K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

The sexy K1200R!

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MartinW
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K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by MartinW »

Does anyone on this forum carry out their own servicing/maintenance on their K1200S/R?

How difficult is it? Is there a service schedule available or even a service manual/CD?

Thanks
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big papa
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by big papa »

You can get the cheap manual off of e-bay. I changed my oil on my KR when I had it. The manual is useful, I especially liked having the torque specs handy... and yes it contains the service schedule.

The dealership will sell you one also.
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by doug.brown »

The dealer official factory manual on a CD is pretty good; I use it to do all the maintenance so far - just have to have to proper tools e.g. metric sockets/wrenches/allen wrenches, torque wrenches (I bought a couple of SK for two ranges) etc. and I buy the parts (filters, crush washers, etc) and fluids at the BMW dealer. Yesterday I bought the coolant at the BMW car dealer since it's the same BMW part number and I get the BMW Car Club discount at the car dealer :-)

I also had a center stand installed on my K12R to make the maintenance easier. I just wouldn't mess with tire mounting or maybe not even brake jobs...
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by MartinW »

Thanks big papa and doug-brown for the replies.
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by Lost Rider »

MartinW wrote:Does anyone on this forum carry out their own servicing/maintenance on their K1200S/R?

How difficult is it? Is there a service schedule available or even a service manual/CD?

Thanks
I do all my own maintenance on my R1200R.

Here's a little DIY:

http://r1150r.org/board/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=12920
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MartinW
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by MartinW »

Thanks ChiTown but it's' the K not the R that I'm interested in - i.e. K1200S or K1200R.

I already own and maintain my R1150R and oilhead maintenance is already fully documented on the R1150R forum.

No one seems to do DIY maintenance, other than oil/filter change on the K bikes though.
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by doug.brown »

With the BMW factory repair manual (comes on a CD), it's easy to do just about everything on the K12R. I've done maintenance and repair on cars and motorcycles for 35+ years, including rebuilding engines, but I personally will do everything except tires, coolant change (need special tool) and brake work (need bleeder/helper); but other than engine oil/filter, air filter, spark plugs, joint lubrication, there's not much to do.
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by MartinW »

Thanks doug.brown - just what I needed to hear.
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by doug.brown »

anytime. BTW my previous two Beemers were the R1150R and before that a R1200C Phoenix... comparing them to the K12R, of course the very nature of the boxer air cooling/oil coolant make them easier than messing with coolant changes on the K12R. But you only have to change coolant every four years per BMW's recommended schedule, or two years per a more conservative (recommended by BMW experts - they recommend the same fluid and schedule as the BMW cars) schedule. and at least the K12R doesn't require a separate gearbox oil change (every two years by my schedule, like a car) so I guess you trade gearbox oil changes for coolant changes.

But at least it's easier to change the oil filter on the K12R than the boxer engines - at least for me since I am anal about cleaning off the filter/engine mating surface, and that's hard to do on the boxer engines. Haven't changed spark plugs or adjusted valves on the K12R yet but it looks like the boxer engine would be easier since they stick out at you!

Also, when it comes time to change the clutch (or probably do any work on the gearbox) on a K12R, my Beemer factory store owner/former service adviser tells me that it's a lot less work than the Boxer bikes - Boxer bikes require a lot of disassembly of the paralever/shaft drive etc to get at the clutch/gearbox.

Can't speak personally to more major work, like top end rebuilds which would probably be a lot easier on the boxer engines, but K12R shouldn't need that for a lonnngggg time for me, I'm guessing at least 100K (and probably a lot more) miles if I continue to take care of oil changes every 12 months or 3K miles.

-Doug
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by MartinW »

Hi Doug - interesting post thanks.

Slightly off-topic, but how do you rate the K against the R? Any regrets about getting rid of the R?

Martin
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by doug.brown »

my R1150R was a 2003, non abs also. my K12R is also non-abs btw. I had both for a couple of months and switched back and forth.

I do like the K12R better overall: besides being a lot faster, it's a lot smoother (except for a K12R buzz around 6,000rpm) - especially under load like accelerating - the K12R is a lot smoother than the R1150R. K12R is a lot more stable and handles better at speed - but not as nimble slow speeds. compared to the K12R, the R1150R has a much smoother gearbox; I put Red Line Shockproof Heavy in the gearbox and I still never thought it was great until I compared it to the K12R since the K12R is cranky 1st or 3rd gear into 2nd and 2nd into 3rd and sometimes neutral into 1st - they all are supposed to be like that. K12R gearbox is fine 3rd->6th and back. R1150R got a little better MPG (maybe 35 - 40 vs. 30 - 35 with similar mixed side roads/freeway riding) - usually not a big issue but with the price of high test gas it could matter more now.

Now that I have to change the coolant, I do miss the lack of coolant on the R1150R - coolant changes are a lot more work than gearbox oil changes! I also wonder about the longevity advantage of the boxer engine since it keeps the oil separate btwn the gearbox and engine, and it has a dry clutch, vs the K12R which shares oil with engine/clutch/gearbox). Most motorcycle engines are like the K12R that way, but most don't last nearly as long as BMWs either - so I just hope BMW has is all figured out, and I'll change the oil every 3K miles with the BMW oil (made by Spectro - it's really good oil). One good sign of BMW's design for longevity is that early on in this motor they stopped (early) production (since they detected wear on the camshafts after 50K miles) until they got better camshafts.
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by taosports »

Thanks for the great info Doug. Was curious about adjusting the valves on the K1200. Is it as easy a task as it is on the r1150?
MartinW
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by MartinW »

Thanks Doug. It's good to hear the experiences of someone who has owned both at the same time.

My impression of the K (it was an KS not an KR) was that the power delivery was so smooth that it made the RR seems a bit agricultural. I also found the gerabox to be very smooth until it warmed up and then it was a pain and sometimes very hard to shift. The gearbox has had some pretty bad press and I wondered whether that's why my local dealer has several used KSs for sale.

From what you say, the running costs on the K will be a bit higher than the R but not enough to be a serious deterrent.
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Re: K1200S (or R) DIY maintenance

Post by doug.brown »

now that you mention it, the K12R gearbox is fine when cold, then it warms up and gets cranky. but the upper gears >= 4th, are fine... go figure. I was wondering if there is a way to use different oil, maybe higher weight? - I run 10W-40 per bmw recommendation - I ran higher (upper = 50w) on the R bike engine, and very heavy in the gearbox - I think they recommend the 40w because of the clutch?
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