Almost went to the DARK SIDE

[shadowofshoe]

After the ongoing talks about top-heaviness, FD failures and maintainance costs..........aaaaaaaand the connie '08 in a nearby showroom. I talked to the friendly salesman-threw around numbers. He said he couldn't believe how smooth the motor was..he's an owner of a z-14 and so on. I considered this as I was SMOOTHLY traveling @ 85 on the way to the dealership on the LT and rode it over for a looksie by their appraiser ....on the way over I was having so much fun riding the beast (not to mention the 3 wrenches heads I turned as I pulled up and then deployed the centerstand).

All-in-all it would have cost about 2000.00 to flip it.

That thought never entered my mind as I walked in to tell them "Thanks,but this bike is too much fun to trade :bmw: :bmw: :bmw:

Mike

BTW-Mona's comment "I didn't say we would trade our bike"

[tarheel_rider]

Yeah, just try to trade the LT and not be in the dog house until you die. Forget all the negative naybobs of naysayers (or however that goes). Enjoy your ride, enjoy it with Mona, and enjoy life. Julie will let me consider a 2nd bike, but no way would she let me think about getting rid of the LT, and frankly, I enjoy the bike even solo. So its all good.

[cfell]

repairing breakdowns has to be cheaper than trading, PLUS paying the govamint ....

[petepeterson]

The top heaviness you will learn to deal with and not notice it after awhile......

The cost of upkeep is the same on all bikes..People whine about $10.00 for a quart of oil from BMW, well go price a quart of Chevy oil or Dodge oil or Honda oil,, all the same....

And all the threads on FD failures is mainly BS.... The ones whinning about so many failing have no data at all to back it up... In fact go to the Honda forum and they have a poll going about FD failures too :rolleyes:

Plus riding the LT is by far the best ride I have ever had.. I ride solo all the time....Pete

[shadowofshoe]

Pete-

I'm not a new LT rider, but I wonder how much fun it would be-not to worry about your parking plan or all that shit and we all know what I'm saying...........
BUT we know what it feels like with your wife on the back when your rolling............I guess that wins!!!!!

Mike

[ldbikin]

I only use my 02 LTC now for 2-up trips and long biz trips, it has about 87k miles on it and runs like a dream.

The SO picked it out when we bought it, in, oh, about 10 seconds after she parked her arse on the rear seat.

I can't sell it without her sig since shes on the title as well!! I think that was a trick!!

But I can say, I use the K12S for everything else and it IS a relief not to handle a beast every single day for running around. I don't own a cage, havent' had one for about 1.5 yrs now so I notice a lot more than most:)

get a small fun bike for running around, you'll be a happier guy when you take that LT out again, its nice when you ride it but after 4 yrs as my solo bike, I was definitely ready for something smaller.

[jrlakin]

The only exception I will take with the comments here on this thread is the one that says the threads on this web site about Rear Drive failures being mostly BS. ABSOLUTELY not true! The one major flaw with the LT (and actually all of the BMW's it seems) is the higher than normal rate failure of the rear drives. They happen, and they happen more often than they should. So the question is are you willing to put up with that risk because of the overall superiority of the bike. I, for one AM. I bought a spare rear drive just for insurance, and if I never have to use it, I don't think I will have any trouble selling it since they are in such demand.

[javandyke]

If you're willing, what did a spare FD set you back?

[ldbikin]

22k miles on my 06 k12s, no rear drive issues whatsoever...

I'm not going to mention the new trans, clutch and clutch basket at 11.5k miles :cool:

Bike was in the shop 8 weeks, cost to bmw for the work was over 4k, not counting the 12k service I had done at the same time (my bill).

[shadowofshoe]

Yeah, just try to trade the LT and not be in the dog house until you die. Forget all the negative naybobs of naysayers (or however that goes). Enjoy your ride, enjoy it with Mona, and enjoy life. Julie will let me consider a 2nd bike, but no way would she let me think about getting rid of the LT, and frankly, I enjoy the bike even solo. So its all good.

Joel-
You know what you speak of....I would have to build that doghouse to live in!!! :D :D
Mike

[petepeterson]

The only exception I will take with the comments here on this thread is the one that says the threads on this web site about Rear Drive failures being mostly BS. ABSOLUTELY not true! The one major flaw with the LT (and actually all of the BMW's it seems) is the higher than normal rate failure of the rear drives. They happen, and they happen more often than they should. So the question is are you willing to put up with that risk because of the overall superiority of the bike. I, for one AM. I bought a spare rear drive just for insurance, and if I never have to use it, I don't think I will have any trouble selling it since they are in such demand.

Try sighting your facts on 'higher than normal'..... Yep, you pay attention to too much BS..... My FD isn't going to break any time soon, I doubt yours will either.... Life is real short, why are you wasting some of it worrying about something you have no control over..... Since I first started riding in '64 or'65 on British and Japanese bikes, this BMW LT has been flawless.... A true engineering marvel.. I guess it gets old after a while reading threads about FD failure with the same people making the same complaints over and over and no proof to back it up.... They report just as many FD failures on the HDL wing site as here..... Plus the IBR is so far out of line throwing off on BMW failures, when they weren't the only ones broke down....

Really if you are tired of BMW's go get something that makes you happy so you can post happy thoughts and not have to complain all the time..........

[jrlakin]

I do hope you are right. I don't want to replace one. I do assume if your fd ever does go, you will let us all know???

[petepeterson]

Yep,, If it breaks I will post the date and time and mileage of the event... But its a very high probability that it won't fail.....

There haven't been that many to fail just allot of posting about a few that have failed........ Just ride whatever bike makes you happy.. There are many to choose from,, just try not to knock the other brands as you move along,,, it gives you the image of being a troll ;) ..............Pete