BMW K1200LT, One Year Later! The Best Budget Tourer?

2002 BMW K 1200 LT, I have had this fight for more than a year and enjoyed riting it in different situations, here is my honest opinion for those who are looking to buy one of these great touring motorcycles....
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[@richardshort4587]

These bikes are a wonderful touring machine. They have some quirks, and need attention to certain parts, but once done they don’t need them doing again. BMW has always meant BRING MORE WALLET but these machines pull like trains and very comfortable and easy on gasoline. I get approx 53 mpg, can cruise all day at 80mph not a whisper from the bike. Any motorcycle needs annual maintenance, the LT is no different. Just do your own due diligence and the bike is not a problem. As these get older some parts are hard to find. Tires can be scarce but there still out there. As for the weight? Yes they are top heavy at low speed just like Honda ST 1300 and many Harley Davidson cruisers. That weight is a huge help on highways and interstates where passing big rigs could otherwise suck you in. Don’t let the doom merchants put you off from trying or buying. If you require more information on these bikes and their inherent problems join the BMWLT forum read posts and ask owners. They still have a big following. Do your own wrenching to save money. Never put into a dealership for repairs they’ll bankrupt you. If you are not mechanically minded best keep away and buy a Japanese bike. But you will lose the fun these machine can give. Any questions feel free to ask.

[@MaxReviewss]

Very true 👍

[@MassimvsPrimoMeridio]

You’re from my team hehe! I just bought a 2003 k1200LT with 8kMiles. but arriving home less Than 2 miles of 20 miles trip from where I bought it, the final drive caught fire 🔥. I’m getting ready to get that fixed on my own since I’ve read that apparently it’s a common issue as the brake lines , I already bought the set and will be working on it from next week on. Any advise will be highly appreciate it.

[@TheMerchantHub]

Well, my friend, this video is the cherry on the cake.....I will pick up my first BMW K 1200 2002 on Sunday. Same color even. Thanks for the walk around.

[@MaxReviewss]

Have a lot of fun with your K :)

[@stevekurtenbach1951]

My Lt has 171,000 and I still love it. Can't wait to take it out for a run. I still have people come up to me at gas stations wanting to look at my bike and talk. The only bich is the main rear seal. After that is replaced you've got it made on these older Lt's

[@MaxReviewss]

Lovely bike all the way except 2 things: 1. Lateral wind on highway. 2. Top heavy . I have the RT now and still have problems with Lateral wind.

[@billdonoho3905]

I bought a 2003 a year ago! Its a nightmare to work on! Also there are so many things that needed to be replaced such as fuel lines quick disconnects, All of the brake lines need to be replaced to a complete braided system. Just to replace the air filter you need to remove most of the plastic, completely remove the radio cluster and the gas tank, and seat!!! Once back together! It runs like a champ and is somewhat comfortable! I am 70, and it is a brute if you ever drop it!!! You better have help getting it back up! The handle bars will not hold any excessive pressure! They WILL BEND.... and the plastic around them will break! If I had it to do over, this would be my very next to the last choice of a bike that I would have bought! My opinion!!!!! Don't do it!!!!!!

[@MaxReviewss]

All said is very true. These are all the draw backs. I have moved to R1200RT due to the above issues. I will compare R1200rt with K1200LT soon.

[@antoniosoto801]

@@MaxReviewss please do. I am about to make the same switch.

[@MaxReviewss]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYCplH18braVqZo

[@MaxReviewss]

I have another video on R1200rt, please check...

[@TheHypnotstCollector]

I'm thinkng of putting a K engine in my 64 Triumph Spitfire. I didn't know they were so cheap! So in APril 2021 I bought a 2002 with 37,000 miles, in Toscana green for $2500. Dealer service records, in fact it had new steel brake lines, and over $2000 in very recent service, including bleeding the brakes etc. BUT the ABS light was blinking. Turns out the dealer didn't top of the fluid, it was at minimum!. So, I did some service like O2 sensor, bled brakes, radiator, etc. I have now less than 38,000 miles. It has all the options. Very smooth, handles the sierra mountains nicely. But it is Heavy at a stop! And not fun to pick up. But it's car smooth and looks like new. I need a dual sport so I'll probably sell it this fall.

[@MaxReviewss]

Yes, K is a great bike with exceptional features, the only negative is the weight as you mentioned.

