next new bike. EBR? nope. tuono? nope. or s1000r? nope, not that either.

Buellxb Forum

Help Support Buellxb Forum:

I remember the BMW s1000rr had some serious recalls. There was a dangerous and life threatening failure of the connecting rod bolts. The bolts were provided by a third party supplier and were not up to spec to handle the BMW's 15,400 RPM redline. BMW's fix was to disassemble and reassemble the entire engine to replace the bolts. Owners were not happy because the repair was being done by mechanics in dealership whose skill levels for such a massive procedure were really not sufficient for what was essentially an entire engine disassembly/assembly that is normally done in a factory by multiple people on multiple assembly lines and under strict quality control. Owners were demanding the motorcycle to be replaced with a newer model, I don't know how that worked out for them or what the final solution was....

The second was with a failure of the shifter where some of the 2015 shift arms did not mate well with the splines of the transmission.

Take that information as you will.....
 


Warranties are cool, but when you are dealing with a problem of that magnitude, IMHO, I will pass on the warranty.
 
My friend up near Indianapolis dealt with that engine recall. he wasn't real happy about it. they tore apart his new bike and engine and rebuilt it. he never had a problem with it before or after the repairs.
 
My friend up near Indianapolis dealt with that engine recall. he wasn't real happy about it. they tore apart his new bike and engine and rebuilt it. he never had a problem with it before or after the repairs.

That's insane to think that there are $20K BMW's on the road that were essentially built by Bob from Indiana (no offense to Bob).....

I'm selling the 1190SX because the XB is a better match for the pothole ridden streets of Brooklyn. I hit a hole so big the other day that my rear tire on my XB compressed so much that it bent my license plate in. The XB is softer and I can adjust the travel on the suspension to deal with it. The SX has a harder edge and power that I will never uncork around here going from light to light. I feel it will be better off in the hands of someone with opens roads. Also, in the event of a flat, which I get at least once a season with all the debris around here, the XB, with the belt, is a very easy job for me. I don't need two motorcycles. I don't want to insure and register 2 motorcycles, and I need the $... I kinda of bought the SX on whim, I really did not think it through...
 
Last edited:
European motorcycles are the most unreliable motorcycles.

What experience, or what have you experienced, to make this claim?

Im good friends with a few riders that own BMW, Aprilias and Ducati.
The guy with the BMW K bike, not sure what year, just got done riding that thing from CA to South America. No issues.
The guy with the Aprilias tuano(2003) put over 50k trouble free miles on his bike before he got rid of it.
And the guy with the 2012 848 EVO is in the 20k range with zero issues.
One thing I will say about all three of these bikes is the recommended/scheduled maintanamce has always been performed on time.

Just wondering what bike let you down for you to encapsulate all euro brands as unreliable.
 
I will tell you my buddy who bought a 2007 Ducati S4R with 6k miles was left stranded on the side of the Cross Island expressway with a jambed shift lever. Shortly thereafter suffered electrical issues. My other buddy with a 600 monster, the bike would refuse to let him start the bike because of the electronic security feature.

All bikes can have issues and I am sure most issues have been ironed out, but its something to think about.
 
Last edited:
Back when I was thinking about a triumph I saw a list of most manufacturers and it listed triumph as the least reliable. Probably about 1.5 years ago. Harley was in the middle. Japanese bikes were listed as most reliable.
 
Well shoot.
There I go learning something from the forum.
Guess I could have just google searched the info but I like going by real world experience.
 
The real world is the statistics according users experience you can see through the Google. This statistics just mean that you will have more chance for failure with European motorcycle than with American motorcycle. You will have more chance for failure with American motorcycle than with Japanese motorcycle. It doesn't necessarily mean that your European motorcycle will be instantly broken.
 
Last edited:
Sorry TPHAK, but any statement that broad can never be proven. Besides, Google is far from the final answer, you can prove anything to be true if you search long enough.

What does that statement take into account? Total bikes made? Only in 2015? Only performance bikes? Dealer repairs? Private repairs? Maintenance records?

Let's say Buell had 2000 catastrophic failures, and BMW had 50,000. Bimmer still has a much, much better record because of the total bikes sold. Maybe every single catastrophic failure of both brands was caused by the same supply companies rod bolts? Who do you blame then?

See how the answer gets foggy?
 
I got some insurance quotes today. 2016's 700$ a year on s1000r and 1190sx. Tuono was closer to 600$. I expected less. 2014 ebr and 2014 tuono were less then 400$ a year. 2014 s1000r was still around 600$. I have state farm. Had them for 15 years. Anyone have a better rate somewhere else?
 
I get to ride a Tuono Saturday in garden city GA. Need to find a way to ride the ebr also. Or at least sit on one.
 
My local shop has a pair of brand new 0 miles EBR bikes and the prices seemed like really good. I think they wanted 11 for the RX and 12k for the SX. The SX is much more comfortable to sit on, I thought. ebr rx.jpgebr sx.jpg
 
Back
Top