Newest Consumer Reports motorcycle reliability ranking

Well, I guess THAT knocks them down the scale a bit. Puts Honda and Suzi a bit closer to the top if not right at the top (depending how much % down they go)
That notice comes just shy of a do-not-ride order like BMW put out many months ago. I wouldn't wait for shifting to start showing initial symptoms to stop riding... then again I'd want to be riding something with 2 wheels in the mean time. Still, tied for second is still impressive given the crowd.

I'm subscribed to CR and their Satisfaction Rating is (1) Victory, (2) Harley and (3) Honda.

Gerhard said:

One thing to keep in mind these surveys rarely ask specifics, just ask if they had a warranty claim. So if you compare a bike with bluetooth, heated seats, heated grips, an audio system, electronic suspension, cruise control etc. to something that doesn't have these features the cards are stacked against the feature rich product.

Gerhard

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I'm a subscriber to CR and filled out this survey. They did not restrict the question to warranty repairs, all repairs were asked about. They also asked what category the repair fell into, i.e. electrical, engine, transmission, etc. Also, keep in mind this survey was for bikes that were at least 4 years old and they attempted correct for mileage. Even with that correction it was interesting to see BMW fall below both Victory and Harley. I suspect BMW riders put a lot more miles on their bikes, on average, than Harley riders.

Been riding Hondas since 1980 and I dont' think that will ever change. My father put 120,000 miles on a new 1980 Goldwing in just 4 years and never had an issue. That is what started it for me. Plus, back then, Hondas were so much easier to work on than so many of the other American or Japanese bikes. Simple things like being able to get a wrench into a spot to work on a part without taking the whole bike apart to get at a smaller issue.

Kinda like a Toyota compared to a Honda Car.. I think Toyotas are much easier to work on. Having had Accords and Camrys and Toyota trucks.

Just my 2 cents....

T

This might skew the stats a little:

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/recall-news-yamaha-recalls-multiple-2015-models-including-yzf-r6-fz-09-fj-09-fz6r-and-super-tenere?src=SOC&dom=fb

veefore said:

All I know is my four year extended warranty just lapsed and I completely wasted my money on it, LOL. My 07' has never had to go back for warranty items.......shoulda spent the 484.00 on pie!

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The best warranty is the one you don't have to take advantage of. Give me one of those any day - extended or not. And, what it all comes down to is a warranty is nothing more than an insurance policy. Most of the time, the insurer wins - or he would not be selling the policy because he went out of business.

I wonder how many of us who do our own maintenance on our bikes buy extended warranties? I generally buy insurance when required by law and for things that can be catastrophic to one's financial well being - medical insurance and homeowners come to mind (even when the former was not required by law). And in both cases, I bought the highest deductible I could to decrease my out of pocket expense (consistent with what I thought I could afford at the time) but otherwise got the best policy in terms of what was covered.

there was a major dustup over at ADVRIDER over this, the Barvarians were not happy. I think they had to move it over to "Yo Mama", the section for the anger-management challenged. The study certainly isn't perfect but it likely is among the best of its type, they really do try to be both representative and non-biased. It also points to the general conclusion of Japanese bikes being more reliable, european less so which has been my experience as well (minor shifts with clusters of numbers by they way are generally not statistically significant). What I continue to find surprising tho is how reliabilty does not always track with satisfaction. If I spends 20 grand+ on a bike no matter how cool it made look, or perform, I am not going to be happy if things don't work properly. This tho is likely why I own an ST instead of an RT...

Rider33 said:

.....I think they had to move it over to "Yo Mama", the section for the anger-management challenged.

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It's 'Jo momma'.
A place where freedom is allowed, tolerated and encouraged.
Where soliciitation, ideas and philosophy can be confronted and challenged.
Where thin skin and balloon egos are punctured regularly.
Where folks are generally respected.... until they prove they don't deserve it.

Yes, it is different.
Variety is good.

scootac said:

It's 'Jo momma'.
A place where freedom is allowed, tolerated and encouraged.
Where soliciitation, ideas and philosophy can be confronted and challenged.
Where thin skin and balloon egos are punctured regularly.
Where folks are generally respected.... until they prove they don't deserve it.

Yes, it is different.
Variety is good.

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'could have sworn it was "Yo" tho I don't recall a "Head Explody" section either,
looks like they may have changed a few things since I signed on. I generally
check out long before things get moved. In this case tho I just missed it, its
still in Roadwarriors, just burried back in page two...

veefore said:

All I know is my four year extended warranty just lapsed and I completely wasted my money on it, LOL. My 07' has never had to go back for warranty items.......shoulda spent the 484.00 on pie!

