kgfire said:
Hey thanks! 24000 mile valve adjustments beats the GS BMW by 18,000! If the Super Tenere is as good as the WR450 and the FJR1300 I've owned in the past then the bike should be as reliable as a hammer.
Let's be fair.
The 2010 and later GS's have DOHC shim-adjusted valves and the adjustment interval is 12K, not 6K. And because the cylinder heads are exposed and the heads are air-cooled, the process is a LOT easier - no bodywork to remove, no tank to pull, no coolant issues, no throttle cables/wiring to deal with, no valve cover to fish out of a tight area, and lots of room to work. And BMW's new shim system does not require cam removal if you need to swap a shim. Factor all this in and I'd have to give the nod to the BMW - I'd rather do a much quicker/easier/foolproof adjustment 2x as often.
Even the pre-2010 GS's have their merits in ths regard. True, the adjustment interval is 6K, but the adjustment is screw/locknut so no trundling off to the dealer to buy shims that they may or may not have in stock. I've simultaneously owned a FJR and a R-twin at the same time and I'd MUCH rather do a few 6K checks that take 20-minutes on the BMW than the 24K check on the FJR which frankly was a total PITA and took the better part of the day.
You win some and you lose some. All in all, I'd summarize that service hassles are about equal between the GS and the S10. But the BMW is likely to be a bit more expensive simply because BMW dealers tend to be pricier for service/parts in general. If you do your own service, I'd call it a wash.
- Mark