New Member Introductions » Nervous purchase 2016 R1200 RS

Hi everyone
I’ve been lurking the forum for several days and surprisingly found little about know issues or mechanical problems. Leaking water pump and head bearings maybe. Amazing information without the usual BS found on some other forums. I recently test road a similar bike to the one I plan on buying and enjoyed it. Question: having never owned a BMW what to watch out for. Are they as reliable as it seems? I’m poised to purchase a 2016 R1200 RS with 4500 miles this coming Saturday. Not Lupine, sorry guys. I’m currently riding 2 Aprilia’s and want one bike that does it all. Round town, blasting twisted and touring. I have become disenchanted with Aprilia lack of dealership network and $$$ of service. Am I making the right move?

After 27K miles my 2016 RS has been trouble free. No water pump leaks and no steering bearing problems. It seems to run perfectly and has no fuel injection response issues. Fuel mileage for my type of easy riding is around 50 mpg. If I had to complain about anything it would be that it makes a loud "clunk" when shifted from neutral into first gear.

Really low miles.. The bike looks mint in the photos with service just completed (at my request because of the service light) and all manuals. I suppose no one on this forum would say not to buy it. Right? Just needed some reassurance. I thought about the tires being original so I plan on Perrelli Angel GT II. Thanks

Congratulations.
They're reliable.
Check all the basic functions- lights, horn, hi-beams, signals, tires, etc. There're a lot of indicators on the display. Become familiar with those versus the manual if you can.
Make sure no engine warning lights.
If you're mechanical, one place to start after riding it and feeling the function of everything is
feel under cylinder head covers (at the ends pointing out towards you horizontally) for oil leaks
maybe pop off the battery cover on the right side (torx bit) and make sure no chafed wires, funny looking dongles, fuses, that the battery stretchy strap is in place, the battery cables are seated and tight. In other words, and admittedly this is hard for a newbie,
that nothing seems patched or jury rigged or repaired.

Try to look for something electrical and weird of obvious note is what I'm getting at.
Ride it a few times and if certain lights on the display don't go off or the display flickers or something just doesn't look right- make note.
My 2016 has been super reliable. But if i had to guess if there was not obvious drop or accident damage, what might someone cover up with German vehicles in general- it would be electrical crap.

I have 49,000 miles on my 2016 and my wife has 46,000 miles on her 2016. The only repair I remember is a clutch slave on her bike.
The only snag, the internet says Lupin is faster and more reliable.
Are you feeling lucky :)

Thanks for the tips. I plan on running through the functions and check for any signs of damage. Hopefully if any electrical gremlins are hiding I can force them to reveal themselves before I ride it home. Are you saying access to the battery is difficult? 😂 oh no. BMW newbie yes. Motorcycle riding no. Looking forward to joining the club/cult. PS I test rode the same year RS at a local dealer and he tried to sell me on the GS. Nice ride but I’m looking for something a little different. Glad to hear about the reliability being rock solid.

I thought faster sure but more reliable. Oh crap now I’m really nervous.😳

Zitat von Dano im Beitrag #7

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.... Are you saying access to the battery is difficult? ...

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Zitat von Dano im Beitrag #7

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....PS I test rode the same year RS at a local dealer and he tried to sell me on the GS. Nice ride but I’m looking for something a little different.

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Zitat von Dano im Beitrag #1

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Hi everyone
I’ve been lurking the forum for several days and surprisingly found little about know issues or mechanical problems. Leaking water pump and head bearings maybe. Amazing information without the usual BS found on some other forums. I recently test road a similar bike to the one I plan on buying and enjoyed it. Question: having never owned a BMW what to watch out for. Are they as reliable as it seems? I’m poised to purchase a 2016 R1200 RS with 4500 miles this coming Saturday. Not Lupine, sorry guys. I’m currently riding 2 Aprilia’s and want one bike that does it all. Round town, blasting twisted and touring. I have become disenchanted with Aprilia lack of dealership network and $$$ of service. Am I making the right move?

