$350 for 600 mile service. WOW!!!

[Tony]

I'm starting to have second thoughts about the maintenance cost of my 2016 C650 Sport. I should have asked before. I read about the 6000 mile service costing $1,500. If that is true? I will get rid of it. $1,500 is almost 10% of the price of the scooter. That's the equivalent of a $4,000 service on a $50,000 car. No way I'm going to pay more to maintain this scooter than I have with every car (and bike) that I've ever owned in the past. My current car (Audi S3), and my last car (BMW 330i) cost less to maintain than this scooter. I'm going to do the $350 600 mile service and that's it. If service is going to cost me that much? then I will have to get rid of it. I cannot afford the maintenance. I have to do the math, but maintenance cost for this vehicle at about the 15k mile mark, will add up to about half the cost of the vehicle. I hope I'm wrong.


I don't know if it's the labor that cost so much, or if BMW thinks that folks who buy these things have plenty of money. But It seems like I bit off more than I'm willing to chew.

 

[davidh]

I'm starting to have second thoughts about the maintenance cost of my 2016 C650 Sport. I should have asked before. I read about the 6000 mile service costing $1,500. If that is true? I will get rid of it. $1,500 is almost 10% of the price of the scooter. That's the equivalent of a $4,000 service on a $50,000 car. No way I'm going to pay more to maintain this scooter than I have with every car (and bike) that I've ever owned in the past. My current car (Audi S3), and my last car (BMW 330i) cost less to maintain than this scooter. I'm going to do the $350 600 mile service and that's it. If service is going to cost me that much? then I will have to get rid of it. I cannot afford the maintenance. I have to do the math, but maintenance cost for this vehicle at about the 15k mile mark, will add up to about half the cost of the vehicle. I hope I'm wrong.


I don't know if it's the labor that cost so much, or if BMW thinks that folks who buy these things have plenty of money. But It seems like I bit off more than I'm willing to chew.

Here are my recommendations:

1. Do as much service as you can. Most of the scheduled items are pretty straightforward and have been done by folks on this forum.

2. For items you don't want to do, prep the bike as much as possible before handing it off to the dealer. I shaved several hundred off my 24k mile service by delivering it to them without the plastic bodywork.

3. Get a 5-year extended warranty. I believe mine was about $750 and, though I haven't needed it, know it'll save me if I do. I had it on my other scooter and it paid for itself several times over.

 

[Tony]

Here are my recommendations:

1. Do as much service as you can. Most of the scheduled items are pretty straightforward and have been done by folks on this forum.

2. For items you don't want to do, prep the bike as much as possible before handing it off to the dealer. I shaved several hundred off my 24k mile service by delivering it to them without the plastic bodywork.

3. Get a 5-year extended warranty. I believe mine was about $750 and, though I haven't needed it, know it'll save me if I do. I had it on my other scooter and it paid for itself several times over.

Thanks Much appreciated.

 

[SteveADV]

I don't remember the 600 mile or the 6,000 mile service cost but I also don't remember them as anything wildly different from any of my other bikes.

Good advice from dh for those that want to save a few service bucks. For me....I let the shop do the work. Then again I admit to being really weak in the mechanical area.

 

[JaimeC]

FYI: My dealer threw in the 600 mile service for free as part of the purchase agreement...

 

[Boulder Bob]

Tony, the horror stories I read related to service costs were a prime consideration in selling my 2013 GT after 18 months and 7K miles. It was a wonderful ride but to me not worth the worry of taking the scoot in for a "routine" service and wondering how big a bite it was going to be. No regrets.

 

[grey.hound]

yeah, I use my BV350 for commuting and errands and save the BMW now for longer rides and two-up. it is an unfortunate side effect of owning these scoots. Still, I love it.