[@Jodyrides]

I had one of these machines. Nice ride, smooth engine, scary top-heavy, weird front end that does not compress when you use the brakes at slow speeds, making it a real handful to hold up if you have the handlebars turn slightly such as in parking lot maneuvers.. I was on a asphalt paved road that had gravel on it. It was going downhill that I touched the brakes just to maintain my speed about 35 miles an hour. The ABS computer detected slippage on the gravel. Both the front and rear brakes did nothing. Absolutely nothing. I had to aim for a 8 foot high wire fence at the bottom of the hill to stop it was around an auto salvage yard. It only broke the front fender. After that, I got rid of that machine.. when I used the side stand to park the bike. Here’s what happened on the restart. It would pour white smoke out the exhaust like it was a two stroke. My dealer said that was normal.. they also had an issue with final drive bearings failing. My dealer said that was caused by people that overloaded their machines and pulled heavy trailers. That is not true. I know people that road without a passenger or heavy luggage and never pulled a trailer that had final drive failures.. In 2010, slave cylinder leakage caused a guy I know to have to have his clutch replaced. This is in 2010-. $4500.. you know that is much more now, probably more than the value of the bike in the Kelley blue book to have a clutch replaced in an older K 1200 LT..Which by the way they no longer make

[@MaxReviewss]

All very true, very good bike with cons related to top heaviness. I dropped the bike in my garage twice and while parking 2 up almost once, the side bumpers are great and they avoided any damage.

[@Jodyrides]

@@MaxReviewss I mentioned my dropping my K 1200 LT to a group of owners of the same machine at a rally one time. They all started laughing and said “get used to it, everybody drops them “. in 2010, I had a collision with a deer at 70 miles an hour on my K 1200 LT. I will say this, that bike never moved. $5500 damage, that was in 2010 prices, and both untethered mirrors went straight to China. Those two mirrors were not electrically heated or power operated.. they were just plastic mirrors almost exactly like the mirrors on my Honda Pacific coast that I committed on for 24 years eight months a year. The difference is, the Honda mirrors had wire tethers. If you bump the mirror, it doesn’t fall on the ground. On the BMW, those mirrors cost $492 each. That was in 2010. Here in 2022, those two mirrors probably cost $600-$800 each now. So, tether your mirrors call me even if you just use a good quality Carpet thread, or waxed thread for sewing leather… I must admit that my K 1200 LT had the second best seat I ever owned, and I have owned dozens of motorcycles over the past five decades. I would tell you the number but you will not believe me.. I was a motorcycle mechanic when I was in my 20s at three different shops until I got a real job. So I know how to spin the wrenches and put things back together with nothing left over. I am a maintenance junkie. I have started a KZbin channel showing how to maintain two of my current bikes, and as of November 2022, I have almost 180,000 views.. but my point is, on the K 1200 LT with those weird electric/hydraulic brakes. You must change brake fluid at least every two years, I have always done clutch and brake fluid changes on all my machines every year.. there were warnings on the Internet, actually early days of the Internet back in the 2009, 2010 years, they warned of never attempting to change the brake fluid yourself because if you get air in the system the brake system completely shuts down and you have to trailer the bike to a dealer to have him reset the computer. So I called the dealer. In 2009, the dealer wanted $750 labor just to change the brake fluid..3 month waiting list fir service.. so i bought the master cylinder reservoir attachment that attaches to the master cylinders, increasing the volume of brake fluid so when you open the bleeder with the key on and that brake fluid pump sucks all the fluid out when you pull the lever, you don’t end up sucking air into the system causing your brake system to completely shut down. I can’t believe they charge $750 labor for that 45 minute chore.. it’s probably over $1000 now here in 2022 to have that done..Plus parts, ( brake fluid) plus shop materials, plus disposal fee, plus tax

[@MaxReviewss]

Thank you mate for Watching and detailed information. K1200LT is an amazing bike although top heavy and expensive to maintain.

[@terryanderson8354]

@@Jodyrideswhat is your yt channel?

[@Golfspieler]

Sehr gut👍🇨🇭

[@alexmouratian4747]

Hi What's the color of the bike? Champagne or basalt grey?

[@MaxReviewss]

I would say champagne:)

[@richardwestmoreland4796]

Your video does not have very good audio. It is probably fine when listened through larger speakers but through your average smart phone when browsing I find the audio to be rather weak.

[@MaxReviewss]

Thank you, I will improve it in my next videos...

[@FSX239]

Holy wow. Did you say 115,000 miles on that bike? Amazing.

[@MaxReviewss]

Hi my Friend, 115,000 km actually...

[@FSX239]

@@MaxReviewss ahh. Okay silly me. Still very impressive.

[@marcovikmm3771]

How to increase the brake fluid in the rear wheel bottle?

[@MaxReviewss]

Hi my Friend, the rear brake reservoir is behind the right hand side pannier, if you open the door you can check the level through a groove.

[@marcovikmm3771]

@@MaxReviewss Do I have to disassemble the door to fill with liquid?

[@MaxReviewss]

@@marcovikmm3771 No, you can check the level through that window and if needed add fluid by popping the seat up to access fluid reservoir.

