc regular offroad racing.

A pictorial thread aka the proof how the boxers race here: 2 years of HP2 racing - ADVrider

Cheers, Margus

Well said, Pete. That's a nasty and ignorant comment, Lecap. Why don't you spend a few years on Robbins Island ....and quieten down for a while?

Hi Patrick,
You wrote;
> If you had followed Lecap's posts for a few years like I have you would know
> why he had so many BMW's. Actually, he had these bikes and a bunch more...
> you see he runs a Travel Tour Rental outfit in South Africa.
That explains a lot. I was wondering why anyone would buy bike after bike that he didn't like but if you buy them all at once, that is different. (and to bad it you are dissapointed in all those bikes)

> Ride On!! (bring parts)
I will, but without a lot of parts.
My BMW is "innocent untill proven guilty" and until now it is very innocent in reliability :-)

Any bike has some + and some - but in the end, you don't buy a bike on specs only but also very much because you like that bike (unless you use the bikes to make a living like Lecap does.) and I like my BMW very much.

__________________
Jan Krijtenburg

My bikes are a Honda GoldWing GL1200 and a Harley-Davidson FXD Dyna Super Glide

My personal homepage with trip reports: https://www.krijtenburg.nl/
YouTube channel (that I do together with one of my sons): motormobilist.nl

I started this posted because I had a need for a bike to ride two up , my choice were the 1200GS,the 1150,the DL1000, I tried all of them and did like all of them but my wife love the confort of the 1200GS 2005, I don't understand why everybody is trying to fight to prove that their bike is the best, I owned many bikes from the old 80GS ,ducati 900ss, guzzi and many more.I crossed the sahara on my old GS, tarvel accross SE Asia on a XR250R, did all europe on my FJR1300ABS and travel from Miami to Terra del fuego on a XL250 without any problem ,lets stop to fight over which bike is the best because to me they all are great , and if you are ready to pay the price and accept thier default your are alway driving the right bike. Our strengh is that we are traveller and that we choose the motorcycle as our transportation ,lets not get vain and self center about whos got the best one.

Hendi

Because people are passionate...and it's more fun.

By God (or any other deity) what a pissing contest...

Hey guys! I have a Guzzi Quota! Flame that one instead, and let the poor guy have his BMW, V-Strom, Transalp or whatever he likes.

Jeeez...

__________________
HansP
All you wanted to know
about riding in Norway

well then I'll add my $.02.

the beauty of simplicity is you can fix it.
the bane of technology is you're at the mercy of it.

I sold the '02 RT because it was more likely than not to strand me. after you check fuses, it's a tow...you can't fix a Hall Effect Sensor on the side of the road...you can generally fix points...or clean out a carb if necessary.

at $16K+ there shouldn't be input spline failures, clutch slave seal leaks (especially crochetted in that far)...the ground bolt for the battery negative cable on a sophisticated electronic system shouldn't be that inaccessable...valves shouldn't be carboned at 28K, and final drive crown bearings shouldn't fail at either 50K or 80mph on a machine of that price.

bad gas clogging the in-tank filter is no whiz-bang fix in an approaching storm either.

I'm sure the airheads were worthy, but the latest offerings have traded something valuable for something shiney. I bought it on reputation and sold it on experience. you can keep your meters, high tech dependancy, and magic beans. a travel machine in strange lands needs first to be fixable, and only then secondarily dependable. Dependable first then a surprise not fixable is no prize. breakdowns I can handle, no solution is inexcusable.

and ... I didn't care for BMW's attitude of infallibility and denial when it was perfectly obvious to me there were glaring issues. case in point, I opened it up 6 months before the 3 year warranty ending to check on the transmission spline...I had heard an alarming volume of issues on the net...my spline was OK, the clutch friction disc showed evidence of spline wear, but good enough to use, but I did find a weeping clutch slave...I took it in for a warranty replacement to find much to my surprise the warranty was up 2 weeks prior...I was told it started when the first mile was put on at the dealership, not at the time of sale to the original owner...and tho the slave had obviously still failed while under warranty, I was denied, and had to buy one out of pocket. That was just plain wrong, and a battle wasn't worth the effort. He may have gotten me for $16K+ once, but repeat business is non-existant from me...dealer, company or product.

lastly, it's perfectly fine with me for you to choose any bike based on any criterion...so this isn't "pissing" ...it's merely personal experience.

the 1981 Suzuki GS750EX I bought for $1,600 and ran for 20 trouble free years prior to trading it it in on the BMW was the standard of reliability motorcycle manufacturers these days should aspire to...save me the illusion of the smoke and mirrors.

enjoy your BMW...I didn't.

