espectfully, I’d say 100K km isn’t a whole lot of mileage for a GS! I had a 2010 R1200GSA with 110K miles (nearly 200K km) before selling her about 8 months ago for my R1300GSA.

That 2010 still rode and ran like a new bike. I was pretty religious about maintenance—fluids every 5K miles and valves and spark plugs every 10K. In my experience, proper maintenance makes a huge difference with any motorcycle or vehicle.

So, I’d be more inclined to blame the previous owner than the GS itself. 😄

Call me a fanboy, because I probably am! 😂 These bikes certainly aren’t perfect, but in my experience they’re remarkably durable and can be nearly bulletproof when they’re properly cared for. Just sharing my experience—ride safe! 🍻🏍

Tip for new players: If you find metallic particles during an oil change, there is most definitely something wearing inside the engine; 2, never take the word from a previous owner, inspect everything thoroughly as soon as you get the bike home; Give the bike a major service and replace anything that looks or sounds worn and 3, don't trust receipts either
My 'cheap' 2006 R1200GS with only 34000Km has cost me a small fortune to make it a reliable machine again; I bought the bike off the 'net based on the low kilometers and service receipts showing a 'major service' had just been completed; As it turns out, the only thing not lied about was new tyres; Bike was very poorly maintained by the original owner and the service receipts were obviously lies from the motorcycle shop the previous owner used for services;
Inspection at home the bike had a major oil leak at the front crankshaft seal; Front brake pads were worn and calipers leaking fluid; All 3 brake discs worn beyond service limit, front fork seals leaking yet somehow the motorcycle shop passed the bike for road worthiness only 2 weeks prior to me purchasing the bike; The bike was not safe to ride anywhere!
With those obvious lies in mind, I decided to do a full front to back, top to bottom inspection and service; (been riding/working on motorcycles for 40 years)
Replaced spark plugs as they were obviously not changed at the 'major service'; Steering bearings were dry of grease and worn; Replaced them; Handle bar grips worn, replaced them; Throttle cables deteriorated; Replaced them; Air filter dirty; Replaced that; Oil sight glass was 'fogged' so needed replacing; Had to drain the oil to replace the sight glass; Had clean oil in the engine but the oil filter was dirty so the bike shop took a $$$ short cut there; New oil level sight glass, filter and oil; Drained the gearbox oil and it was dirty; Drained the Kardon Drive and it too was very dirty; Inspected the drive shaft housing and shaft and it was rusty with very little grease; Inspected both the 'swing arm' pivot and tele-lever pivots; Both needed cleaning and regreasing; Checked valve adjustments which thankfully were good; Replaced front fork seals and added new oil to the forks... For further peace of mind, I replaced both shock absorbers with Ohlins
If I had to have a motorcycle 'mechanic' do this work, it would have amounted to big $$$$ but real moral to this 'story' is, don't trust any one when it comes to YOUR motorcycle; Even motorcycles with very low kilometers/mileage can be abused and dangerous to ride with 'motorcycle shop mechanics' not doing what they are paid to do at service time
Now, with thanks to this video creator, I will replace the timing chain tensioners even though my R1200GS has very low kilometers.

Great POV on doing a thorough maintenance job. When you buy a bike that age with that many miles, it's smart to go deeper and replace some of the internal wear items if you want it to stay solid for years to come.

You may have been lucky enough that the left cylinder was on the compression stroke when the timing chain broke and thus all of the valves were closed, and never to open again.

One reason not to ride while listening to music,hopefully you rebuild it soon and yes on my 1100rs it’s been changed three times over 500.000 kms.

Great work in analysing the fault and also great advice about maintenance etc. - very important. Looking forward to seeing you get it back to perfect running order again. Best wishes with the work.

Pretty lucky to get away with no major damage. Changing the clutch is a good idea given the mileage since you have to split the bike anyway to fit the new chains.

Excited to watch the rebuild process!

TQ from Malaysia

Oh wow, you were pretty lucky but also unlucky! Looking forward to seeing it running again. Might be worth having a look in the oil filter to see if there's metal shavings in there from the chain wear. 🔧

New subscriber, great video.  I have just acquired a 2008 BMW GS1200 (K25) and don’t really have any experience of these types of bikes.  Interesting issue with your chain, sounds like a good idea about changing the chain at 100,000 Kilometres.

On mine I have Just replaced the starter motor at 40,000 miles.  Fiddley job with one of the bolts difficult to get to but it went quite well.  

Interested to see how you get on with your re-build / chain replacement and experience with your GS1200.  

Thanks for sharing.

And how do you separate the chain to change it?

Those bikes weren't reliable brand new. And you got yourself a fifteen year old, 100.000 km one.