 

[JaimeC]

Scooters in general seem to be higher maintenance PTWs than standard motorcycles. I replaced the original clutch on my K1200LT at 160,000 miles. It looks like the clutch in the C650GT is regularly replaced at 24K intervals along with the sliders, CVT belt and chain. WTF? It may be more convenient in traffic, but it is definitely NOT "low maintenance." And this isn't unique to the BMW scooters, either. The same applied to my old Yamaha TMAX (which had even more frequent schedules for oil changes, belt changes, etc).

Now that I have the Zero, I'm SERIOUSLY considering replacing the scooter with a small displacement motorcycle. Maybe even that Yamaha YZF-R3 that put such a big smile on my face during my demo ride. More realistically, I'm also considering the BMW F800GT. The Zero is everything I'd HOPED the scooter would be: Easy to ride in traffic, low maintenance, economical and FUN. We'll see how the year pans out financially...

 

[Paul]

I agree with the cost involved with upkeep of these scoots, Am looking at new 2014 F800 gt and 2015 V strom xt, Thoughts?

 

[davidh]

Scooters in general seem to be higher maintenance PTWs than standard motorcycles. I replaced the original clutch on my K1200LT at 160,000 miles. It looks like the clutch in the C650GT is regularly replaced at 24K intervals along with the sliders, CVT belt and chain. WTF? It may be more convenient in traffic, but it is definitely NOT "low maintenance." And this isn't unique to the BMW scooters, either. The same applied to my old Yamaha TMAX (which had even more frequent schedules for oil changes, belt changes, etc).

Now that I have the Zero, I'm SERIOUSLY considering replacing the scooter with a small displacement motorcycle. Maybe even that Yamaha YZF-R3 that put such a big smile on my face during my demo ride. More realistically, I'm also considering the BMW F800GT. The Zero is everything I'd HOPED the scooter would be: Easy to ride in traffic, low maintenance, economical and FUN. We'll see how the year pans out financially...

AFAIK, there's no maintenance interval for the clutch. And 24k miles would be much, much to early. I just pulled mine at 40k and its good for at least another 40k.

 

[kreiman]

High maintenance costs aren't limited just to BMW scooters. I routinely replace sets of tires on Harleys at a cost of $600+. I just gave a customer an estimate of $600 to adjust the valves on his Kawasaki Concours. It takes over 2 hours just to remove all of the plastic and other stuff before you can even see the valve cover. Then you have to remove the cams if the valves actually need adjusting. I had another customer that got all irate when I told him that it would cost $1200 to $1500 to rebuild the carbs on his Goldwing. Same story as with the Kawasaki. All that plastic is pretty, but is a costly hassle to remove for maintenance. One of the reasons I love BMW opposed twins is for their easy accessibility for maintenance. I can set the valves on my R1200GS in 30 minutes. That would cost a customer $40 to $50 as opposed to $600 for the fore mentioned Kawasaki Concours.

More specifically to BMW scooters, I think most BMW dealers don't have enough experience with them yet and simply replace components at the intervals BMW recommends whether they actually need to be replaced or not. Davidh's experience with his clutch is a perfect example. I'd bet that a lot of BMW dealers will be replacing clutches at 24,000 miles whether they need it or not.

Riding motorcycles/scooters in this day and age is an expensive proposition. Sometimes I yearn for the old days of points and condensors and naked bikes without all of the plastic. Even though I make more money working on all the modern stuff, I hate doing it because of all of the hassle involved. I'd much rather do restorations of vintage bikes like the 1969 Triumph 650 TR6 I'm in the process of restoring for a customer right now.

 

[justscootin]

When I bought the scooter I bought it for 3 reasons, the first was because it had a full faring, second it was a mid size engine and third it was a BMW. I never thought I minute about the maintenance. I am glad I can do most of it myself. On my old k75 I did everything. As for the scooter the only thing that I have not attempted is the valve adjustments.

