BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

My R is getting ready to turn over 50k miles (I know that's not high for BMW bikes) soon and I was wondering about some of the big costs that I may soon encounter. When can I expect the clutch to need replacing. I know, when it starts slipping. What's the average life of clutches on the oil heads? I'm not hard on it too often so I would estimate it's had a standard life. What's the approximate cost for replacement?

What about spline failures? How do they show themselves? I know the prevention is to lube them which is costly, and it seems that not all bikes are prone to it. Is there any indicator that I'm about to have them fail?

Other than those two concerns, I feel that my bike is running great (the oil burn has slowed down and it seems to be at it's best for power) and besides normal maintenance, I hope it keeps going that way. I've done minor modifications, but nothing that should affect the life of the machine; other than new shocks, which are an improvement. What else should I be on the lookout for?

I don't know the answers to your questions but I am impressed that you've got 50k on the clock over 2 years. I've only managed 15k in 3 years.
While I know this is a paltry number, I can take some small comfort in the fact that it's still quite a bit more than most of my friends on their V-twins.

For reference, I have a '02 R1150R. Bought it two years ago with 6K miles, now has 70K.
Clutch: You probably won't wear it out in 100K+ miles. Most clutch failures happen because of external problems, like a leaking oil seal or a failed hydraulic clutch slave cylinder that leaked fluid on the clutch. My bike's slave cylinder failed at around 25K miles, but I caught it before it messed up the clutch itself. No clutch problems since then.
Clutch splines: If your bike has 50K miles with no spline problems and shifting nicely, you are in good shape. A very few - not many, but one is too many - failed early because of gearbox machining/alignment problems. This seems to eat the clutch spline between 10K and 30K miles. Otherwise they should last a loooong time. A inspection/lube job - a big job - is not a bad idea. My bike's clutch splines failed at 30K miles - too early. We installed a new gearbox. With 40K on the new box everything is fine and it shifts super nicely.
Other problems? Not really. There were some early rear drive failures, probably due to wrong tolerance shimming at the factory. With 50K miles again you should be past the critical point.
I love BMW bikes. I don't ride anything else for the last 30+ years. I sell them. But quality control could be better.

I work for a BMW breaker and parts supplier. We see many Oilheads with well over 100,000 miles on them. Clutches seem to last between 25,000 and 90,000 miles which I guess is largly down to the rider. We saw an R1150GS the other day on 170,000 miles with its original brake discs! It was owned by a Courier and it had done most of its miles on the motorways.

Thanks to Paul for his very honest and straightforward assessment of the BMW driveline concerns. The fact that he sells BMWs and is not afraid to acknowledge that there have been some problems gives his post a lot of credibility. Too often BMW owners have to chose between anecdotal stories from (understandably) irate owners whose bikes had a failure and official denial by BMW that their products are anything but perfect. Of course many of the vast majority of owners whose bikes don't have problems can't understand why some of us are worried about all this.

With over 300k miles on airheads with no unexpected maintenance issues, I was taken aback when I purchased my R and began reading on this and other forums about various driveline failures on low-mileage bikes. Paul's post is a good summary of the splines, clutch, and rear drive issues, and puts everything in perspective.
Peter '73 R75/5, '04 R1150RA (37k miles...)

Through the wonder of the internet, one irate owner posting 10,000 times seems like 10,000 irate owners!

Paul assestment seems about right. There are some issues but appear to be not as many bikes as some would portray. However, for BMW owners who have heard about all the long distance bikes out there, we would hope our bike is not one of the few.

I'd get the splines checked and a though going over, then ride it another 50K!

I recently passed 50K miles as well, on my RT. One thing that had to be replaced were the ball joints of the shifting mechanism; the shifting had gotten really sloppy & I often found myself in "no man's land" between 4th & 5th gear. The new linkage crisped the shifting nicely.

I don't know if this is common for the R bikes at this mileage; I was one of those that experienced the dreaded spline failure. It happened right around 40K miles (10K miles and a couple of months outside the warranty period!!). The shifting had always seemed balky prior to the failure (supposedly one of the signs of impending spline failure) but it still feels about the same now with the new tranny. And the dealership service folks seem to think the shifting is normal. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that what I perceive to be stiff shifting may have caused me to be a bit more forceful on the shifter, thereby prematurely wearing out the joints in the linkage.

