K1200R worries

[Roger]

Hi folks - please may I ask for feedback on potential look-outs when buying a c15k miles K1200R? I currently have a Tuono and have had a K1200R a few years back from a non-BMW dealer. Within two months oil was weeping from the final drive and after Chester Motorrad ran a diagnostic check, the final drive and bevel required replacing  which cost the dealer over £2k in spares. This greatly put me off - loved the ride but found the costs frightening. Are costly faults commonplace or was I just unlucky? At 52 I'd love a K again but am very cautious as my Gen1 Tuono is cost effective to maintain. Thank you in advance, Roger

[chriscanning]

I’ve had my K1200r Sport 11 years more by luck than judgement it’s been wet once,I have never run it as an only bike as I have others so anytime i’ve Wanted to do work on it or something needed sorting out i’ve Never been under any pressure to fix it in a rush,also helps that it spends its life in a carpeted centrally heated garage.

Despite the K’s age they are relatively complicated and as I had pointed out to me in the early 70’s as a snotty nosed 21year old when buying parts for my newish CB750 ‘You want to ride around on a Rolls Royce sonny then you have to pay Rolls Royce prices’ which at the time I got the hump over but really quite factual.

The K’s certainly have an iffy history to say the least but I have no plans of selling mine anytime soon and anyone thinking of buying such would do well to take a decent torch and shine it in all the wrong(right)places to determine how it’s been looked after,i’ll Be kind and say when new they had their problems so in their old age certainly a risky buy unless you can find a minter and at no time have I ever view my K as cheap enterprise.....

Having said all of the above I gave up my extended warranty that I ran for years because a combo of finally getting a grip on the bike and how it ran,and a lot less use as it slid down the food chain.

[black-k1]

I've had:

K1200S - 55 plate - owned for 5 years
K1300S - 13 plate - owned for 3 years
K1300S - 16 plate - owned for 3 years

The K1200S was a great bike with regards to performance, comfort, range etc. but it in the time I had it it needed a whole list of expensive repairs over and above normal servicing. I do big miles with all the bikes covering in excess of 50,000 miles. I know my K1200S was an earlier bike (late 2005) and it was bought second hand (18 months old with 7500 miles) but it put me off ever touching a K1200 again and very nearly put me off BMWs completely. 

Both of the 1300s had their moments (radiators, switch gear and final drive paint!) but they were significantly and noticeably better bikes than the 1200. (I even persuaded a reasonably "dyed in the wool" K1200S owner to sell his bike and buy a 1300 just by allowing him to use my 1300 for a couple of hours. I don't think he's forgiven me yet!!!) 

My recommendation would be to forget the 1200 and look at the 1300. I have said before that if you want to buy a 1200 then make sure you have a stack of money to pay for the inevitable repairs. If you have a stack of money then spend it up front and get a 1300 that is a better bike in every way.

[Phmode]

My advice, as always is to buy a K13 as opposed to a K12.

The 12 had certain, how shall I say, foibles which will most definitely mar your enjoyment if and when they arise. The 13 by its nature (it was a development of the 12 and therefore improved in many ways) has fewer 'foibles'.

The 13 also its little ways and isn't perfect but it is a far better bike than the 12 and its foibles won't break your bank but they will cost time and/or money. Chris has spent a lot of time and some money getting his sorted and it will probably go into the grave with him (not too soon we hope).

If you 'must' have a 12 then get a late one, the later the better.. But, the prices of the K are barely much different between a late 12 and an early 13 so there is no excuse for buying a '12.

If you go here...

https://eurokclub.bike/index.php?topic=3984.0

...you will find most things you need to know.

Also, if you are a keen rider (as opposed to a plodder) then the chassis on the 13 is far superior to the 12.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Brian (who rode David's K13S, fully loaded for touring, for an afternoon in Spain when we did a swapsy. He had offered the ride to another, non-K bike rider over dinner the previous evening as he couldn't understand the attraction of all the K's on the trip. David was 'kind' enough to let me take up the offer and no, I haven't forgiven him. When we arrived at our hotel for the night our comments about the bike we had just been riding couldn't have been more different. You can read my subjective comparison here...

https://eurokclub.bike/index.php?topic=578.30

[Matt]

I've only had two K1300S and no K1200, but over the last... 8 or so years I've come to the same conclusion as above. The price difference between a decent K1200 (whatever makes one decent, late plate etc?) and a decent enough 10/11 plate K1300 should be less than the cost of the pretty much guaranteed stuff on the k1200.

In any event though, I recommend the warranty . But you'll find a rough 60/40 split here on that I reckon, for and against. For me, I like my BMW garage and the people there, and part of the attraction - again, for me - about going BMW was that I'd never have to search for an independent I can trust. I admit, I tried a few BMW dealers too before finding this one, hah! I used to do fairly heavy miles (12-14k a year) so not having to think what to do when something broke was quite high on my list. Not high enough to buy a Japanese bike and not have things actually break, though .

Anyway, waffle. End.

[chriscanning]

Roger

Despite what has been posted their were 2 versions of the K1200 the 04/06 and the 07/08 just thought i’d Point that out as you wouldn’t think so reading the above and there was a significant difference 

[chriscanning]

Just had the May edition of bike come through the door(joys of Lloyds bank) with an interesting article on buying second hand bike part of which is a whole page on buying a 1300s 

[richtea]

Just had the May edition of bike come through the door(joys of Lloyds bank) with an interesting article on buying second hand bike part of which is a whole page on buying a 1300s 

Is it kind?
Is it accurate?

[chriscanning]

Yes it’s good,done with some irony that you get when looking back over your shoulder from years back as the writer was doing.

We’ve just come in from doing a few miles on the K,in all honesty it’s well down the food chain when it comes to use and even with the mods I have done over years too quicken the steering still bloody hard work two up compared to either the X/R or KTMGT but more than quick enough when you get the old girl going,took a while for the Heal Tech QS to start working which I fitted last year but settled down in the end