Buying R 1150 R....

[Sup3rfly]

Hi guys, i´m brand new to the forum, and hopefully will be the proud owner of a R 1150 R soon...my question is, how reliable is this bike, and how expensive is it to run, such as clutch replacement etc...how long should a clutch last ? i don´t live in a busy town so i wont be doing a lot of stop start...i will be trying to do the maintenance myself...i´ve heard that some people have had trouble with drive shafts !!!! true ???
I love this bike . but don´t want to buy something that is not reliable, as i live in Portugal and wages are crap here...
I used to ride Triumphs , BSA, and Nortons when i was a kid ( showing my age)....
Please advise ( but i know i´m buying one )....cant wait to ride round europe.
thanks guys.
José Carvalho

[TonyT47]

Jose,
your question does not suggest an easy answer.
Some 1150Rs have had problems with failed rear drives and gearbox input splines, but many have not, provided that regular maintenance, including lubeing the splines is performed. Splines need to be re-lubed about every 60,000 km, so check to see if this has been done. Doing it requires major disassembly. My bike has 75,000 km on it and the previous owner had to pay for both the rear drive and the gearbox repairs, about $4,000 worth of work.
Apart from those issues, the bikes are capable of running up high mileage with reliability. Normal maintenance is relatively easy to do yourself and not too costly.
Any of these bikes you look at, you will need to know about the maintenance history, if it's not available, I'd take a pass.
I love mine.
I love the Algarve, as well!
Cheers,
Tony