3 November 2008
This is the logbook of the BMW R1150Gs Adventure, Standard with no modifications.
I bought the bike new on the 24th of December 2002.
We left Cape Agulhas (Southernmost Point in Africa) in June 2004 with 39 000km on the clock, it was 18 months old then. We arrived in Dubai in Feb 2005 with 67 000km on the clock and left three years later (June 2008) with 92,000km on. Before we left home (Cape Town) a few items went wrong and were repaired under warranty free of charge. This includes:
- Replacement of diff bearings
- Swingarm bearings
- Front brake callipers
- Faulty crash bars
On our journey, there have been a few fatal breakdowns. In Kenya the main wiring harness short-circuited and fused the entire harness, leaving us stranded in the Northern Desert of Kenya. It got replaced with a new harness by BMW in Nairobi. (see details in the Kenya section of the Website) The second big disappointment was the failure of the Servo Assisted and ABS brake pump resulting in no brakes on the rear wheel. BMW does not repair these pumps, and I was told to replace them with a new one, which would have cost over R20 000 ($3 000). Instead, I removed the pump and linked the brakes direct. The braking ability of the bike is just as good as with the Servo pump. (See details of this modification later)
Then the biggest disappointment so far is the fact that we had to replace the rear wheel bearing 5 times. It was done by a BMW dealer twice, and three times by myself. It is caused by the fact that we ‘overload’ the bike a bit. This is known to be a common problem with the 1150GS as well as the 1200LT (In the USA). I’ve made a bold step to experiment with a different type of bearing, and have done away with the original Deep Groove Ball bearing. BMW supplies its customers with a FAG – 6917 bearing which has 19 balls in the bearing. I’ve even tried to use an NSK – 6917 which has 17 balls in the bearing because some BMW dealers here in the USA are changing over to the ’17 ball’ bearing as a so-called improvement to the original FAG. Unfortunately, I did not get to use the bearing to the end of its life, as the small taper roller bearing failed on me while I had the NSK bearing in. The taper roller failed due to too much play on the hub, as I did not have any shims to my availability when I replaced the bearing in northern Canada (Closets BMW dealer was 1200km away) and decide to drive the bike as is down to Arkansas. In Arkansas I decided to do the big modification and inserted a Precision Angular Contact Bearing in, as well as I have replaced the small taper roller. An Angular Contact Bearing does the same job as a Taper Roller Bearing, and it makes more sense to me to have two taper roller bearings facing each other, or in this case a tapered roller and angular contact. The original BMW design only has a taper roller bearing as well as a crown and pinion gear combination facing and forcing thrust load onto the inner ring of the standard deep groove ball bearing, which is not designed to handle any thrust load. The Angular Contact Bearing however is designed to take thrust load. This modification is being done by my own design and against the approval of BMW, but I have enough experience with machinery to think out of the box and come up with a solution to many GS and LT owners’ headaches. As soon as I’m satisfied with this modification, I will add the details and photos to the web, let me first take the GS for the ultimate test ride. . . . ………..So the bike had a few breakdowns on the way, some big and some small. Despite that, I still love my GS and would not choose another bike for the kind of trip we are doing…………………………….
- 40 100 Diens – Trefco, Belleville
Nuwe buite bande: Michelin T66 agter en Continental voor Nuwe rem blokke voorwiel - 48 000 Ongeluk, slegs ligte skade en krappe aan bike.
- 51 200 Agterlig bracket breek af, weld -Malawi
- 53 900 Regter panier bracket gebuig agv ligte ongeluk met boomstomp -Malawi
- 57 070 Bedrading smelt, Mashariki Motors vervang onder waarborg Nuwe remblokke agter wiel -Kenia
- 58 000 Voorlig en ‘cockpit’ bracket breek af, sweis -Kenia
- 59 190 Regs panier bracket breek, boer maak ‘n plan-fix – Etehopië
- 62 700 Regter voor shock lek olie (nog nie reg gemaak)
- 65 200 Agterwiel bearing #1 pak pak op, Batery lek Acid, vervang met nuwe een. BMW Muscat vervang – Oman
- 76 500 Petrol pomp pak op, vervang met nuut. –UAE
- 82 000 Groot diens, vervang handle gribs(heated), Vervang voorste skokbreker met nuwe BMW skokbreker. Strip brackets wat in Afrika gesweis is en spuitverf nuut.
- 88 000 Groot diens en herstelwerk, vervang voor vurk seëls, Vervang agter skokbreker met nuwe BMW skokbreker. Strip agter raam, sweis en versterk gekraakte raam net onder sitplek, spuitverf nuut. Nuwe Altenator belt, vonk proppe, stel kleppe. Nuwe lug en olie filter en olie. Vervang remvloeistof. Nuwe voorband – Conti TKC. Diens by BMW.
- 88 800 Servo assisted brake pump pak op. Verwyder en koppel remme direk, sonder ABS en Servo assisted
- 91 500 Vervang agterwiel bearing #2 as deel van voorbereiding van toer wat voorle.
- 93 000 Agterwiel valve skeur oop, vervang by dorpie net voor Esfahan, Iran
- 103 500 Agterwiel bearing #3 pak op, vervang in Ripley, Engeland
- 115 000 Voorwiel kraak, vervang met nuwe rim in Fairbanks, Alaska
- 122 000 Agterwiel bearing #4 pak op, vervang met NSK (nie-BMW) bearing in Houston, British Colombia, Kanada
- 123 000 Vervang plug drade in Vancouver, Kanada
- 125 500 Vervang remblokke, voor en agter
- 131 000 Agterwiel bearing #5 pak op, vervang met ‘n ‘Precision Angular Contact Bearing’ as deel van eksperiment. (sien details op ‘n later stadium)