News! No one shocked! "BMW & HD Are Less Reliable than Japanese

[koko64]

Wow, they make Ducati look not half bad.

[Greg]

Perhaps this will help answer your question WRT BMW:

http://www.affordablebeemerservices.com/bmwthoughts/

WOW -I had no idea that Beemers had got so bad, I thought they were still the height of reliability.

[Dry Martini]

WOW -I had no idea that Beemers had got so bad, I thought they were still the height of reliability.

BMWs have not been "more reliable" since the airhead.

[Privateer]

In other news, Earth orbits the Sun.

[SpikeC]

 I just skimmed a bit of that, and the part about clutch splines is true, butt also they have chronic failure of rear main seals in front of the clutch, which require dismantling most of the bike to get to!

[Devil Duc]

As an owner and a previous owner of more than a handful of vehicles deemed 'unreliable', I often wonder at how this comes about.  I have also owned and own vehicles deemed 'reliable'.  Particularly, I think the higher end cars and bikes are usually bought new by people that make lots of money and spend lots of time making it.  Therefore they have less time to spend maintaining those things they buy and may have an unrealistic expectation of how those things should perform.  That, in turn, may make these self important people complain louder and more often, making the perception of the masses into one of unreliability.  The 'unreliable' vehicles I own/ed have been no better or worse than others.  I really think that some marques attract people that have mis-managed expectations.

I mean no offense to owners of these marques (I am one: Land Rover, BMW cars and bike, Ducati), but just musing.  I also never by new and have expectations that ALL vehicles will need maintenance sooner or later. 

Cheers, people!  And happy Easter..

[ducatigirl100]

I confirm...   knew nothing about mechanic before having a Duc... now it's just funny when i  go to the  store and ask for a 1/4 8mm long  socket ...lol    

[Skybarney]

I mean no offense to owners of these marques (I am one: Land Rover, BMW cars and bike, Ducati), but just musing.  I also never by new and have expectations that ALL vehicles will need maintenance sooner or later. 

Cheers, people!  And happy Easter..

I have had a Pinzgauer, a Land Rover, A VW Baja bug and a Buell at the same time.  All I can say is WTF was I thinking!   I have a feeling my 2013 M1100 Evo is going to be at least as reliable as any Japanese bike I have owned.  It's just a feeling but I hope it lasts.

[muskrat]

Never known anyone, myself included, who has had any problems with their HD.   265,000 bikes a year versus 30,000 implies law of averages will dictate failures. 

[muskrat]

wait, I had a flat. 
All kidding aside the simplicity for me is what I'm after.  I'm all for those who want fancy gadgets but I like to tussle and experience of the bike making me respond to her, granted my Electra Glide is a Geezer glider for sure but she's still unwieldy at times and I enjoy that fact.  My S4R is just the same and has no fancy crap to speak of like ABS and such.  Hey, that's just me and I do appreciate those who enjoy more things...if you ride two wheels you're a brother of mine regardless of brand - we all know Ducati's to be the best though. 

[BlackdogGS]

I'm big on BMW's and Ducati's.  I typically put 80,000 or so on the BMW's before I sell it to buy another.  I never had an issue other than some burnt out head light bulbs.  I have 30,000 on the GS, no problems whatsoever.  I maintain all my bikes and I believe that's why I've had such good service.  The chances of me owning a Japanese bike is unlikely (except for the WR250R).

[Dirty Duc]

For me "reliability" (as in mean time between failures) isn't really the key... mean time to repair is.  I hated doing the clutch on the BMW.  I also hated doing the clutch on Mazdas (RX-7 and Miata) because of the silly engine/trans mounting arrangement.

I don't really like repairing the Mustang, but at least parts (upgrades) are cheap. 

I'm kind of annoyed at Suzuki... I just got the clutch pushrod and pushrod seal replaced for the second time yesterday, and it looks like it still leaks.  I bought it new last year, only 11.5k miles... and it leaks like an old Triumph. 

[Langanobob]

As an owner and a previous owner of more than a handful of vehicles deemed 'unreliable', I often wonder at how this comes about.  I have also owned and own vehicles deemed 'reliable'.  Particularly, I think the higher end cars and bikes are usually bought new by people that make lots of money and spend lots of time making it.  Therefore they have less time to spend maintaining those things they buy and may have an unrealistic expectation of how those things should perform.  That, in turn, may make these self important people complain louder and more often, making the perception of the masses into one of unreliability.  The 'unreliable' vehicles I own/ed have been no better or worse than others.  I really think that some marques attract people that have mis-managed expectations.

I mean no offense to owners of these marques (I am one: Land Rover, BMW cars and bike, Ducati), but just musing.  I also never by new and have expectations that ALL vehicles will need maintenance sooner or later. 

Cheers, people!  And happy Easter..

You probably have a point about some of these owners having higher expectations and being in the words of the former BMW sales guy here "snivelers."   However,  BMW's are not reliable by anyone's standards.   I recall reading through the Iron Butt rallye list of non-finishers one year and it was incredible the number of BMW's that could not run for 10,000 miles without a major malfunction.  My '66 Triumph Bonneville has been far more reliable than my BMW K-bike.   BMW dealers also tend to try to blame any bike problem on the owner.  Pretty sure this is a formal part of the BMW dealership training.

[Nero-92]

^^^ Nice

Every brand has stories of "never had one problem" and "its been at the shop more than in my garage". I really wish Ducati was included in the sample size. We would be right up there for loyalty. One thing I've noticed with Ducs is that they seem to have less problems the more miles you rack up, Am I crazy or correct?  Most of the gremlins get sorted out early. Also Ducati is making strides in quality and service intervals. It also helps to have a great community surrounding your choice of ride   

Have to agree first time duc owner only gripe was regulator let go and fried the battery and a chip in the clocks. I've done 12000 miles in 18 mths.

[MendoDave]

For some reason i keep thinking about the oil leak on the base gasket of my 750. It makes the cases messy. But so far the only thing thats broke on it was the rear brake master. That was a easy fix and not too costly.

The last Honda I owned had a rectifier go out and try to catch on fire. That was slightly more costly and took a little longer to fix because of a burnt connector, but I put  over 50K on that thing with no other problems.