Norton Commando vs BMW R90S

[Duane Ausherman]

As a BMW dealer with the largest service facility for the brand, I might know something about blowing up. They can and did, but not often. I didn't make a data base for failures, but I seem to remember that we found around 1-2 engines blowing up a year. Those were more often older bikes, such as the /2, which didn't compare favorably with the /5 and later series. Most of the failed /2 didn't "blow up" but had failed main bearings and just made so much noise that the owner wouldn't ride it anymore.

I don't recall that a BMW engine was more likely to blow up due to hard riding. However, riding it on the highway at normal speed and running out of oil could be considered running it too hard............ for the engine oil level. No oil was a fairly common failure, at least a couple a year. Most of those didn't actually blow up, they just seized up and when cooled off, they burned a lot of oil.

Far more often a BMW failed due to something else, like the transmission.

If it stops on the road while you are touring, you don't care a whole lot if it "blew up" or just quit running, especially if the nearest dealer couldn't fix it. Gee, a lot of stories are coming back to me.

[Zombie Master]

If it stops on the road while you are touring, you don't care a whole lot if it "blew up" or just quit running, especially if the nearest dealer couldn't fix it. Gee, a lot of stories are coming back to me.

Do tell!

[Duane Ausherman]

The worst that has so far come to mind is pretty awful. I sold a bike to a guy who was planning to take a long trip around the USA and came to BMW so that he would have something reliable. He was a long time rider.

As he was ready to leave, I gave him my card with my personal phone number on the back. If you have any problem at all, call me.

He returned several weeks later with his bike in the back of a trailer behind a vehicle that he rented in NY state. His vacation had been ruined when the transmission failed. He took it to the local dealer and they pulled it apart. They didn't have the parts and it would take a couple of weeks to get them and put it together. He could see that they had no clue as to what they were doing, so he hauled it home. That ruined the rest of his vacation and he wasn't very happy.

I asked why he didn't call me and he said "What could you do for me in NY?" I took him upstairs where we stored the stuff that was excess and not stored in a manor for customers to see. I showed him our stash of 2 dozen rebuilt transmissions. Each was priced and marked according to quality. Even the cheapest one would have given him 25K miles. I explained that we would have shipped it out air express and he would have had it in a day or two. Surely the shop was able to install it and he would be on his way.

He was quite upset to know that he had ruined his vacation by not doing what I offered.

[ME 109]

I showed him our stash of 2 dozen rebuilt transmissions. Each was priced and marked according to quality.

You're such good fun when you leave yourself wide open, Duane. I'll let this one go.

[Duane Ausherman]

ME, don't harass me like that. Spill the beans.

[ME 109]

ME, don't harass me like that. Spill the beans.

Well, one way to read it was the price based on rebuild quality. Which I know isn't the case, but I couldn't help but have a chuckle.

[Duane Ausherman]

OH, yes, I never thought of it that way. I would hope that the quality of the rebuild was always high, but the quality of the parts used varied a lot. In the lowest quality "resulting rebuild" we would use a decent case that might have a spun bearing that we had to glue into place. The gear set would have some undercut on the input shaft bevel gear, so it might make a bit of noise. All of the bearings would be used, but all very good feeling etc. The kick starter sector gear would probably have a worn first tooth on it. The kick lever would show a lot of wear on where the boot would shove it during a kick start.

The best rebuild would be far better than anything the factory ever produced. All was as new, but now it would be correctly assembled and outlast every box ever put out by BMW. They came with appalling errors when new and we fixed them.

Those were our rebuilds, more or less. I kept the very best set of BMW gears that we ever saw from any transmission that the shop owned. I am still trying to find an buyer for them, as I won't use them for myself.

This jet lag has me up for an hour or two every night. I have to do something and so I type up stuff like this. I also work on my reports of my activities while here. I put them out every 4-7 days for those on my list.