Yes it much better to keep quiet and keep the myths alive!

For me this is not a discussion about the best bike but I react when people write stuff I find directly wrong (hard to sync, not possible to work on the Can bus roadside, hard/impossible to drive offroad….)

(Myth Mode On)

Just the facts... Then let me give you a Mollydog version of approximation things:

A user called "Stormy" from another forum is a nice chap and gives some good insider info about V-Strom's reliability. His recent doings and overall rating for the bike:


There are loads of similar examples if you search around, btw.

So Margus now follow's Mollydog's sayings:

This kind of disaster is unheard of on european bikes!!! 3 engine replacements under warrany, multiple blown clutches add to that a massive corrosion and unsafe bike to ride, ...and all that per 20K kilometres!!!!???

And you have to pay $12K for that kind of pile of a crap!?

Face it guys, japanese bikes are plain unreliable hardware and they've seriously got to do lot of ironing out on their products, they never learn on that island!


(/ Myth Mode Off)
______________________________________________



Actually the only reason why I'm still coming back into the "which bike" section and keeping my mouth open is what AliBaba says: it's easier to stay silent and keep the myths going, which many users unfortunately here do.

There is an active I-hate-BMW club going on here and propaganda, based on village gossips and other non-direct evidence which I can come up with the same examples for japanese bikes from all over the internet and "village gossips" or "a tar drop in a honey pot" direct examples.

And there's a strange phenomenon in the forums that (mostly n00b) people tend to go with the flow, if there's lot of bashing - they all start to bash, if there's lot of praising, they all start to praise. Kind of "cattle" tendency which is visible everywhere in the society too - if someone starts to run then everybody starts to run on the same direction. And I think that's one of the main reasons why the myths still stay alive as well, someone active enough just takes the initiative and it all starts to go. Travelling people should be resourceful enough not to fully believe anything they've been indirectly told IMHO. Or reading USSR/Chinese/Afghanistan/Iraq etc propaganda books is the only truth in the World? "Only dead fish go with the flow" as experienced people say.

Does it all mean I'm another pissed off BMW user then? Hell no. I'm not fully loyal to any make and I can't be bothered with unreliability issues, as I've sayed before that my BMWs have been fully reliable and I've had seriously unreliable jap bike (which was a Suzuki btw). And yes, I get defensive because of someone trying to boost their ego by lowering others, it's not about bikes. There's an old saying that it's a way much easier to attack than to defend, the best defence is an attack. So... should I start bashing jap bikes all over the forums now like Mollydog et.al bashes BMWs?

That's me with my broken down Suzuki on my 2004 European tour, it left me stranded on the road in the middle of nowhere in Poland with completely dead bike, first I completely disassembled the bike's plastics and electrics to find a fault myself aside the road, it took hours, jap electrics is dodgy, then had to organize a towing truck (it should be included in the Suzuki's bike buying package with their poor build quality), and it costed me alot to get it to the nearest Suzuki service which are very rare in the world and what an expensive service it was:




Enjoy your Suzuki! ... I didn't







Yes, I know that have a great way with words, I can sell T-Shirts with my words written on them, I can also put evidence pictures on them


...would be nice way to end the post to keep the myths alive.
Psst: now did I got a massive ego-boost or not then?

Thanks for setting that straight, Patrick.

Hi Lecap,

Do you have a website of your company ? I have family in South Africa and sometimes when I go there I borrow my uncle's Harley LowRider and sometimes I rent a bike.

I'm also thinking about buying a cheap bike (BMW R45/65) and leaving it at my uncle's house. I'm not sure what to do so I'm gathering information about the possibilities now.