If we had a 650 boxer engine this could be a very simple scooter to maintain

 

[Colin J Monteith]

In conversation with BMW tech I was told that almost 25% of hours billed can be attributed to removing and putting back the scooter panels. They tell me that often they break tabs, drop and lose screws, nuts and fasteners causing delays and billable times. Techs hate working on our scooters and who can blame them.
At the end of a long day on a 3,000km trip recently I checked fluids and some other things on my Sport. My buddy who has 1200GS had done all checks and was well into his second pint before I had put panels back on.
My scoot is likely going to be sold soon.

 

[exavid]

It cost me around $125 or so for my 600 mile check. Good dealer I guess. The owner used a C650GT, now a C650 sport to commute between home and his shop so the crew there is familiar with the scooters which probably accounts for the low price.

 

[seraphtan]

My 600 mile / 1000km check was complimentary. They gave me a voucher for complimentary servicing when I bought the C600 from them. Had to pay if I lost the voucher though.. and I was so very tempted to put the voucher in some bank deposit box or something in case I got it lost.

I paid for my first servicing (10,000 km) at about SGD$550. And as for the rest of my servicings, I bought servicing packages that cover 1 minor (30,000 km)and 1 major (20,000 km) service at SGD$1200. Of which, covers the replacement of all the necessary parts and labour as deemed by what BMW recommends.

Just sent my motorcycle to them last evening for my 30,000km service. Had a couple of odd rattling noises when moving off. Informed them about it and they'll be doing a check and repair for free since my motorcycle is still under warranty. So I guess that's pretty awesome! Looking forward to purchasing my next servicing package with them if they have one! If not, I'd probably go find an alternative mechanic. =p

 

[Tony]

Not sure if I can continue with this scooter. This seems to be a rich man's toy. I'm 50 years old. I've owned 6 brand new cars (A few costing over $40k) and 3 brand new motorcycles in my lifetime. This is by far the most I've ever spent on the first service, and by reading what owners are reporting what they spend on subsequent services, this scooter's maintenance will cost more each time I visit the service department than any car I've ever owned. That isn't what I signed up for.

 

[exavid]

One of the worst reasons in the US for riding a scooter or motorcycle is to save money. You can buy a good used compact like a Toyota Corolla for less. Automobiles get a lot better mileage on tires, cheaper oil changes, and last longer before serious maintenance. Motorcycles and scooters make sense mostly if you just buy them for the fun of riding.

 

[Tony]

One of the worst reasons in the US for riding a scooter or motorcycle is to save money. You can buy a good used compact like a Toyota Corolla for less. Automobiles get a lot better mileage on tires, cheaper oil changes, and last longer before serious maintenance. Motorcycles and scooters make sense mostly if you just buy them for the fun of riding.

Scooters are used as commuter vehicles, and also as primary transportation in other countries in the world. Not sure why that cannot apply here?

 

[JaimeC]

I use my PTWs as my primary means of transportation three out of the four seasons here in New York. In the winter, if the roads are clear, I'll ride... otherwise it's time to take the Subaru out of mothballs. But the cost of maintaining the scooter (ANY scooter, not just the BMW scooters) seems to be much higher than maintaining a traditional motorcycle. Maybe it's the nature of the CVT? I don't know enough about Honda's DCT to know if that system is any less maintenance intensive. I do know the CVT systems in automobiles aren't as maintenance intensive because they've managed to do away with the V-Belt that is a "wear item." I haven't done enough research into comparing maintenance costs of an automotive CVT vs the old style torque converter automatics (my Subaru is a 2001 model that still has the torque converter automatic transmission).

In the meantime, I've found my Zero S to be the PERFECT low-maintenance commuter and local runner, enough that I am now considering replacing the C650GT for a more traditional manually-operated two-wheeler. Trying to decide between the F800GT (the more practical choice) or a Yamaha YZF-R3 (which is a lot cheaper, but not quite as practical).

 

[t6pilot]

600 mile service is a oil &filter change, and a service reminder reset
$150 max
Your getting hosed, find another dealer