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Zitat von Mr. 36654 im Beitrag #10

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Zitat von Dano im Beitrag #1

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Hi everyone
I’ve been lurking the forum for several days and surprisingly found little about know issues or mechanical problems. Leaking water pump and head bearings maybe. Amazing information without the usual BS found on some other forums. I recently test road a similar bike to the one I plan on buying and enjoyed it. Question: having never owned a BMW what to watch out for. Are they as reliable as it seems? I’m poised to purchase a 2016 R1200 RS with 4500 miles this coming Saturday. Not Lupine, sorry guys. I’m currently riding 2 Aprilia’s and want one bike that does it all. Round town, blasting twisted and touring. I have become disenchanted with Aprilia lack of dealership network and $$$ of service. Am I making the right move?

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Where in the USA are you located?

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Hi I’m near Richard230 in California. Is the limp mode random glitch or events that lead up to it? Several limp home modes with a 2016, how many miles? Rain related, battery or just out of the blue? I hope this is not a common problem. Sorry to hear about the software issue and I hope this resolves the problem once and for all. Thanks for sharing. So glad to hear back from you all. Once I take the bike out on a test ride I will most likely will not be able to walk away without it. Thank you all again. I’ll post photos when I get her home.

Rather than wait for the inevitable this is it.

That looks like a keeper - I can see circa $1,500 of add-ons on that bike - panniers, tank bag, screen & luggage carrier. Go for it!!

I have the sense that you will be travelling some way to do this deal. Either way ask whether the firmware/software has been updated? If it is a BMW sale insist they throw in an upgrade unless one has already been done. If it is a private sale budget for an upgrade to be on the safe side. Be warned the upgrade takes circa 4 hours! (They just plug it in and keep an eye on it while getting on with other things so you do not pay for 4 hours labour - I think I recall someone in the UK being charged £80 for their upgrade)

I had a warning light come on on my R1250RS about 4 weeks ago. The message on my TFT said something like "You can proceed with your journey but head for an authorised agent". I took it in late on a couple of days later. They cancelled the warning light, confirmed it was nothing to worry about and said a firmware upgrade would sort the "problem". They did that a week or two later under warranty just before Christmas.

FYI I can see how I induced that warning light - fired up the engine for barely a couple of seconds to straighten the bike up when exiting the garage onto my uphill driveway while loading it up. When I fired up again a couple of minutes later the warning light came on together with the above message. It did not worry me unduly (I owned a Renault car maybe 20 years ago that completely refused to start after I did something similar. Had to get the AA out to get it started. The AA man told me it was a common problem.)

A final thought - Do check for that toolkit under the pillion seat. You will need the handle off the screwdriver to remove the oil filler cap and I think I would be changing the oil fairly quickly if I were you. Unless it has had an annual service it may only have had one oil change since new.

Hope that helps!

Chris

Don't be nervous. High, high chances that such a low mileage bike and 1 owner, I presume is pristine.
I have the lupine blue and white 2016. I have low mileage: like 10K. The only thing that wore were the Metzler tires.
It has been as reliable as a 1999 Yamaha R1 I had. Oh- 1 thing came to mind just now- the footpeg rubber on the left foot peg tore.
I re-riveted a new one from the dealer- a pain, but I wrote a thread about it.

Ride it. Check it. Maybe you have access to an independent BMW shop who could advise you and/or check the bike.
I thought of the battery thing- and it's mostly intuitive-speculative of me - that that might give a buyer's eye a quick gut impression of any monkeying with cutting into electrical wires or wiring harness. Unlikely someone would any reason to splice or cut into wires anywhere else.
Now, many people here DO attach battery tender leads to the battery in order to charge in off season, so you can check that.
The battery access is easy, as said. Getting the battery fully out- if it's 2016-17, and if it has the styrene cushion etc., is not. It's tight and you can't get leverage. But you won't likely need to anyway during your inspection.

Good luck. You'll be fine. Wonderful bike.