I'm back, maybe.

I bought a brand new gen 2 in 2013, and had 6 great years/11k miles on it. Sold it because I was moving house, and fancied a Panigale 1299S for a change, after years of 4 cylinder litre sports bikes. The Pani is gone now, it was a beautiful bike and being lighter than my gen 2, with the ohlins suspension and forged wheels/supercorsas it definitely felt better in the twisty stuff. But what it gained in handling was lost in the engine department IMO. So now I'm looking for my next bike, bearing in mind my gen 2 only cost me ?11k, I don't fancy chucking nearly twice that at a new 1000RR. So what deal am I likely to get if I wait a couple of months, and how much better is the new bike than my old gen2?

I had a 1299S a few years back, I loved it, I owned a Gen 1 before that. On to the Gen 4 now, incredible bike.

Gen4 should be best of both, I4 and Nimble

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I'd always fancied a Ducati twin, and the 1299S I bought had a years Ducati warranty and had only done 2k miles. But I was a bit surprised that the 1000RR engine was stronger everywhere. Plus Ducati wanted ?550 for another years warranty. Is the gen 4 suspension as good as the 1299S Ohlins?

I'll take that as a no then?

Apples / oranges

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Thank you very little.

Lol ok chap...

Only just seen the bit about the suspension. It?s 6 and two 3?s to be honest between them, you wouldn?t go wrong with either and I certainly wouldn?t purchase one over the other because of the suspension.

I certainly believe the Beemer has so much more to offer and as a road bike you can?t really get any better, does everything really.

Only thing I?d say the 1299S brakes were phenomenal, the brakes on the Beemer are good but the 1299S was next level. 330 discs spaced out further for extra cooling, very good Brembo?s.

I'd say the Brembo brakes on my gen 2 were a bit stronger than on my 1299, both excellent though. I've read a few reports of reliability issues on the gen 4. Have these been ironed out now, or are there still Friday afternoon bikes?

I think that's finally been sorted, I haven't had any issues with my 2021 bike (built 31st May, registered Sep 21) and certainly not the well documented issues with the earlier bikes. I have Nissin(?) brakes, not Hayes. Only fly in the ointment is that my forks do mark up just a little bit, but told that's normal. No sign of the bleeding/weeping that vexed so many (but has still never happened on my Gen 2)

Cheapest I've seen is around ?16.5k including the ?800 finance contribution. Wonder if they will get any cheaper as winter draws in.

Thought to offer my 2 cents as I have experience here,
I also had a 1299 S for 6 years.
Then sold it and bought a Gen4 S1000rr.
If i had to compare in Nutshell, I would say that (my opinion Only) the suspension on the 1299 S (Ohlins) had more range to fine tune and set to what you want from the bike over the BMW and more adjustability as you get faster and better.
I also agree that the Brembos on the 1299 S were a tad better than my Gen 4 SKRR.
I really liked the instant grunt and low pulling power of the Ducati, especially in the twisties. I find i need to be more on the ball with SKRR as to what gear Im in, and not being caught out at low-ish revs as I find it takes a tad longer to wind up and deliver the power. Thats only in comparison to the 1299 motor. Still a rapidly fast bike is the Beemer, and more importantly to me, far more compliant on the road, all year riding, no heat burning my thighs like Nandos extra spicy wings!

I have also seen them start to drop towards the 15 to 17K mark. And some with decent packs on them also.

I had Brembo's on my previous Gen2 to compare with my 1299S, and I found the Gen2 brakes to be a bit stronger. Both had great brakes though. I loved the looks and noise of my 1299, and it was the most stable bike on it's side that I've had. But the engine felt flat below 5k revs and it was all done by 11k. On the Ducati forums people said a couple of teeth on the rear sprocket and mapping makes a lot of difference. But it had a Ducati warranty on it, so I couldn't do that. I guess the answer is a V4S, but they are a load more money than a S1000RR. I haven't seen any new ones starting with a 15 though.

Something I've noticed on quite a few of the road test videos, the Marzocchi forks seem to leak oil. Is this something BMW sort out under warranty?

9/10 'Leaks' were wax/grease melting in the bushes and running down. A leak of actual suspension fluid was never common.

What did happen with early forks, was a low speed knocking. Forks were replaced under warranty in most cases.

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OK, thanks for the info. On a different subject BMW, seem to be offering a ?600 loyalty bonus if a BMW car or bike has been owned for at least 3 months. Seems a bit arse about face, when someone that has never bought anything from a BMW dealer, but owns a rusty old car, gets the ?600. But as a returning Motorrad customer, I don't.

pauly said:

I'd say the Brembo brakes on my gen 2 were a bit stronger than on my 1299, both excellent though. I've read a few reports of reliability issues on the gen 4. Have these been ironed out now, or are there still Friday afternoon bikes?

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mines a 22 bike with no issues whatsoever, I think I?ve put roughly 1700 miles with two track days thrown in.

When I purchased mine they were offering the ?1500 contributions which meant a brand new bike was coming in cheaper than used bikes at the time, the only downside was the wait but it aas the best time of year to be waiting.

Autotrader app shows lots of dealers offering deals on new bikes. The way the dealer system works they're always going to chasing end of month targets, often starting in the middle of the month. Nice to see that my local dealer is, as usual, one of the most expensive... some of them say the loyalty bonus available when financed though them, although the one thing I have learned over the years is that BMW FS are rarely the right people to deal with.

Wull said:

mines a 22 bike with no issues whatsoever, I think I?ve put roughly 1700 miles with two track days thrown in.

When I purchased mine they were offering the ?1500 contributions which meant a brand new bike was coming in cheaper than used bikes at the time, the only downside was the wait but it aas the best time of year to be waiting.

Click to expand...

I bought my gen 2 at the end of September 2013, so you're probably right about the best time to buy. ?16k plus whatever BMW contribute is where I'm at, much more and I'm thinking about a lightly used, Ducati approved V4S.