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You could have asked before spending the money for the warranty, as we ALL know the 07's are the most reliable ST's out there!

I never once even thought about getting an extended warranty for any Honda I owned, but with the K16, I had to lay a fair number of dead presidents to ensure enjoyment for the next 5 years. Too bad BMW can't figure this out. They don't even offer a factory extended warranty, you must go third party.

Bravo616 said:

I never once even thought about getting an extended warranty for any Honda I owned, but with the K16, I had to lay a fair number of dead presidents to ensure enjoyment for the next 5 years. Too bad BMW can't figure this out. They don't even offer a factory extended warranty, you must go third party.

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When BMW still had the 36 month unlimited factory warranty there were a lot of three year old trade ins. When that changed there began a lot of trades at or just beyond mileage of warranty expiration, least among my BMW riding friends.

Someone please post which month/issue of CR you have these stats in please? In Canada, my CR subscription does not give me the opportunity to fill out a yearly product survey, nor have I ever seen motorcycle ratings in the rag. ??

Although I am still a BMW rider, I do admit there are some major problems with the brand. My BMW 2003 R1150R is my daily driver, but at this point, I hesitate to go very far right now because of what happened to my 1998 R1100R. The 98 R fried the wiring harness two years ago because of the cheap wiring harness cover that literally falls off like leaves in the fall. The harness hidden behind the frame eventually wore down to bare wire and that's when the party began. POOF!!!

The harness on the 03 is the same, and although I replaced the wiring cover as much as I could, the wiring itself is inferior. BMW also has issues with the final drive on these as well.

I really enjoy the big boxer twin and will hang on to it as long as she runs.

I had a few older airheads that were built like John Deere tractors.

BMW makes some really awesome bikes. The boys in the board room need to loosen up some bucks to make sure the brand is top notch. There is no excuse when BMW falls down in reliability. I remember a few years back when many major problems started showing up during the Iron Butt Rally. There were too many BMW DNF (did not finish) riders because of mechanical or electrical failures.

For now, I am really enjoying the ST1300. I started riding on a Honda 90 back in the 60's...and now that I am in my 60's, I imaging I will finish up my motorcycle gig on a Honda...with a Beemer for grins.

For the money BMW cars command, they should do a lot better in CR testing too, but it seems BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover and other premium priced car owners must have enough money that they don't care that their cars are costing more to keep. To me BMW=Bunch o' Money Wasted.

Now, anybody tell me what month's issue you saw those bike stats in?

Bush said:

For the money BMW cars command, they should do a lot better in CR testing too, but it seems BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover and other premium priced car owners must have enough money that they don't care that their cars are costing more to keep. To me BMW=Bunch o' Money Wasted.

Now, anybody tell me what month's issue you saw those bike stats in?

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Click the link in post 4 in this thread. That takes you to one article copy of the CR report. In the title of that article from CR is the date April 7, 2015. You can Google the headline and come up with a few more of the same article published in other online mags showing date of publication also.

BakerBoy said:

I'm bailing on Honda and jumping ship to the Yamaha. These stats say the Yammie is 9% better. :yes:



(Joe, half of me believes you're right about stats, but the other half believes you're right about stats.)

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So is there a FJR in your immediate future.?

ChucksKLRST said:

So is there a FJR in your immediate future.?

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I was just playing and making a classical mis-deduction from the statistics: Yammie at 11% failed vs. Honda at 12% failed can be calculated as "the Yammie is 9% better". But of course, 11% vs 12% are likely statistically equivalent in the Consumer Reports study, so the brands are likely equivalent for failure rates in this study.

But to your real question, I tried to buy a slightly-used 2014 ES that went for sale on another forum, but it didn't work out [yet]. If it comes back available or another one comes along that I shouldn't pass up, I'll try. But am in no hurry--my well-cared-for and low mileage ST13 is still a great machine.

BakerBoy said:

I was just playing and making a classical mis-deduction from the statistics: Yammie at 11% failed vs. Honda at 12% failed can be calculated as "the Yammie is 9% better". But of course, 11% vs 12% are likely statistically equivalent in the Consumer Reports study, so the brands are likely equivalent for failure rates in this study.

But to your real question, I tried to buy a slightly-used 2014 ES that went for sale on another forum, but it didn't work out [yet]. If it comes back available or another one comes along that I shouldn't pass up, I'll try. But am in no hurry--my well-cared-for and low mileage ST13 is still a great machine.

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If you want to test ride mine let me know.

Thanks Chuck