The Problems Of Owning A BMW 900 XR

Summary

Highlights

• Rear brake issues are prominent, affecting the riding experience, particularly in technical riding. 🛑
• The front brakes perform excellently, providing good feel and feedback. 👍
• Engine noise is noticeable at idle and needs better muffling. 🔈
• BMW's TFT has a cosmetic flaw that led to customer dissatisfaction. 🌟
• Comfort seat upgrade didn't meet expectations, lacking width for longer rides. 🚴‍♂️
• Despite some issues, the BMW 900 XR stands strong against competitors in terms of build quality. 🏆

Key Takeaways

• The BMW 900 XR offers a unique ride, but be prepared for some quirks, especially with brakes! 🛠️
• Service costs are manageable but vary with mileage, higher costs at 20k service expected. 💸
• Engine noise at idle can be bothersome, a point for BMW to improve. 🎵
• The quick shifter smooths out over time, but still clunky between 1st and 2nd gear. ⚙️
• Comfort seat upgrade isn’t recommended; other brands may offer better comfort. 🛋️
• Overall build quality is solid but overshadowed by some annoying design flaws. 🔧

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 03:00: Introduction and Service Overview The chapter titled 'Introduction and Service Overview' includes the narrator sharing their excitement about being able to ride their bike again. They emphasize the joy of riding on two wheels and mention having their bike, presumably a BMW XR, back from the dealer after a 10,000-mile service. This indicates that the chapter is both an introduction to themselves or their content and an overview of the service experience they had with the dealer.
• 03:00 - 05:00: Service Costs and Expectations The chapter discusses the intricacies of service costs and expectations for a particular vehicle, which has been owned for 14 months and driven for 13,000 kilometers. The speaker plans to delve into a recent service experience, which spanned 11 days and 10 nights. The focus is on the small issues that accumulate over time and may not be apparent during short-term use, such as one-day or one-week rides. They mention having had the first service but intend to elaborate further on the specifics in the following discussion.
• 05:00 - 09:00: Brake Issues and Concerns The chapter discusses issues and concerns related to brake systems in vehicles. It includes details about the second service performed on a vehicle, focusing on the costs associated with maintaining a BMW. The first scheduled service, at 1000 kilometers, cost 160 euros in Germany, including tax, which is presented as a reasonable expense for a BMW.
• 09:00 - 12:30: Sound and Vibration Observations The chapter 'Sound and Vibration Observations' covers the speaker's experience with servicing their mid-size middleweight bike. The second service was supposed to happen either after 10,000 kilometers or after a year, whichever came first. The speaker, however, had the service done after 11,000 kilometers even though the bike now has 13,000 kilometers on it. The cost for the second service was approximately 300 euros.
• 12:30 - 17:00: TFT Display and Quickshifter Problems The chapter discusses various service and maintenance aspects of a motorcycle, particularly focusing on the TFT display and quickshifter issues. It details the regular maintenance schedule, including oil changes, brake oil servicing every two years, and additional services required as the motorcycle gains mileage. The third service includes air filter changes, valve adjustment clearances, and other checks based on the bike's usage. Overall, it outlines the importance of regular maintenance for optimal performance and identifying potential problems.
• 17:00 - 21:00: Suspension and Seat Comfort The chapter discusses concerns about the cost of maintenance for a new bike, particularly in Germany. It mentions service intervals, valve checks, air filter replacements, and additional maintenance. There is apprehension about potential high costs, possibly exceeding 500 euros. The narrator is curious about the actual costs they will face, dependent on the bike's usage by next spring or fall.
• 21:00 - 23:00: Fit and Finish, Final Thoughts The chapter details the cost estimation for maintenance, referring to an amount between 450 to 500 euros. It transitions into discussing the maintenance schedule undertaken for a bike.
• 23:00 - 25:00: Conclusion In the conclusion, the speaker observes the Brembos 4.32s, commenting on their effectiveness. However, there is an issue with the pistons, as they don't fully retract after gripping, leading to incomplete release. Despite this problem, it's noted that the discs weren't replaced and the pads were only halfway worn.