__________________
Jan Krijtenburg

My bikes are a Honda GoldWing GL1200 and a Harley-Davidson FXD Dyna Super Glide

My personal homepage with trip reports: https://www.krijtenburg.nl/
YouTube channel (that I do together with one of my sons): motormobilist.nl

> There is an active I-hate-BMW club going on here<

please don't include me in that.

brother traded his 76 750 airhead (bought new) on his '99 1100S (bought new), and bro-in-law had his 00 LT (bought new) when I bought my 02 RT (bought new)...I had every intention of loving that machine...even read Mein Kampf afterwards to get the whole experience. I also had a VW Bug shop for years a while back and not only knew every nut and bolt on the cars and loved them, but also was way into the 1930s German design thing. I even had a sister marry a Hitler Youth from Koln ... my father was a US WWll GI and while the sparks flew, I came to realize the Kraut was the single most amazing and successful man I've ever seen in real life...came from nothing and became a multinational oil business tycoon...and I mean serious money...not only motivated, but a gentleman from A to Z.

I had every reason and probably more background than most to want to love that BMW motorcycle.

The "facts" are they are enjoying a (well deserved) 80(-) year reputation that begat arrogance and chased by the Japanese motorcycles ("Busa Killer") to produce anything that will continue the illusion of mechanical superiority...and that meant spline issues, clutch slave failures, final drive bearing failures, and fuel injection issues that went denied, tho a twin spark was introduced to address the issue in denial....and when you pay the premium for that level of abuse, you either have to smell the coffee or continue preaching in the tradition of the Spanish Inquisition where dissenters are squashed for self preservation.

If that 02 RT was "right" I'd still be happily putting miles on it and bragging to anyone who'ld listen....that was a $16,300+ mistake I don't intend to repeat.

I know of a '76 900 (R) with 18K miles needing love I would buy...but not another new BMW at those prices.

it's fine with me if you are devoted to a brand name, flag, or Holy Man...but that 02 RT was the biggest piece of crap I've seen in a while...and my mechanical background runs the whole gambit from mundane and normal to these projects I did a while back. a 1780s log house restoration from the ground up

and a 1956 Flxible Visicoach with the original Fageol Twin Coach from the ground up


it's entirely likely you don't even comprehend the work or open mind involved to venture where angels fear to tread...but when I tell the tale of my 02 RT BMW it's neither out of some motorcycle rag hype nor the illusion of inexperience.

I'm sure your position operates from a similar depth of experience?...because I can get all the hype I need from the sales literature.

I certainly don't "hate" BMWs...it's just that in my experience there was more sail than ballast...a whole lotta feathers and not much chicken.

the bike was bought in 6-02 for $16K+ with a top case and pad and traded in 11-06 for $7900 w/28K miles...didn't even hold it's value as well as expected...but I had to bail before it bit me hard.

that's just facts from my perspective. I didn't just roll into town and fall off a turnip truck when it comes to motorcycles and mechanics...I sincerely hope yours is a better experience than mine...and my attitude is fine. the pictures above should demonstrate historically just how far I'm willing to stretch and give the benefit of the doubt. The BMW dealer I bought from sucked...and I'll be happy to share that experience with you as well...if asked.

I certainly don't mean to offend, but I hope BMW gets it better than what I saw first hand. If that bruises your ego of insults your God...my apologies...but I can only stand by my experience...based on my experience...lots of experience...huge friggin' experience...wide...with scars...chicks dig scars...

My impression is they put too much power thru a 1930s design and hired college kids with more credentials and certificates than actual talent, pushed by egomaniacal managers and excutives who's image can't absorb critique...and it went astray...simple as that. The HP2 is a prime example of public masturbation.

My motorcycle dealer can beat up your motorcycle dealer.

__________________
John

Patrick, the 3 engine replacement is as real as it gets. I can PM you the forum exact web page if you like. There are other V-Strom users there as well who call him just a very unlucky user, but with my experiences with Suzuki I think there's nothing surprising about that kind of reliability.

Also take a look around Stromtrooper forums, you see lot of problems with clutches that are unheard of on any BMW

It's a Suzuki, it'll brake down 20 miles off the home, whether the clutch blows up, rear wheel rusts off, the engine seizes or in the worst case - the bike burns down because of the electrical issue, and it'll happend just too far to push it back home.

Oh yes, here they ask a bloody $12K for it.

Cheers, Margus