Newest Consumer Reports motorcycle reliability ranking

BakerBoy said:

Thanks Chuck

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Don't fall for it!!

SainT 1300 said:

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.

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Do what I did: go really old school BMW and buy a Ural. It gives you that oil airhead thing in new bike. And, like an old airhead, it has that agricultural feel

That's why I ride a Beemer. I love working on *****.

I observed a curious mentality when I once attended a new BMW dealer's grand opening event. My colleague, and BMW owner, invited me to ride with his BMW club to the event. Once there I was surprised that many of the club members were very critical of the new BMWs being displayed. They were saying things like "look how they did this thingamabob" and then predicting it's immediate failure and high cost to repair, followed by a large sigh. The mentality was as if they had no free choice and were resigned to accept whatever the great and mighty BMW bestowed. Just to gauge a reaction, I offered up something like my Honda ST as an alternative that was both cheaper to buy and cheaper to keep/maintain due to its reliability. At that suggestion I was greeted with silence and completely blank or somewhat confused stares, after which they all resumed their griping about the new BMWs. It was really weird.

You can lead a horse to water, but ......

FWIW, if Honda had updated the ST at any point in the past 7 years, that's what I'd be riding.

So are we to conclude of the four posters above, from their represented repairs, makers, STeeds, and riders, that they're all Patiently Virtuous but none Patently Reasonable?

Just wondering! Inquiring minds want to know?



Styles

Daniel Kahneman's research in his book, "Thinking Fast & Slow" discusses some of these phenomenon. Interesting stuff.

We see that in others' blind adherence to a sports team, political party or other "blind, deaf and dumb" to reason and evidence.

Unfortunately, we are very poor at discerning or accepting this on our own part.

If people are surprised or overly pressed in challenge of these dearly held views, one can usually see an Aymigdala Bypass Event. A decent lay discussion is in Wiki although one may wish to read some of the peer reviewed papers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala_hijack

In this event, the rational control of the information input is bypassed and piped directly to emotional reaction which triggers fight or flight. If you enjoy messing with people, it can be great fun and if not it can be the basis of huge frustration in attempting dialog on important concepts. Consider this next time there is an angry reaction to a challenge to a general myth. ;-)

I've read him, Tversky, too. Rational expectation is a theory we're all trying, patiently, to prove.



Styles

Adaptive Expectation. Honda has left their handwriting on the wall long enough (has ignored the ST long enough) that we adapt, look elsewhere.

I'm truly sorry I was busy writing when Norm's edit appeared, and mowing my lawn since.

I'm hardly sure how to construe what I didn't read, nor BB's "Adaptive Expectation."

I hope I didn't offend anyone.



Styles

Bones said:

FWIW, if Honda had updated the ST at any point in the past 7 years, that's what I'd be riding.

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Yep.

I haven't had my K1200GT long but so far the only expense I've had is an oil change that was cheaper than the ST's, mainly because the GT only needs 4 quarts and there was no fraction of a quart extra to make me buy another one just to put most in my lawn mower.
I think after the initial recalls (which may have been excessive... but it wasn't me that had to deal with them) I don't see there being much of a difference. Plus if you do the work yourself, it doesn't really matter how much more the dealer would charge... except for parts I guess.
Time will tell but I'm ecstatically happy with my BMW right now.

PS. As a reminder that the ST has maintenance issues too, like the loose wiring harness issue, the "excessive" engine heat issue, the mysterious coolant leak issue, the infamous front end wobble issue... there's plenty of maintenance issues that have been mentioned on this forum. Honda makes a pretty reliable bike but no bike being perfect, maybe some company recalls where the problem is fixed is not such a bad thing, ya know?

Norm said:

We see that in others' blind adherence to a sports team, political party or other "blind, deaf and dumb" to reason and evidence.

Unfortunately, we are very poor at discerning or accepting this on our own part.

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:bsflag: I have no brand loyalty (currently have Honda, Ducati, Triumph, and BMW in my garage) but have been around long enough to know what I like. My 04 R1150RS has NEVER been back to a dealer since 04 and my 15 R1200RT is the finest bike I've ever owned or ridden. That said, BMW riders are the biggest nitpickers and complainers I've ever met, while Honda riders seem to all have a need to justify their choice of ride with almost the same fervor as Harley riders. Unlike Harley riders though they seem to be missing some of the blind loyalty you mention, at least by the evidence I see parked at ST-owner event campgrounds.

Still in the interests of rational analysis, I might flag a good read here, Harry Frankfurt's.



Styles

Styles said:

Still in the interests of rational analysis, I might flag a good read here, Harry Frankfurt's.



Styles

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I feel like an armadillo that has just been run over.

Tom

Styles said:

interests of rational analysis

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Plenty of ranches with fresh material here in Texas where you might help further the field of study.

Reginald said:

Plenty of ranches with fresh material here in Texas where you might help further the field of study.

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You might reasonably to know I first suggested that fun read when, well, beating the Bushes in Texas.



Styles

In an effort to further the field of bovine scatology, I read the rest of the article and noted most laughably, in the little rating circles, that both Victory and Harley Davison had the highest marks for acceleration while Honda and most of the other Japanese bikes lagged behind. I was relieved though, that according to the same graphic, that BMW could at least match Victory and Harley in the ability to accelerate. Whew! XD

If you ever see how CR does some of their testing you learn they charge a lot for a magazine of mostly worthless info.

All that matters is that you get the bike YOU feel like you would like. There is no perfect bike, just the bike YOU feel is perfect for you and even that changes with most folks.

I don't put much stock in these rankings myself, if I wanted a bike I would research as much as I could about it and take it for a demo ride. I wanted a GS for a long time but the pricing was just not where I wanted and then the super tenere entered the market in the U.S. and pulled the pricing for that type of bike back into my desired price range. If I were retired and on a limited income I'd probably go with a 650 V-Strom as it's a very affordable bike to purchase/maintain/ride, not to mention easy on tires and light.

People tend to pump their chest out when they ride a brand that has some high ranking or thumb their noses at those lower on some list... who cares, just get what makes you happy and keep it... until something else looks like it will make you happier or whatever.