R1100RS Mileage & Buying

[POB]

Hi -

I have been offered a 97k mile R1100RS on an "M" plate, with a FBMWSH up till about 90k, then lots (and I mean lots) of receipts and so on for service jobs since then.

The bike comes with heated grips, Hella fog / spot lights, the BMW topbox, pannier rails (but side no boxes) and 2 screens (high & low) as well as the Remus y-piece and silencer, as well as original. There are also two seats included, the service manual and the toolkit.

Cosmetically the bike is rough, but it's also cheap . I am struggling with the decision about whether to buy because I have 30-35k miles / year commute and I don't want to be the mug who's riding it when it goes bang on in sleet on the M1! The bike is similar money to some K75s that I have looked at.

I've had a test ride and these are the main things I noticed:
* Rubber-mounted bars feel a little sloppy.
* There's the typical rumbling clutch when the lever's out, which goes away when you pull it in.
* The front shock is rusty but not oily, feels OK
* After a 20-minute test ride the bike dripped a drop of oil from the RH head.
* There was a stumble going into 2nd, like it was almost but not quite in. Didn't feel like it was going to slip out (and I couldn't provoke it) but there was a definite stutter once or twice.

What are the major bills at this sort of mileage? Are expensive catastrophes common? Anyone on here got a similar mileage bike / know of one? I am coming from a 34mpg VFR, so any comment on the bike as a distance commuting tool would be helpful.

I already know that the bike has had recent work on the throttle bodies and it has had a Hall effect sensor. All disks and major bearings are fine and all the switches / lights / ABS work fine.

PS > It seems to be the model with the fairing lowers. Does this make it a 2nd generation 1100RS?

[sproggy]

You may not be in the best place to look for advice on an RS, although there are many similarities with other boxers. You do know this is an R1100S forum?

The rubber mounted bars on the RS always feel soggy - it's a poor solution to the vibration problem. Oil leak from the head - where on the head? Cam sprocket cover? Just change the O-ring. Rocker cover? Could be the gasket, could be stripped rocker cover securing bolt threads in the head.

Rumbling when the clutch is out is the gearbox, not the clutch. How worried you should be depends on how bad it is and only you can tell that.

If you think it's a good deal then buy it, but do it because you believe it's worth the money and not because of the opinion of someone who hasn't seen the bike and doesn't know how much is being asked for it. With that mileage it could go on for another 50k miles without any problems or something major could let go tomorrow - you pays your money and takes your chances. When were the paralever bearings done? Has it had a new clutch?

I had an 1100RS and didn't like it but plenty of people bought them and like them - only you can make that decision after riding it for a good distance.

The model with the fairing lowers as standard was the R1100RS SE - also came with heated grips and ABS as standard, I believe. Don't expect it to be anything like a VFR - it's much more touring biassed than that despite it being billed as a 'sports tourer'.