R1100R Gear Box

[jasondefilippis]

HI Folks, I've hear that the R1100R Gearbox in the early ones is not well functioning and will need to be rebuilt. Is this necessarily true? There's one for sale with 7k on it for $5000. Is there a warrenty from the manufacturer?
Thanks. Jason

[BBKME]

Hello. I ride a '95 with about 35,000 miles on it and haven't had any issues. Good luck!

[queretaro]

My 95 R1100R gearbox has performed well for 45,000 miles.

[breyfogle]

My 95 R1100R gearbox has performed well for 45,000 miles.

Typical mileage is somewhere around 45,000 to 55,000 miles before the tranny needs work. Some will last well over 100,000 miles but a significant minority need to be rebuilt. There does not seem to be any magic preventative maintenance that cures the problem. Its just a matter of luck.

[MotorradMike]

Hi Jason:
You don't specify what year the bike is.
If you read what Anton has to say you will be able to make an informed decision, specially if you get the current owner to send you the tranny number.

http://www.largiader.com/tech/oiltrans/

7,000 miles isn't much in any case.

[jasondefilippis]

Hi Guys, Thanks so much for the responses. It's a 95 R1100R that i'm looking at. Based on what Anton says, it will have an M94 gear box. He also says, it's not necessary to expect problems with any of these gear boxes, but doesn't go into detail as to which ones have more issues. I was looking through a previous post and "mtboulder" says this about R1100's

Make sure it has an M97 gearbox which BMW started using sometime in 2006. The Gearbox should have M97 (vs M94) stamped near the Gearbox serial number. The M94 will require rebuilding ($1200+) at some point.

Anyway, I'm holding off on this sale because it doesn't feel quite right. I think I will wait for a bike to come up from someone on this site who I know is knowledgeable and will suffer my ignorance.
Thanks for all the advice. Peace, Jason NYC.