I own a Transalp and just sold my K75s, so I think I will chime in here.

First of all the K and the TA are completely different bikes in every aspect. But I do agree with what Steve has mentioned. My experience with the K75 has been excellent, it gave me virtually no problems in the time I owned it.

Keep in mind though that for every success story I have heard with BMW, I have heard an equal horror story. The K bike is no exception. One big problem of the K and R series in the 80s and mid 90s is the shaft drive, which has a high rate of failure. If you are one of the unlucky ones to experience this, you are in for a huge repair bill. This can be minimized by lubing the splines on a regular basis, but its no guarantee.

As Steve mentioned, the K is very easy to service and the valves rarely require adjustment. But its still a more maintenance intensive bike than the TA. If you bring it to a BMW dealer you will get gouged, but an independent mechanic should be able to do it for a reasonable price. Maintenance and repair costs over the long term will most likely be higher on the K bike than the TA.

Regarding the reliability of the TA, that is THE reason for buying one. For reliability, these are at the top of the heap. They have a simple design and the engine is a very "low stress" design. You won't get tons of performance from this engine, but it will tolerate a lot of adversity and neglect.

I just took a 4500 mile trip on my TA with my girlfriend on the back and full luggage. The bike did fine, no problems at all. I bought the TA to take me and my girlfriend halfway around the world next year. Reliability was my number one concern.

The TA will take you more places than a K. The K is lousy off pavement, especially the "s" version. But if you don't plan on ever going off pavement, this is not an issue. The K is far superior to the TA on the road, especially two-up.

Depending on what you are going to use it for, either bike would be a good choice.

-Dave

__________________
Dave McMillan
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/mcmillan/