Paging the newer-BMW-lovehateisti

As time goes by, I'm still failing to fall in love with the Zed. Yes
it's clearly the most competent bike I've ever owned, but I don't feel
that the balance of engine and chassis and brakes is quite right.

Basically I think it would be better with two less cylinders.

That's one of the reasons I've been thoroughly enjoying riding the R80
Garage Queen over the last few weeks. A lot slower, and a lot less
competent, but a lot more balanced.

But having had to pop to London yesterday, whilst the bike was fun when
I was playing catch the dispatcher [1], and the fairing kept me snug on
the A40/M40, the wobbling about at 70ish on the windy motorway and the
way the bike moves about on crossing white lines and changing lanes
reminded me why we call them SOBs rather than just OBs.

Anyway, on the way back my thoughts turned as they occasionally do to
the thought of an R1100S ABS [3].

Martin "Wild" Child, the highly talented BiKE road tester and stunt
monkey, counted it as one of his fave bikes, ever.

I deeply respect his opinion, and I've always wanted a pop on one, so if
you do get one, *please* CIHAGM?

A browse of ebay turned up 230124622261, which didn't sell, and a quick
e-mail to the seller has determined that he's still got it.

2003, the date of that bike, was about the time that BMW's quality control
*really* started going downhill. It also has EVO ABS which, just ask Timo,
is pants.

You might find that an early 1999/2000 bike is in better condition. Amongst
R-GS owners many think of the final 1999 run of the R1100GS to be the best
of all R-GS variants. My 2000 model certainly looks better than some newer
versions. Only in the last few months has a bit of lacquer started to peel
and some surface rust start to appear.

I think you could be right, though what was the ABS like on the earlier
ones?

From what I can tell, not a lot of people opted for the ABS option on
the 11S

From what I've seen the R1100S was one of BMW's flagship models: the finish
of the Boxer Cup special, the first iteration, was lovely.

Ah yes, I overlooked the bit about the Evo ABS. In that case,
avoid. It's an insanely complex system with some interesting failure
modes that usually culminate turning the servo for one of the brake
circuits off. Fun, not. According to the Swiss mechanic at the BMW
dealer in Chur, there are also some doubts over the longviety of the
system, again mainly due to the complexity.

And you really don't need servo brakes on a bike.

I'm not averse to a bit of mileage if the services have been done, and
this one appears to me to be in the right spec, though a pair of
panniers wouldn't go amiss.

The mileage shouldn't be a problem (I've had 1100s with over 70k on the
clock) as long as it's been maintained as BMW said it should be. For 3k
I'd want to see a fully stamped book from someone who knows what they're
doing (or a BMW main dealer at a stretch) for all services (including
the annual services that are quite often 'overlooked').

Panniers will be an issue though; As far as I remember the S is the only
one in the range that won't take the hard luggage rails so you're
restricted to throwovers.

Rails and panniers do go on - my current R1100RS is wearing the panniers
I took off my R1100S.

But does it work the other way round?

Sorry I didn't reply - I got dragged off.

The rails are identical on both bikes from a panniers point of view, but
I suspect the panniers I had may be originally be from an RS due to the
exhaust side one being smaller.

When I had an R80ST, the BMW panniers would fit the stock rails on other
BMWs, but the standard panniers wouldn't fit on the ST.

I only changed because my daughter wasn't happy on the pillion of the S
when I picked her up from school - she much prefers the seat on the RS.

The S corners much better than you would expect from a BM, but does give
away quite a lot of power. You do have to get used to the lack of feel
from the funny front though.

It's down on power compared to the RS?

ps. the Ducati ST4-S is a far better bike than the R1100S in every respect
IMHO

No, compared to most other non-bmw things of 750cc upwards. In theory
the RS is down on power compared to the S, but I haven't noticed where
yet. Once I finish my open university riding god course I'll probably
know where.

Anyway, Timo pre-empted all my replies so I'm just doing this as a courtesy.

T has expressed permission in principle [4], but has pointed out that
the Zed is mint and this R11 has a bit of corrosion on the ally bits

They all do that, sir. I'd say that it actually looks like a rather
clean bike to me. I've certainly seen worse...

I've had anodised parts changed under warranty on the 1150GSA that
wasn't even two years old. Granted, I put over 10k on it in one year but
the quality of the finish really isn't that great.

So, are there better R11SABS out there, or is this about as good as it
gets for about Ł3k? Most that I've seen out there are comfortably above
Ł4k to take them out of range.

I think that they're quite in demand as they're a bit of an un-BMW BMW
if you know what I mean. They weren't that big a seller when new
either.

Might be worth taking a look here:

Thanks, I'll keep an eye on that

Or even here mate.

[1] Except from a couple of "incidents" [2] that reminded me that I'm
not as observant as I thought I was
[2] It's been a while since I've locked the front, but then I was in a
hurry
[3] Even though I've previously described them as a tourer in a
shell-suit
[4] If I put the Givi box on the back to work as a Horse-catcher

Check if you can get a Givi adapter first.