I recently received my Consumer Reports.Org Monthly Car Newsletter and it had a special feature on motorcycle brand reliability. When I clicked on the link, there was a picture of a red NT. Clearly, CR.Org has determined that the red NT's are more reliable than the faster silver ones! The article basically said that Japanese motorcycles were more reliable than Harley's or BMW's. Duh!
ConsumerReports.org Most Reliable Motorcycles Article
- Thread starter Lm77
- Start date
Wouldn't it be interesting to know how they picked the NT700V to illustrate their article?
mikesim
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They had Yamaha as the best then Honda.
The article cited the importance of properly maintaining drive chains and belts - we don't have that problem!
DirtFlier
Site Supporter
Most BMWs are fitted with a final drive but for the past 6-7 years they've suffered terrible mechanical failures. One year at the Iron Butt Rally some of the front runners were carrying a complete final drive with them! Unfortunately, these failures are not limited to those who ride long and hard, such as the Iron Butt crowd. The front u-joint broke on my friend's '09 RT and he was lucky to get it onto the shoulder of the interstate before it locked up the wheel. He had to replace the driveshaft + the swingarm!
bicyclist
Guest
And the BMW belt drive is no better. There have been way too many very expensive rear bearing and axle shaft failures. In addition, the belts are grossly overpriced at $422 with BMW being the only source. And the belts fail at widely differing mileage.
Johnny Canuck
Guest
I'm aware that is was somewhat common for the rear bearing to fail on the K1200LT - up to 2004 or 2005. Perhaps also on other models. A friend was touring in the USA on his K1200LT when his failed.
I had a kid at the Harley/Honda dealer in Greeley argue with me last Saturday that BMW had fixed their final drive issues about six years ago.
Nay, nay, say I.
Nay, nay, say I.
It really depends on what you mean by "fixed"....:rolleyes1:
Bear
2
While in college, I worked as a mechanic's assistant at a BMW Dealership. We were like the Maytag Repairman doing mostly routine maintenance. BMW had quality control second to none in those days--the 60s. Today they have a plethora of proprietary parts that are priced in the stratosphere. A friend, who works for a BMW automobile dealership says that the current cars are designed for the high rollers who buy new every two to three years--so why would they build longevity into theeir product? If that is true for their cars, it is probably also true for their motorcycles--The apple does not fall far from the tree. I like Asian Bikes, H-D, and Victory. Also older Ducati and Moto-Guzzi. I like reliability and am not impressed by "Status Bikes" like BMW.
DirtFlier
Site Supporter
Although this may be a generalization, the German engineers seem to revel in making things as complicated as possible. One year Mercedes Benz "improved" their new models by eliminating 200+ functions from the touch screen display that controlled way too much. That came as a result of not only customers complaints but also M-B dealership techs being totally flummoxed by a system they could not repair.
Bear
2
Absolutely. They tend to overengineer things. Some things very well, and other things really complex--sometimes overkill. My 1956 NSU comes to mind. It actually had bearings in the brake pedal.
There is definitely a relationship between complexity and reliability.
There is definitely a relationship between complexity and reliability.