I had my 12,000 mile maintenance done about ten days ago. I bought the C 650 GT used with 4,500 miles on it, but the dealer had done the 6,000 mile maintenance as part of the deal for buying it. That was Long Beach BMW in California. About a month ago I needed to replace tires due to picking up sheet metal screws. I brought the bike to the only BMW dealer in Chicago and was very disappointed. They changed the tires for a close to reasonable price for Metzlers, but I told them that my tire inflator had blown the fuse for the accessory plug and asked them to change it. They argued with me telling me that the bike has no fuses. When they gave me back the bike they'd changed the fuse, but charged me $50.00 to change it. If that wasn't bad enough I asked the service people about putting in Dr. Pulley sliders and guides. The service people didn't know what sliders and guides were! I also asked them to do the Cam Chain Tensioner Recall and the service manager first didn't know what I was talking about, then gave me a song and dance about having to register with BMW corporate before they could do any warranty work! Knowing this I made up my mind that I don't want them to work on my bike unless it's an emergency.
Knowing that and knowing I was going to Missouri for a Maxi-Scooter Rally I decided to have Gateway BMW in St Louis do my 12,000 mile service. It was like night and day. The worst part for me is that they're 300 miles from home and I had to get up at 4 AM to make sure that I'd have the bike there before 1:00 in the afternoon. Gateway in St Louis told me on the phone when I was setting up the appointment that I needed the Cam Chain Tensioner Recall and that they would do it for me. Then they went through all the items on the 12,000 mile list and told me which ones they felt I could skip if I wanted to. I skipped the Brake Fluid change, they inspected the belt, chain and sliders saying that I didn't need to replace any of these if I didn't want to. I also think that they didn't double charge labor for taking some of the bike apart and together as they may have had to do that for the recall. Making a long story short they charged me $310.00 which included changing the oil and filter, air filter and a lot of inspection items. In addition they told me that they would be happy to change the sliders and guides for me when I have them. 300 miles is a long way to go for bike service, but I go out west here and now for various reasons of my own and feel that I just need to plan things to let them do my service.
I just agree with others here that changing the brake fluid at one year and 12,000 miles is silly. I also think that changing parts like belts and chains when inspection shows them to still be fine is silly. I'm the furthest thing from being a mechanic and freely admit that I don't understand lots of mechanical items on bikes or scooters, but I know when I'm being had and I know that I don't want people working on my bike that understand less then I do. Countryside BMW near Chicago may be a fine place (although I doubt it) to have a R 1200 RT worked on, but they don't have a clue about C 650 GT scooters.
