BMW are the best (at marketing) motorcycle company in the world ATM :nono:

Interesting that the majority of the failures shown are castings and many are components that are specific to the bike. If you buy a million castings like Ford you can spread out the cost of the x-rays and ultrasonic testing. If you only want 500 you have to fabricate, or buy of the shelf or at least use prototyping techniques as the tooling costs are silly. BMW possibly have the perfect storm of many weird variants each in relatively small numbers.

Weight is the driving factor as much as cost. You'll all pan any new bike that has a spec sheet showing half a ton, yet BMW owners want the active suspension and other added weight.

Andy

exactly right, I never heard of older bike splitting in half or that forks snapped. All important parts were made from hard steel not aluminium.

I'd suggest to stop that idiotic trend with heavy 1200cc bikes which must use very light components not to be even more heavy. When we add companies cuts and savings because of the economy, eco mania etc then we have problems, big safety problems. Ironically ABS is a must in almost all new models :)

2014 BMW R1200RT Owners Advised Not to Ride Their Motorcycles – Potentially Critical Suspension Defect

guys please remember not to ride your motorcycle :nono:

:clap: hilarious...

Nick name for those K series bikes (K75, K100, K1100, K1200) was "Flying Brick". Possibly the worst series of bikes BMW ever produced. (IMHO)

The new in-line four (SS1000 and related models) is MUCH better, stronger, simpler and more reliable. What's that? They copied the design from the
Suzuki GSXR1000? It's true, and BMW even admitted it. :rofl:

But they've beat Suzuki at their own game. The Beemer motor is better!

Yes, this appears outrageous ... but do you know BMW's history?

Just a few short years ago BMW would have ignored the problem, would say it does not exist and blame any problems on the owner. They used this exact tactic for years.

It finally back fired ... BMW had to CLEAN house and expunge all the old guard. The mere fact that BMW jumped on this problem and copped to it is a HUGE step forward for BMW.

MANY of the Japanese OEM's are far less forthcoming ... take the recurrent blown 3rd gear on the old DR650's! Suzuki has been SILENT on this, yet it's documented back at least 10 years of failures and still occurs on even new-ish DR650's. :eek3:

You're right, the adverts are total BS ... so tell me what else is new? :helpsmilie:

So, you've ridden the latest R12 GS WC then? I never said I'd own one (can't afford it!) but I have ridden one. "Fell for it"? haven't owned a BMW since the 1980's. But have ridden all the GS's.

I never rode Dakar on the LC GS or crossed the outback ... but on a nice twisty road, it was good fun and noticeably better than previous generations ... which I have hundreds of hours riding. (R1100, R1150, R1200)

The new GS rides even lighter than previous R12GS. Stunning brakes, great balance and control, plush suspension on bumpy paved roads. Low fatigue, low effort. High confidence. It's a good motorcycle, IMO.

Would I trust it fully loaded, hammering across Baja? No frickin' way! :rofl:

For the sake of balance, and clarity
 

Regarding your point number 2, your post number 20 in here contradicts you completely: the event you identify in post 20 went as follows, as I recall -- BMW did a recall and provided replacement bikes to those effected by the recall in the UK for the time that the bikes were off the road; the new water cooled RT were replaced with loan bikes, usually water cooled GSs, and the local dealers had to step up to the plate and deal with this, often providing their own demo bikes.
They also collected the machines from the owners for the recall work because "they could not be ridden". As an anecdote, it is said that one UK registered bike was recovered from mainland Europe and the owner, on vacation at the time, was provided with a replacement bike to continue the holiday.
In the USA, because those guys are much more prone to go to law very quickly, they did something along the same lines and made compensation payments to the owners - I forget the details but it was in the order of a few 1000 US$ per customer.
All this was done for a safety-related recall; contrary to your point 2 above.
I don't know of another manufacturer that would provide anything like this level of service; maybe you do?

"Which Bike"
"What we need to be aware of when buying a new bike today"
Just how unrelated can a thread become to both the forum and its own title; it needs to go into the BMW thread so that all potential purchasers can be aware (of something or other).

nonsense on all counts - this is not about bmw, all brands are welcome.
Cannot helped beamer is screwed up the most. Cost cutting saving are visible all around, in case of my honda luckily so far only bending ignition keys (saving on metal I guess). Who knows what next, never happened in 30 years to me that my keys are so soft that melt in hand...

how about F800GS cracked tanks?

Anyone noticed fuel tank plastic cracking? - BMW F800 Riders Forum & Registry

F800GS Cracked Gas Tanks

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...kRideSide2.jpg

http://f800riders.org/photoplog/imag...1_IMG_1114.jpg

another cost cutting, no QA savings...

Temperature wrong or contamination in the moulding process IMHO. Another example of the effects of short production runs? If you make it thicker you add weight and cost which marketing and accounts dislike.

Quality cannot be inspected in. Quality is what the supplier wants to do. I have been a supplier to BMW. We partied when we lost the job, there are other customers who help and inspire rather than expecting you to sort problems they cause.

Andy

Quality, or Zen and the art of ..................
 

QA, now there's a topic that rarely gets a mention in the HUBB.
It would be good to hear your views of how things have moved along over the past 40 years or so; please see my latest post in here:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ropean-80333-3

Ah! Now we have the agenda that started this thread.
No harm in that, but clearly it's a BMW thread of the disgruntled variety.

A 3D printer will solve that for you, in the very near future.

You think Dave? really?

Mezo.