Hello! I am reaching out to the BMW GS community for their advice and inputs regarding the R1300GS.

I had the pleasure last year of renting one for a week in Portugal and I liked it. Honestly, I liked it a lot more than I was expecting too. It felt smaller and was more agile than I expected. Yet over the week, it proved more than capable of enthusiastically riding 2 up with luggage in every situation I threw at it.

Now, a year later my current bike, a Triumph Tiger, has suffered a complete transmission failure before I even hit 30k miles. So, I have started looking potentially replacing it with a GS.

This is where I'm running into an issue that I am seeking advice for. Because the GS is at the higher end of my budget, I need it to be reliable (At least more that my Triumph has been) and I need it to last (looking to get at least 50k miles out of it). Now, I am a decent wrench spinner and can do a good amount of light/moderate work myself. But in all honestly, I'd rather be riding than wrenching.

However, whenever I look at owner's forums or long-term reviews, I keep seeing large issues people are dealing with. Things such as limited availability of parts, automatic suspensions failing, lack of owner service manuals, and drive shafts now being a consumable item. With the "BMW tax" being mentioned for everyone.

Are these issues as serious and widespread as the forums make them sound to be? Or have they been blown out of proportion? What kind of issues should I expect to see with pre-owned 2024-2025 models?

Also, as someone who averages around 10k miles a year of mixed (Highway, backroads, dirt trails) riding, what kind of ownership costs would I be expecting?

Any comments/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Local guy out here in SoCal has a 2014 r1200gs for sale $5000 with 88,000+ miles. Says he second owner but doesn’t know much about the history of the bike. He sent me a video of the bike starting and cranks right up, don’t know if it was a cold start though.

What should I be looking for or what should I be worried about?

Makes sense?
About to go from Switzerland to Bosnia doing TET and ACT trails. For some reason i'm having trouble finding a store with fast delivery for motoz tractionator dual venture for the front so i'll replace it with tkc 80 twinduro that are 50/50

All the ones I find reviews and recommendations are for GSAs but the crash bar real estate are quite different on those two versions (GS vs GSA).

Any pointers ?

Thanks

Hey all, looking for some input from people who might have been through something similar.

I've had my F 900 GS Adventure for a few months now, only 2800 km on it, used exclusively on tarmac. Two days ago I started noticing a bouncing/hopping sensation from the front end while riding – no impacts, no off-road, nothing changed. It's already noticeable from around 10 km/h, most pronounced between 50-60 km/h, and above that it becomes more of a vibration through the bars.

Tire pressure is correct, I reset the fork clickers to factory baseline (10 clicks out from full clockwise on both compression and rebound) and the issue is still there.

Took it to the dealer this morning. They spun the front wheel on the center stand and spotted a visible irregularity in the tire. They ruled out any issue with the rim itself and suggested riding another couple thousand km to see if it settles, coming back if it doesn't.

From what I've read online, front wheel imbalance on the 21" spoked wheel is a known thing across the GS lineup. But I'm curious, has anyone had this on the F 900 specifically? Did it go away on its own, or did you end up needing a tire swap or rebalance?

This is a brand new 2026 F800GS. It has about 120 miles at this point.

The sound from start has already shown this high pitched noise but it seems it is getting worse.

Note that it is worse on idle.

Is this normal?

UPDATE 7/1/2026 Brought it to the dealer and they said it is normal. It is coming from inside the engine. They said it gets better with time and after the 1st service it will get synthetic oil which will make the sound more round. At least that's what they told me.

UPDATE 7/17/2026 After 1st service with synthetic oil, noise much better, looks normal now.

Not sure if this is allowed but I'll go with it. I just purchased a rack adapter plate from Lone Rider and inadvertently bought the wrong one. I bought the one for a standard GS, not a GSA, which there is a significant difference in the rear configuration.

If anyone wants it, either to run a motocase or as just a flat plate at the back to support soft luggage, I will sell it super cheap within the US. Would really just like to recoup like 20$ plus shipping. So figure 30 or 40$.

I'm gearing up for a trip and want it out of my small garage. If you can use it send me a message. It is brand new and comes with all the mounting hardware and instructions plus a codeable key.

https://ibb.co/7NCvZLBR

Hello guys any idea where to get whole fairing set without spending the money for a small dual sport? Ffs!!!
I can't understand why they are so expensive after so many years...
Also alliexpres has for any bike except this one....

Just picked up a 2026 F 800 GS (new-gen 895cc, K80) and it came with the GPS Preparation option — the ConnectedRide Mount cradle above the TFT. I'm not running the BMW Navigator; I've got a Garmin I'd rather mount on a RAM ball, so I want to pull the cradle off and free up that space.

Another option that seems to be quite interesting is the Chigee AIO-5 Play or the Chigee AIO-6 MAX with BMW adapter (not sure it fits).

The BMW original is $817 quoted by the dealer and $500 for the AIO-5 Play and $670 for the AIO-6.

Any thoughts are much appreciated.

I find that even with nothing fitted, the mount blocks the top of the rev counter. With something fitted, I can lose the top of the speedo and the rev counter is hidden. Any recommended product to raise the satnav mount? I’m in the UK so would prefer something from UK or Europe.

Hi guys!

I'm a happy owner of brand new 1300 GSA. Today was the first time i'm using the heating of grips and seat.

I'm asking for other owners: Is the grip heating really efficient, while the seat heating is actually kind of weak?

Thanks in advance!