My lovely BMW r1150GS, what a great bike that was comfortable, not too loud, wind protection very good, wide handlebars..
Went all the way to scotland to pick it up… overall condition of it was ok, i can’t remember it having some serious problems when i got it, but like any other bike, i did fitted with some bling… some of it was hand made some of it was bought…
First thing that went on was Heed crash bars, and they served really well, can’t blame them, however they did cause some problems, as them being around the cylinder covers ment a bit of the struggle checking valve gaps…
After some time I noticed that one of the throttle bodies started to make very annoying ticking sound, and that was one of the common problems with them, but it was an easy fix. Bought a kit called “Ticker killer”, basically just a replacement cap on the side of the throttle body with an adjustable screw to put some pressure on the shaft that holds the butterfly valve..
After I started riding it more on trails, and crossing more water crossing, I noticed that it has some flaws…1 – Intake was super low, right above the cylinder, 2. Final drive breather was just the cap with an O ring, that allowed air not only to escape when hot, but also air to get back in when getting cold…and that was a big problem for me as i love water!
After one trip that contained a few deep water crossings, I noticed that my final drive hub oil was milky… meant that water got in and that was a big disappointment, however, i came up with a solution – to extend the final drive breather and to do that i used some black plastic airline and quick-fit 90 degree connection that allowed me to extend the tube all the way to the front. Many many ford crossings later – no sign of water in the final drive hub was found.
I still had one problem, low air intake, the solution for that was also to extend it just a little bit, however, because it restricted air flow, spark plugs used to turn black very quickly and I ditched the idea…
For navigation I used the Ultimate addons phone case and mirror mount that I mounted on the bracket that I made. Basically it was just a bent tube to U shape, and each end was connected to where screen adjusters are, giving a solid mount for sat nav – worked really well…
For more comfort I fitted a gel pad under the seat cover, that looked like a good idea at the beginning, unfortunately that turned out to be the worst idea ever… that made the seat super uncomfortable, so to fix that used sheep fur cover, i must admit it looked silly but it really was super comfortable!
Overall GS was a really good bike, easy to work on, easy to maintain (let’s say to take a tank off – only one bolt has to be undone, no chain to look after, to fix burnt heated grips – was enough to get some resistance wire and recoil the grips, or if drowned – spark plugs were right where you want them to be), however i didn’t like the idea of it having dry clutch, low air intake, and the weight of it! I still miss it for some reason, maybe one day ill get one of those again for pleasure rides – but tarmac only!