The Problems Of Owning A BMW 900 XR Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hi guys nothing to prove here today's a beautiful day because any day one can be out on two wheels is a beautiful day and yes i have my xr back from the dealer total time that this bike was at the dealer for it's 10 000
• 00:30 - 01:00 kilometer service was 11 days 10 nights and i'll get into that in a minute but what i want to focus on with this particular video are the little nuances the little things that come up over time that you won't notice on a one-day ride or a one-week ride i've had this bike now for 14 months 13 000 kilometers had the first service
• 01:00 - 01:30 and the second service done on it all right so now let's get into the service of this thing right off the bat let's just jump straight into the numbers shall we now the first scheduled service the 1000 k service cost me 160 euros german that's with tax okay so that's actually not bad 160 euros for a bmw
• 01:30 - 02:00 mid-size middleweight bike the second service that i just had done uh the ten thousand ten thousand so the first one's at a thousand the second one's ten thousand later or a year later whichever comes first and me uh yeah it was time uh i had 11 000 on it well actually it's got 13 000 on it right now but um that cost right around 300 euros for the second service now the second
• 02:00 - 02:30 service you can look at the maintenance there it's the oil the brake oil too and then we do the break oil every two years then you can also see there the first case service was just oil and checks and everything you know the usual first case service then the third service they're adding in the air filter valve adjustment clearance and other things according to the mileage that you have on your bike so it'll be interesting to see at the
• 02:30 - 03:00 20k how much this is going to cost with the valve checks and the air filter and the extra maintenance i've heard horror stories going upwards of 500 euros here in germany but since this is a new bike i'm curious to see what it will be next spring or in the fall depending on how many kilometers i put on this thing okay so that's the service intervals uh
• 03:00 - 03:30 and well the yeah the 20k is about 490 500 euros that just rounded off somewhere between 450 and 500 is the estimate okay guys that was the maintenance schedule and the maintenance that i have done on this bike now i want to get into the issues that i had with this last service the second service to 10 10k service say what do you mean issues first issue yeah
• 03:30 - 04:00 what do you notice is down here yeah those are brembos 4.32s yeah loving those brembos but the pistons on this side were not going back in all the way they they would grip but then they wouldn't let go not enough to really mark it because they didn't change the disc there was no and even the pads were only 50 percent wore down there as you can see there maybe if i turn
• 04:00 - 04:30 this on and it doesn't make a difference but so they had to replace of course its warranty and that's what took so long it took a week because well it took a couple of days for them to get the kit but it wasn't the complete kit from brembo they had to get order a second some more parts and they just replaced all four pistons in both calipers the brake pads of course didn't uh because it it's they didn't need to be replaced at 12 k
• 04:30 - 05:00 you know right around there uh okay to be honest how many k i had about uh almost 11k on this bike when i had it so the second service done so so these calipers and discs have right now as of right now filming this have 13k on them 13 100 kilometers uh i did not notice any brake fade whatsoever i have been on two trips
• 05:00 - 05:30 loaded up yes like this at the first trip no i didn't have any of these top cases the second trip this last one uh we did uh 30 300 kilometers in five days with these top cases and everything and the bike performed flawlessly no problems with the brakes ex the front brake now here's the issue i
• 05:30 - 06:00 had and why i had to take it back for service this right here is terrible i don't know what is going on with this and this this rear brake this rear brake is just it fades right now it's terrible when you first start to press you really have to go 20 30 degrees
• 06:00 - 06:30 and 40 degrees yeah that bat of press and it's almost feels like nothing until you get in 20 30 degrees and yes i have pumped them and i complained about that at the dealership and and they said well bring it back in we need it overnight and we we will do is is we put a 10 kilo weight on here hanging off the bottom and then to push out all the air pressure and then in the morning they
• 06:30 - 07:00 seal it back up or test it to see well they had my bike two nights it wasn't ready the next day and that's where you saw the other film where i had the 1250 rt i wanted to film this then but couldn't so did it fix it though that's the question did it fix the brake fade problems to the point to where this thing brake faded so much i didn't want
• 07:00 - 07:30 to use the rear brake especially loaded down with this and this so that's sad that especially going through the alps and all the b roads that we were doing uh and that's where you really want to refine and work on your riding technique with braking with the rear tire yes this has a linked braking system and the imu controls if you just grab a