Congrats on getting the miles on the R!!

Clutch life is purely based upon riding style and conditions.

I smoked mine after 20K. All heavy city miles in downtown chicago and also being a large guy (280+) and also always having my givi 52 ltr trunk full of stuff on the back.

After the roughly $900 to replace the clutch, I spoke with the service mgr, who recommended that I really pay attention to starts from a stationary position, since this causes the most clutch wear.

I also did alot of engine braking, while I enjoy the style of downshifting and engine braking, it is a alot cheaper to replace front pads ($60 from beemerboneyard.com) than the above clutch.

Bill

Thanks for the combined experiences. My transmission has always shifted within reason - no more clunky than my previous Jap import bikes so I guess I'm safe from the spline failure. Like I said about the clutch, I'm pretty easy on it and don't slip it too much so hopefully that won't be a near future repair.

I recently have a job much closer to home and a commute that I don't heavily rely on the bike, so if it would be down for a week doing the clutch or anything requiring trans removal, then it wouldn't impact me as much.

86,000 kms now. Nothing more than scheduled servicings, with book timelines for fluids and valves etc. Nothing unusual about brake pad changes for the distance. Original brake rotors and clutch.

Only 'unusual' events are two alternator belt changes. One just got noisy and squeaky, and was found to have a lot of rubber cracks. The second was after my 16,000 km round Aus ride, where the belt picked up a lot of sharp, hard red stones and was pretty shredded with a lot of nicks and chunks from a stone or two rattling around inside the housing.

Apart from that, it's been a left cam chain tensioner (anti-slap piston) to quieten the engine down. Not needed, but a very nice mod for another BMW design problem.

I'll see over 100,000 kms in May when I head to Borroloola for a quick 7,200 ride over 9 days. Fingers crossed it all keeps working for another 100,000 kms.

John,
I’ve been off the site for quite a number of months. In the past my posts were quarantined or deleated in some way. I do hope you get this one.

Just my two cents worth:

I have just under 70,000 miles on my ’03 R bike. I bought it new and had no problems at all until my clutch went out at 35,000 miles – I suppose pulling a loaded camping trailer had something to do with its early demise. I replaced with a ceramic clutch plate – the type the BMW factory uses in competition and is used in the Paris-Dakar races by BMW.

Everything has been going well until a couple of weeks ago; my rear end started making strange grinding sounds. I isolated it by pushing back the disks and turning the rear wheel while the bike was on the center stand and I listened with a stethoscope. The source of the grinding sound was quite clear – the rear-end.

My daughter and I pulled it today; I will box it up and send it a dealer in California. I’ve heard a number of horror tails regarding the R rear ends; one person had his go out on a trip while he was under warrantee. BMW replaced it as expected, which was the good part. About 100 miles later it went out again. I’m just guessing that he was not a “happy camper.”

By the way, pulling it myself saved many hundreds of dollars. If one had no tools at all the cost to buy the ones required would run you under $100.00 – well under.

My suggestion to anyone replacing a clutch is to replace it with one of the ceramic ones. The cost is only a couple of dollars more, but there is no limit to the mileage one can put on it. Even if a seal leaks and saturated the clutch place with oil, it will work.

John; personally I would not worry at all about your bike. Yes! Bikes break; but mostly I’ve never been left along with road on a dark light. I’ve been always able to jury-rig something to get me in. Now understand, I have less than 1,000,000 lifetime miles, and Christmas (’06) marks 50 years of riding. If I’ve never been left along the road, in the dark, and the odds are good that you won’t be either.

I hope this post helps in some small way,
Bob Jocky

2 questions that I have:

The ceramic disc, does the fact that it does not wear out conversely mean that other parts will wear more?

Hall-effect sensor; notorious for breaking down without warning on the R1100Rs, does it happen to the R1150R?

Cheers

Cat

baltm604 wrote: I spoke with the service mgr, who recommended that I really pay attention to starts from a stationary position, since this causes the most clutch wear.

Bill

What do you mean? Start the engine on the side stand???

Sorry for my lowsy english my friend