Long Term ownership of C650GT questions

Akkis

Member
Hi all. I am approaching 24K miles on my 2014 BMW and know the 24K mile service will be quite pricey.

I was wondering what to expect going forward as I continue to rack up miles. I love this bike but I will say it is very expensive to maintain. I am debating selling the bike and switching to a motorcycle but love the convenience of the undercarriage, it being auto (I live in NYC and drive every single day to work).

Before I pay the $1800 for my 24k service I was wondering if people who have really racked up miles on the C650GT find its reliability over time.

For some back story I have serviced this bike religiously per the maintenance manual, I cannot do any work on it myself, I am not mentally equipped to do so.

Any advice is appreciated.
 

Thom Davis

Member
If you can afford to do so, a new bike will have fewer issues for the next 24K miles. You apparently rely on it for commuting to work...don't want your commute vehicle to be in the shop for a week or longer, right? Personally, I'd also switch to a more reliable and easier to maintain brand from asia. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my BMW, but it is a toy for me, not something I rely on daily.
 

Akkis

Member
If you can afford to do so, a new bike will have fewer issues for the next 24K miles. You apparently rely on it for commuting to work...don't want your commute vehicle to be in the shop for a week or longer, right? Personally, I'd also switch to a more reliable and easier to maintain brand from asia. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my BMW, but it is a toy for me, not something I rely on daily.

Thanks for the input Thom. Surprisingly it has been pretty reliable so far but worry as I continue to put more miles I will run into a money trap. In the last year I put 6K miles on it and at this rate I worry Im going to run into mechanical issues.

I do love the idea of a moto as my next bike and found one for a pretty good price but worry driving a moto in NYC everyday will become frustrating.
 

davidh

Member
The 24k service is definitely the most costly bit of regular maintenance. I saved several hundred on mine by removing the necessary plastics and taking the bike in "naked." The amount of labor allocated for the plastics is insane. The only item on the 24k service I didn't do myself was the valve check/adjustment and I recall that being in the $400 range (with the plastics removed).

I just past 62k miles on mine and nothing insanely expensive as long as you're prepared to do some work yourself (oil, belt, brakes -- all pretty straightforward).
 

Akkis

Member
The 24k service is definitely the most costly bit of regular maintenance. I saved several hundred on mine by removing the necessary plastics and taking the bike in "naked." The amount of labor allocated for the plastics is insane. The only item on the 24k service I didn't do myself was the valve check/adjustment and I recall that being in the $400 range (with the plastics removed).

I just past 62k miles on mine and nothing insanely expensive as long as you're prepared to do some work yourself (oil, belt, brakes -- all pretty straightforward).

Sadly I cannot, will not. I dont have a place to work since I am in NYC. Also dont have the knowhow (Im sure I could learn but I would be doing it on a city sidewalk).

Having said that, how much would you say you have spent in maintaining the bike to get to 62K miles.
 

davidh

Member
Sadly I cannot, will not. I dont have a place to work since I am in NYC. Also dont have the knowhow (Im sure I could learn but I would be doing it on a city sidewalk).

Having said that, how much would you say you have spent in maintaining the bike to get to 62K miles.

Well that's a bummer! Would be awesome to find a co-lo space where you could work on it, have access to tools, etc.

Between tires, oil, belts, brakes, brake disks, everything else, and dealer maintenance I've probably spent $10k over the life of the bike. My best buy was the 5-year extended warranty, that definitely saved some big $$$ stuff but it's a 2013 (first model year) so that definitely had an impact on stuff that needed doing.

Definitely not a cheap hobby and BMW bikes and cars are not known for being cheap to maintain. Sure a lot of fun, however!
 

bicyclenut

Member
I had a 2014 I sold recently with about 21.5K on it. I did have fears of high expenses for maintenance/repairs when I purchased it, but I found mine to be very reliable. I did my own maintenance, which I am sure saved my some big $$, but in 21.5K I only spent about $1500 in maintenance which included 2 sets of tires.

Around here there are some BMW Clubs that offer a bike repair night and you can meet up at someone’s garage and get help with repairs or maintenance. It might be a bit harder to find one who has members who have a BMW Scooter but much of work is not that different than that of motorcycles and the CVT belt change was similar to my Honda Silverwing Scooter so many could help.

I didn’t sell due to repair fears but rather I wanted to move to a motorcycle for various reasons. I think the BMW would last and my only fear would be a failure that might be hard to diagnose or there are some electronic parts that can be quite expensive but this is so true of many modern vehicles these days.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Ceesie76

Active member
If you allocate the $1,800 over the next five years that it seems like it will take you until a comparable, major service, it's not so bad. Definitely less costly than the depreciation, interest etc on a new one. Until you get into the really higher miles range (I would guess over 60-80 thousand) I would not expect any other service costs than the regular maintenance you have already been paying. Hang onto it, have it serviced timely, and you should not run into nasty and costly surprises.
 

Akkis

Member
Thanks for the advice everyone.

I am so torn. I was circling a BMW F800R 2011 with low miles for a good price. I am worried that losing the undercarriage space will be a major problem for me. I also worry that riding a true moto will get frustrating in NYC traffic. I love the bike, I love how nimble it is and I could maneuver with it just fine but decisions decisions.
 
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