[@Jodyrides]

make sure you do not overfill the brake fluid reservoirs. Only fill them up about halfway. There is still a lot of brake fluid in the hose that goes down to the master cylinder if it is a remote Reservoir, and in the brake line and caliper itself. You have to allow for the Pistons to be pushed back into the caliper when installing new thicker brake pads.. if you can’t push the brake fluid back into the reservoir by pushing the pistons back to make room for the new brake pads when installed, brake fluid will possibly spill out of the breather, and possibly the brakes will always be applied partially. Also, brake fluid destroys plastics and paint.. when I flush the brake fluid on all my vehicles which I do at least every two years but usually every year on my motorcycles, I get a large black and plastic garbage bag, and I cover the gas tank and the front fender. And I keep clean rags ready to go in case I spill a drop of brake fluid. When I’m done changing brake fluid, I throw the rags and the black plastic protection straight in the garbage and I wash my hands.. I have seen brake fluid destroy the chin fairings on motorcycles that God brake fluid leaks on them when the slave cylinders failed a few times, and I had brake fluid on a rag when I put a new caliper on my wife’s car one year. I sit that rag on top of the fender while I was sitting there putting new brake pads on after bleeding the brakes and dabbing up the spill of brake fluid when I bled the brakes. The next day, the paint was gone on my wife’s fender where that rag was sitting the day before.. brake fluid is a serious subject on the K 1200 LT because it has electric pumps that pump the brake fluid to the calipers. That’s why you have no feel at slow speeds with these bikes. you must change the brake fluid at least every two years because brake fluid absorbs moisture out of the air. Because it is alcohol-based, just like ethanol is in the gas. It absorbs moisture. That causes the problems especially for those servo electric pumps on the BMW K bikes. There is an additional catastrophe about to happen if you get air in the system leading your breaks. Once you get air in the system accidentally, the computer detects that, and completely shuts down the breaking system to both wheels. That happened to ewan McGregor, The Scottish actor that starred in one of the early Star Wars movies. He and a friend were crossing Mongolia on their trip around the world when they had a brake issue on their BMW GS. They had been to school to learn how to handle roadside repairs on that machine. The machines were brand new.. anyway they got into a situation where they had a brake problem with one of the bikes, they could not fix it even though they were on satellite phone to the factory engineers. They couldn’t reset the computer, they could not get the brakes to work at all. Zero. That is in a show that they did it was six or eight parts called “long way round, or long way around “. They circled the globe across Europe and Asia and North America and back to England on bmws.. that was on television about 10 years ago that trip and I never missed a minute of it. I’m sure you can find it on KZbin. they ended up transporting that motorcycle to a train station and shipping it back to England because they could not get the brakes to work at all. And they bought a JAWA motorcycle locally, and when they started riding that Jawa. They said right on camera, these are the bikes we should have done this trip on.. in 2010 I was persuaded by Internet owner info not to attempt to change the brake fluid myself even though I had been a motorcycle mechanic at three different shops when I was in my 20s. I called the dealer, three month wait to get in to the service department, and the job was $750 labor just to change the brake fluid, that was in 2010.. I bought the small attachment that fits on the brake fluid master cylinder reservoir for $50 on the Internet, that prevents you from sucking air into the system when you plead the bricks because those reservoirs are tiny. They look like they only hold about 2 ounces of brake fluid, and the brakes on these bikes have electric servos that suck the brake fluid out of there in an instant when you have the key on. That’s how you get air in there accidentally. But anyway I bought the Reservoir attachment, and I bled the brakes on my K 1200 LT, it took me about 45 minutes.. in one of my maintenance videos I have on KZbin, I show a device about the size of a tire air gauge, that I bought on eBay for less than $10. It has two metal probes that you dip into your brake fluid and it tells you if it needs to be changed or not by measuring the amount of moisture content in the brake fluid. I demonstrate that brake fluid tester in my video on KZbin if you want to take a look at it. It’s a good idea to have one of those things for testing your brake fluid to see if it’s time to change it, and it’s also good to have if you have a bottle of brake fluid in your garage that you opened maybe last year or two or three years ago, but you closed it right away, and you want to test the brake fluid now, years later to see if it absorbed moisture out of the air. it saved me from throwing away a 1 L bottle of brake fluid that I had in my garage that I opened two years ago doing a brake fluid change. I normally would throw that away and always start with a new bottle, because every maintenance manual I have ever seen always tells you to use a brand new unopened bottle of brake fluid anytime you’re working on the system. My tester said that brake fluid was right at the top/good to use

[@richardshort4587]

@@Jodyrides Any chance you could elaborate on the attachment you bought for the master cylinder reservoir. Make model where to buy. Thanks

[@Vavan-rx1pe]

👍

[@MaxReviewss]

👍

[@marcovikmm3771]

la mia tiene 29000 millas

[@josemiarinootegi3109]

50.000 km y ni un problema

[@MaxReviewss]

👍

[@mikkei3532]

poor quality bike compare to Goldwing

[@MaxReviewss]

Hi my friend, from reliability point of view, in general Honda is better, in saying so I did not find any problem with quality of the bike after 22 years and 115K.