Quote:
Originally Posted by TurcoLoco
I did hear some about BMW having such issues but I thought it was isolated to a specific year/model for them as well.
Surprising, since BMW is known to be durable and well-engineered.
I always felt BMW, H-D and Ducatis were a bit overhyped and overpriced, anyhow.
Imho, Indian/Victory are way better American cruisers for the money.
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Hmm, no: multiple years of BMWs had shaft spline issues. Was never in that crowd so don't have every last factoid at my fingers, like I do for say the bad IMS engine problems on specific Porsche 996 and 997 (series) 911 motors. We pay attention to that which affects us directly much more keenly...the sole reason I kept clear of certain used cars a few years back so as not to court a $16K engine failure.
My buddy tossed a couple shafts on his '85 K-bike. Left him stranded once or twice. I think he had it mostly solved after that, with whatever repairs they do.
Don't be fooled, many BMW bikes have a less-than-sterling rep for holding together. That's both anecdotal, from R-bikes my buddy owned more recently to many, many stories on various forums...for decades. Ditto their cars, actually, of which I have owned two for about 100K miles between them. BMWs are interesting engineering, for-sure, and I'm love-hate on the genre.
You're right, Ducati can be fan-boy bikes. Some Multistradas (Gen II) had real trouble, as in inherent engineering flaws the company had to solve in successive generations, and only mediocre quality to begin with. In 15K miles, mine gave me zero trouble other than the recalls. My latest, a '14 with only 5K miles, who knows? One part just went bad that shouldn't have, the sender on the fuel gauge(??), covered under extended warranty...the exact reason I got one...so we'll see what comes of it. I knew when I bought it they were slightly screwy.
H-D? (Guffaw): Google "LAPD H-D motorcycle patrol bike report" and read the report in-toto, you'll never go near the dumb things again. I've eyeballed Indians as possible spare bikes, would try those in a heartbeat before the other these days. I'd be thrilled if Indian/Victory sank H-D in about ten years, though likely won't happen.