Which service manual is the best to use

Having Problems with your BMW R1200RT/R1250RT? or have some Maintenance and Service questions?
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jackstraw
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Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:10 pm

Which service manual is the best to use

Post by jackstraw »

I’m looking to buy a service manual for my 2017
Is there anything other than the Haynes manual available
I’m happy to get the online version and print off the pages/pics as I need them. Doing it this way with other bikes and I found the pics were available in colour and the paper was the thickness of my choice. Two questions:


1. Anything I should look at other than Haynes
2. Is it possible to print off pages of the Haynes online version


Many thanks
Jack
Our Gee
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Re: Which service manual is the best to use

Post by Our Gee »

IMHO, Haynes have been living in the past for years now. Pictures are generally of poor quality, grainy black and white. Also I think that Haynes go into too much depth. The average home mechanic, whom one would expect to be the main Haynes customer, will not need info on different piston selection grades. What percentage of home mechanics will actually take on a full engine disassembly and rebuild. There are also debatable instances of mis-information such as “ handlebar switches are generally reliable “ when lots of RT owners will have experience of very un-reliable switches. There used to be manuals by Clymer but I haven’t seen them around for some time now. On the plus side, Haynes are relatively cheap. A quick ebay search has shown that a Clymer manual is available for the Hexhead RT but nothing coming up for the Twincam or later W.C model.
Last edited by Our Gee on Tue Nov 24, 2020 8:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Levisp
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Re: Which service manual is the best to use

Post by Levisp »

I agree with Our Gee, Haynes is OK but poor pictures does let it down. If you are after just a manual for regular maintenance then Mark Motorcycles have one for the RT.


https://www.marksmotorcycleparts.co.uk/service-manuals


It just covers maintenance operations for water-cooled bikes. Not sure about the latest 1250
Last edited by Levisp on Tue Nov 24, 2020 8:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
jackstraw
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Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:10 pm

Re: Which service manual is the best to use

Post by jackstraw »

Thanks Levisp, I've ordered a Mark's Motorcycles manual
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Levisp
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Re: Which service manual is the best to use

Post by Levisp »

jackstraw wrote: Thanks Levisp, I've ordered a Mark's Motorcycles manual

Great. Just for interest has he updated the manual for the 1250 engine bikes ? I got mine quite a long time ago to service my 2014 bike.
Peter.
jackstraw
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Re: Which service manual is the best to use

Post by jackstraw »

I’ll let you know when it arrives
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Levisp
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Re: Which service manual is the best to use

Post by Levisp »

jackstraw wrote: I’ll let you know when it arrives

Cheers
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