• 07:30 - 08:00 handful of front it will also break the rear sure it will but what if you just want to break with the rear which i do a lot of times when i'm practicing my skills and just i want to bring the machine down like this with the rear brake instead of this with the front brake you see the difference i don't want to upset the balance of the bike and that's why this is my number one major problem with this rear brake also
• 08:00 - 08:30 other bmw 1250 1200 gs riders have complained about this rear brake fade too so it's a it's a systemic problem within bmws on their bigger bikes that they and they know about it too now when i got this back the second time so the first case service was a week with front brakes eight days really then then uh the rear brake to three
• 08:30 - 09:00 more days so 11 days in total is the rear brake better it's the same it still sucks perfect word sucks yes i'm ticked that i paid 14k for a machine with a rear brake that i don't want to use when i'm riding technical now when i'm doing a casual laid back ride no problems i just use the front brake
• 09:00 - 09:30 you know because then you're just slow on the brakes and but when you're riding aggressively and trying to get technical and you want to maintain neutrality between the front and the rear tires you want to use the rear brake this bike i just choose not to if i'm riding aggressively with ooly the gs guy you some of you guys who have watched the alps trips with me know him he rides fast i have to use the rear brake to keep up with him if i don't then i fall behind
• 09:30 - 10:00 so now any problems with the front no love it the the pressure it takes from the initial bite the feel the feedback all the way through the grip range perfect no complaints about the front whatsoever the rear bmw dropped the ball now let's talk about something else let's get off the brake case here one thing i want to talk about
• 10:00 - 10:30 now is the engine sound at idle say what do you mean i just did the tracer 9 video gt and the new gt and when you start that bike up at idle yamaha really worked on refining the engine noises and calming those engine noises down bmw you need to stand up and take note because i listen to that clicky noise
• 10:30 - 11:00 i don't know if that's a valve noise or what but as you're riding that's there now it calmed down there hear it yeah now when you come back here though oh it sounds good back here doesn't it yeah but when you are actually in between the muffler
• 11:00 - 11:30 and the engine this dominates okay so let's shut that off now once you start rolling down the road it's okay then the engine noise calms down then the exhaust note comes up a little bit but i've noticed the exhaust note is quieter with these bags on with these with the side card cases on yeah it's a
• 11:30 - 12:00 little quieter so then you hear then the whole bike quiets down a little bit more because of the exhaust note the next pet peeve and again these these pet peeves are not deal breakers uh is what i want to show you is right here on the tft but look right there it's it's got a like a ring around it see because you can see here on the finish it's it's
• 12:00 - 12:30 plastic of course but then it looks like there's a little metal wire in between here and here and right down here look at that yeah let me turn the light on let's see if that helps let's go brighter and brighter there look at that the little metal that and it stopped so if i it it started to break away right here
• 12:30 - 13:00 right there and then one day last summer i was washing the bike and a rag caught on something the towel that i was drying it with and then a little piece broke off so now from where my finger starts to here that part is broken off so say uh what's the big deal scott well i should have mentioned it last year in
• 13:00 - 13:30 the 1k service and i didn't i forgot and it wasn't a big deal i didn't think anything of it it didn't bother me it's just a cosmetic flaw no functionality problems whatsoever but this with this last case service i said to the service manager there with becca tiemann and i said hey take a look at this he goes oh i've never seen this before what are you doing okay he didn't say it
• 13:30 - 14:00 like that he said well maybe you're catching your gloves on it or something like that i'm like i have leather gloves that leather is leather and he says okay i'll take a picture of it send it in the bmw when you bring it in for the service i said okay let's do it then i go to pick up my bike be the brake of course the brakes the front brakes with the
• 14:00 - 14:30 replacing the pistons were under warranty of course the rear brake of course too yeah but didn't they didn't do anything in my humble opinion it didn't fix the they didn't fix the problem it's still there it's unfixable it's a it's an engineering or a design flaw in my humble opinion but the tft what did corporate bmw tell my dealership here in paderborn we're not going to fix it if the
• 14:30 - 15:00 customer wants a new tft the customer has to pay for the new tft come on give me a freaking break bmw you're losing a customer over something like this and every guy that's watching this video isn't going to want this either now bmw mass produces this tft they put it on every model except your
• 15:00 - 15:30 cruiser the r18 and the r9t for example and some other exceptions but every other bike bmw puts this tft on so maybe corporate is thinking oh that's a one-off that's a quality issue we don't care let the it'll take care of itself or break eventually and the customer will have to replace it and pay for it
