I can't find a single drive shaft replacement for a ST1300 on utube, not saying they don't go bad but there are lots of bmw drive shaft replacements on the tube. The recall lists vin numbers. I'd like to know what has changed with the shafts that those are not on recall and why do they still, to my understanding consider the replaced drive shaft still under a recall? Can't they make a better shaft? How confident are you if your drive shaft is only a few digets away from the recall?
It's really the same failure in most cases.
The ST has a single u-joint and attaches to the trans output shaft and then the other end to the drive shaft.
The RT/GS have a driveshaft with a u-joint welded to each end so a u-joint failure requires the entire drive shaft to be replaced whereas on the ST you just replace the u-joint itself unless the failure resulted in more damage or you caught it early enough.
Also, the ST's u-joint is at the transmission output shaft which is pretty far away from environmental affects..
The BMW approach puts part of the u-joint in the same position as the ST but the other end is near the rear wheel final drive / splines so it's more likely to be affected by the environment. 2 ways of dong the same thing... I think Honda did a better job in my opinion but I also have a u-joint fail at 50k... so if the RT doesn't, it's actually more reliable given my experience.