ST1300 buying guide.

broc11

broc11

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Location
Donegal, Ireland.
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Vstrom 650
There's a used buying guide for the ST1300 in the current issue (March) of Ride magazine,there's some comment from our own John Heath and a mention for ST-owners.com.
Have to say though if I was thinking of buying an ST1300 the list of known issues they mention would put me off almost, they give a much better impression of the old ST1100:)
 
I bet there would be fewer "known issues" if it were not for the fact that the ST1300 lasts for over 200,000 miles. Honestly for the bike to start off so expensive it is cheap to keep for a long period of time and run for a lot of miles.
 
broc11 said:
There's a used buying guide for the ST1300 in the current issue (March) of Ride magazine,there's some comment from our own John Heath and a mention for ST-owners.com.
Have to say though if I was thinking of buying an ST1300 the list of known issues they mention would put me off almost, they give a much better impression of the old ST1100:)
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Issues? What Issues? The ST1300 has NO issues! As long as you know how to work on it! :D
 
What do they list besides thermostats and secondary master cylinders?
 
They say around 50% of owners experienced the 'weave'
also corroding steel pipes at the water pump,brakes causing problems if not maintained correctly,obvious enough on any vehicle,
they mention some major electrical connection on the left side loom with about 30 wires and it corrodes and causes mayhem,
final drive/fuel pump/electric screen motor failures, alternators corrode and crack because they are badly located and exposed to the elements etc,
They make the 1100 sound like it's so easy to work on,:D
it's a good 9 page buying guide though with reports from owners, parts prices etc.
It would be an interesting read for anyone with a 1300.
http://www.ride.co.uk/
 
1.) BS on most of that.

2.) Hang around this forum for a few years and you get a broad look and a meaningful sample of bikes and owners. See #1.
 
dduelin said:
1.) BS on most of that.

2.) Hang around this forum for a few years and you get a broad look and a meaningful sample of bikes and owners. See #1.
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I didn't say I agreed with any of it, apart from the all the praise for the old 1100:D Ride is a fairly good mag though,the only one I regularly buy, they have a very good review on the new versys 1000 and 650 as well in this issue.
 
Dave, this fellow is from Ireland. They have some corrosion problems (with everything mechanical) over there we can't imagine.
 
Do to the fact that most of the UK uses salt water to wash their bikes, I do believe that corrosion could be an issue. Not so here in the US, unless you live near a beach!
 
SupraSabre said:
Do to the fact that most of the UK uses salt water to wash their bikes
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?
Nobody washes anything with salt water in the UK or Ireland, now the council spread salt/grit when icy roads are likely and that's what causes the corrosion on bikes and other vehicles that are used year round, a lot of bikers don't ride in the winter months for this reason or else have a cheap winter bike for commuting that they aren't too worried about. I think they salt the roads on the continent too but I'm not 100% sure on that.
In my opinion a potential buyer who has no previous knowledge of the ST1300 could be put off buying because of this buyers guide, just thought it was an interesting review,don't shoot the messenger.:)
 
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broc11 said:
?
Nobody washes anything with salt water in the UK or Ireland, now the council spread salt/grit when icy roads are likely and that's what causes the corrosion on bikes and other vehicles that are used year round, a lot of bikers don't ride in the winter months for this reason or else have a cheap winter bike for commuting that they aren't too worried about. I think they salt the roads on the continent too but I'm not 100% sure on that.
In my opinion a potential buyer who has no previous knowledge of the ST1300 could be put off buying because of this buyers guide, just thought it was an interesting review,don't shoot the messenger.:)
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Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers..;)

You have two major issues with salt over there;
1. You are surrounded by it, it's in the air!
2. The salting of the roads gets on everything.

Back in 1976 to 1979, I was in Germany for those three years while in the US Air Force, and they did the same thing. Our cars didn't last very long due to it! :(

If I showed you the average connections/metal parts to a 11 year old ST1300, here in SoCal (away from the beach), you would think it just came off the showroom compared to the average bike's connections and metal over there. Our East Coasters and Mid-Westerners have the same issue with Salt on their roads during Winter.
 
SupraSabre said:
Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers..

You have two major issues with salt over there;
1. You are surrounded by it, it's in the air!
2. The salting of the roads gets on everything.

Back in 1976 to 1979, I was in Germany for those three years while in the US Air Force, and they did the same thing. Our cars didn't last very long due to it!

If I showed you the average connections/metal parts to a 11 year old ST1300, here in SoCal (away from the beach), you would think it just came off the showroom compared to the average bike's connections and metal over there. Our East Coasters and Mid-Westerners have the same issue with Salt on their roads during Winter
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No problem:) We also get a lot of rain here on the west coast so that doesn't help things either, I think it's probably worse in the UK, they use an awful lot of salt/grit over there,
the only answer I see is we all move to southern California and I can ride the bikes every day then:D
 
An this is why I do not buy magazines any more. 1 person owns a bike, RUNS with what he might have a small problem with.
Like the intern wave.
 
scootac said:
And that right there is why I don't pay much attention to what others say or think!
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I am glad its just not me, I find sometimes forceful opinions send out the wrong message and and my "ignore" function flips in, watching others fall under the spell is amusing.
 
Critters said:
Its not just limited to magazines, forums have this problem too.
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I find Ride magazine fairly good read,reviews on used and new bikes,gear and other bike accessories, I thought the fact that John Heath contributed to the review was worth mentioning, John has a wealth of knowledge on the 1100 and 1300 and gave me great help in the past with a few problems I had,
bike journalists are like any other journalist in my opinion, you take what the say and use your own common sense and past experience to come to your own conclusions.
I think an ST1100 with the suspension upgraded and well maintained otherwise is as good a sports touring bike as there is,you know what they say about opinions though:D
 
If there is interest there was a good article about the 1100 and the 1300 and the people that ride them that appeared about 5 years ago in VisorDown or it's predecessor Two wheels Only.

Both bikes have their good and bad points and the individual will weight these differently and come to individual conclusions. In the March Ride article for instance the guy quoted as breaker sees bikes in the worst possible conditions. His is a single point of view that is refuted by a couple of other voices in the same article. It was an interesting read and thank you for the original post. I keep a binder of ST1300 stuff in print since 2002 and I've added this as a buyers review.
 
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broc11 said:
I must actually get a spin on a 1300 myself sometime,maybe I can persuade someone at Irishstoc this year to swap bikes for a while.
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I had an 1100 prior to my 1300 and for a while I wondered if I had done the right thing as I loved my 1100 a lot, smooth and very comfortable, to me for a while the 1300 was just not right, fitted bike quip risers and it changed the 1300 to something nearer what the 1100 was, the acceleration of the 1300 was and still is amazing but if someone said to me that I had to change back to an 1100 I wouldn't have a problem with it at all.
 
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