• 15:30 - 16:00 another thing that has not improved over time over 13 000 kilometers and that is the quick shifter it has improved a little bit once you get to second third fourth fifth six it's getting slicker it's getting smoother it's still clunky though but between first and second gears it's still terrible whether you're going
• 16:00 - 16:30 up or down between first and second it is i i don't even use a quick shifter between first and second i refuse to unless i'm racing with uli and flying out of a corner in first gear and then going to second then i'm using the quick shifter but other than that i'm always using the clutch that's sad although it is i i have noticed between 1 000 kilometers and it is and what it is today it is
• 16:30 - 17:00 getting better with time and a lot of guys will say well that's bmw you're just breaking it in at 13 000 k that's but it's like come on it should work right away the chassis over time i'm getting used to it this non-adjustable front
• 17:00 - 17:30 and how to set the rear because i have the electronic rear on here the dynamic electronic i'm getting used to how to set it up and here the current settings here let's pull the machine on here i have it in dynamic pro but here is what i want to show you i got it on road mode in one helmet me and actually i you can see i don't have
• 17:30 - 18:00 the bags set up there that's because they're empty now if i were to load those bags up then i would get move it down one two luggage and then also a passenger you can do that too but in road mode um is where i have this the rear fork so here's your preload and then there's the the suspension setting and road if i go to dynamic as you see there
• 18:00 - 18:30 it actually raises the back end up about five to ten millimeters i actually noticed when you put a foot down your foot now i'm no longer flat footing it my heel is raised up just a hair so i don't want it on dynamic i want to go back to road there now i'm going back to road good okay so overall the rear adjustable suspension two thumbs up bmw just give it to me on the front also that's all i'm complaining about
• 18:30 - 19:00 now the ergonomics of this bike as you guys can see i put on a comfort seat here which raised it up 15 millimeters from the 825 seat height to 840 now is it worth the upgrade i would not buy the bmw comfort seat again if i had to make that purchasing decision a second time i would say no i
• 19:00 - 19:30 would try something else like wunderlish or maybe gv or some other tour master i'm sure there are some other good ones out there because this seat to be quite honest with you is not wide enough it needs to be wider bmw up here too for the passenger my son sits up here and yeah he only weighs enough he weighs nothing so he doesn't complain about the seed i do
• 19:30 - 20:00 though when i sp the seed is only a problem when you're doing four hours or longer then you feel it you really start to feel it then on my trips to italy to the alps by the third and fourth days i did not want to get back on this seat that's how bad this seat is at the previous seat too it doesn't matter the original stock seat and this so on this bike when you're doing tours
• 20:00 - 20:30 trips by the fourth day you need to take a break one to two day break just a strong recommendation i hope you've enjoyed this thirteen thousand kilometer rant but i want you guys to know what you're in for if you buy this bike uh maintenance costs not bad at all cannot complain it's stereotypical uh with ktm
• 20:30 - 21:00 uh with honda uh i've owned four hondas it's they're pretty right there right there um quality issues fit and finish i can't complain except for the engine noise um i've heard some of the guys complain about this see how that will move a little bit
• 21:00 - 21:30 that i'd say that's not quality and it's like you must not have ridden very many bikes in your life a lot of bikes i ride more than half of the bikes i ride are like that with this so um some of the other fit and finish i don't understand the complaints that some guys are complaining about because i ride over 30 bikes a year
• 21:30 - 22:00 35 bikes a year plus so i get an overall feel as soon as i get on a bike and start it up how does it feel where does it fit in that quality fit and finish range and this is right up there with it beats the japanese uh no problem honda's right there with this there yamaha a little less kawasaki and suzuki are fighting for last place there in that diagram so as far as fit and finish no complaints uh everything functions
• 22:00 - 22:30 the handguards function i love the mra windscreen i'm glad i would buy this again no problem with this adjustable that helps kicking the air up over my helmet and i'm 5'10 178 centimeters tall so i would strongly recommend getting the mra windscreen i think gv and wunderlish also make the variable one two it kicks it up and over on the autobahn
• 22:30 - 23:00 because on the autobahn when you're doing a 120 130 135 my normal cruising speed on the auto but german autobahn is 135 kilometers per hour i just set the cruise and go boom uh then i have the windscreen in the up position and this set like this is where i find that it flips up the most air for me in that configuration okay guys i hope you've enjoyed this 13
• 23:00 - 23:30 000 kilometer review as always guys ride safe that's the most important thing and number two guys ride like there's nothing to prove take care guys cheers