Lifeisgood - 2008-07-15 6:42 PM Smitty, I was also looking at a BMW, the R1200RT. The price of them has come down quite a bit in Canada over the last year, so much so, that a fully loaded one is the same price as a Vision Tour Premium. I have ridden one before and enjoyed it, however my Wife was not impressed with the back seat. I had heard some very disturbing news about BMW's breaking down during the Iron Butt rides - mostly having to do with final drives failing - causing oil to leak all over the rear brakes & tires. The local BMW dealer assured me that their bikes were very well made & if something did break, BMW would have the bike towed & fixed. Well that's great, but who wants to sit their holidays out in some motel far from home while their bike is being repaired. I'd rather be riding, thank you! So I did some research and found this little tidbit on the Internet. http://bmwfinaldrive.com/fd_failure_list.php Now I definitely know that I'll never buy a BMW. BMW will not admit they have a problem with the final drives (that's been around for quite awhile). Besides their maintenance costs are much, much higher than a Vision. I asked the BMW dealer how much they charged for each scheduled maintenance visit - it flat blew me away! With the Vision, maintenance is way less money - money that I can put into traveling more. You have a good bike now, so you don't have to make a hasty decision. What's the hurry? The '09's will be out in a couple of months, and there's always next year. I think that history will show the Vision to be an outstanding & very reliable touring bike. Cheers, Reg

This is very interesting. I had heard of this problem but never knew it was this big. BMW has had this problem since 1997 and still haven't fixed it and this issue could cause a major accident. Victory has never had a persistent issue like this in their history.

I have had friends that bought BMW's mostly because they owned BMW autos and like them but they all complained about the super high cost of ownership on the BMW bikes.

I have ridden several of the BMW bikes including the K1200LT and there is no way I could be comfortable in that seating position for any length of time. I don't sit in that position at my desk, at the table or anywhere so why should I sit in that position riding a bike.