The Moto Guide Archive
A BMW boxer motorcycle on its centre stand in a workshop
BMW Moto Guide · The Moto Guide Archive

The two oils on your BMW nobody ever changes.

Three volumes for people who keep the bike. They are built around the jobs BMW quietly dropped from the schedule, and there are 146 pages here you can act on this weekend.

Get the archive — $97 Single volumes from $27 · instant PDF · no subscription

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146
Pages
85
Field notes
10
Diagrams
12
Reference tables
The Longevity FilesThe Workshop HandbookThe Complete Moto Guide Archive
The arithmetic

Most of what ends a BMW is cheap to prevent
and expensive to repair.

Every figure below is quoted from the books. It is the repair bill each habit keeps off your desk. These are typical costs. They are not a promise.

The fixWhat it preventsWhy
Gearbox and final drive oil$1,200-2,500A rear drive rebuild, on $25-40 of the correct hypoid oil.
Spline paste at the interval$2,500 and upA stripped drive shaft takes the final drive with it. The paste is a $9-20 tube.
Checking valve clearances$2,400A burnt exhaust valve, head off and seats recut. The gauge costs under $20.
Brake fluid every two years$1,500-2,900Corrosion seizes the ABS modulator. It is a replacement unit and coding, not a repair.
The in-tank fuel filter~$1,600The filter does not kill the bike. It kills the pump, and the pump strands you.
Three minutes with a multimeter$2,900The control unit quote for a fault a tired battery invented.
Holding the bike on the rear brake$1,800-3,000A glazed dry clutch is 10-14 hours of labour to reach.
Never pressure washing itThree sealed assembliesThe pinion seal, the telelever ball joint and the wheel speed sensors.
Before and after

What your motorcycle looks like a season from now.

Not one job but all of them, applied together. This is the gap between owning a BMW and funding one, and none of it needs a new bike.

The same motorcycle maintained: clean drivetrain, fresh fluids, sealed and dry A neglected BMW boxer: corroded final drive, dull paint, weeping seals Neglected Looked after
Drag the handle · illustration of one machine, before and after
Without the archive
With it
The drivetrainThree oils, one changed. The final drive is on its original fill and nobody has looked at a spline.
The drivetrainGearbox and final drive on a 12,000-mile rhythm, splines repacked, and a magnetic plug you actually read.
A warning lightA booking, a diagnostic fee, and a screen full of codes across four modules.
A warning lightA multimeter, an overnight charge, and most of the list is gone because none of it was real.
The front endVague over ripples. You have bought two sets of tyres and it is still vague.
The front endTwo tests, three minutes, and you know whether it is the ball joint or the head bearings.
BrakesFluid changed when the lever feels soft, which is years after the water arrived.
BrakesTwo years to the month, front, rear and clutch, and the modulator never sees standing water.
FuellingFine around town, flat two-up on a long climb, and everyone blames the ignition.
FuellingIn-tank filter on a mileage, throttle bodies balanced at idle and at revs, adaptations reset.
Buying the next oneA road test, a service book full of stamps, and hope.
Buying the next oneA ten-step walkaround, the spline receipt by name, and the campaign phone call before you pay.
What it costs to ownUnpredictable. Every second year brings a four-figure surprise.
What it costs to ownPredictable. The work is scheduled, cheap and yours — and the folder is worth money when you sell.
Drawn for these books

Twenty pages of this book are a picture.

Ten drawings, made for these books. Four are below, straight out of the pages you would be buying.

THREE SEALED HOUSINGS, THREE DRAIN PLUGS, ONE GETS CHANGEDENGINEthe one everybody does3-4 LSERVICEDGEARBOXown housing, own plugs~800 mlIGNOREDFINAL DRIVEat the rear wheel180-250 mlIGNOREDTwo of the three are described as lifetime fill. Lifetime means the design life of the housing, not of your ownership.
From Volume I The oils never mix. Changing the engine oil alone is a third of an oil service.
THE THIRTY-SECOND CHECK FOR THE CROWN WHEEL BEARINGrear wheel12693NO MOVEMENT AT ALLhealthyANY PLAY, ANY CLICKthe bearingFAINT DRY RUMBLEthe bearing, earlierOIL FILM ON THE INNER RIMa weeping seal first
From Volume I Bike on the centre stand, wheel clear of the ground. Rock it top to bottom, then side to side. There should be nothing.
NEWcylinder headcorrect gapvalve seats hard, sheds heatWORNcylinder headno gapheld open, cannot shed heat
From Volume I The seat recesses and the valve sits deeper, so the clearance closes rather than opens. A dangerously tight engine sounds quieter, not louder.
TWO TESTS, TWO DIFFERENT PARTSTEST A — BARS, FRONT WHEEL UPtap one bar end with a fingerFALLS AWAY SMOOTHLY = OKNOTCH AT CENTRE = HEAD BEARINGSTEST B — BRAKE ON, WHEEL DOWNA-ARMat the framehand on top, rock the bikeKNOCK IN YOUR PALM = BALL JOINTBoth can be worn at once on a high-mileage machine. The money is in the diagnosis, not the part.
From Volume II Telelever's anti-dive geometry hides the symptoms that would normally separate these two, which is why the bearings get replaced first and the vagueness stays.
Choose your volume

Start with one, or take the archive.

Volumes I and II bought apart come to $74. The Archive is $97. It adds Volume III. That is 44 pages, and they are not sold alone.

Volume I

The Longevity Files

The three oils, the splines and the six free checks that decide how long the bike lasts.
$27
one-time · instant PDF
  • 31 field notes across 6 parts
  • 6 schematic diagrams
  • Gearbox and final drive: the two oils nobody changes
  • Spline fretting, valve clearances and the twin-spark trap
  • The service clock and the free-checks table
  • Full glossary
Get it — $27
7-day money-back guarantee
Volume II

The Workshop Handbook

Diagnostics, the front end and the jobs a dealer charges the most for.
$47
one-time · instant PDF
  • 29 workshop notes across 6 parts
  • 3 schematic diagrams
  • Telelever: two tests that name the right part
  • Throttle balance, the lean surge and injectors
  • What the shop charges against what the tool costs
  • The complete home toolkit list
Get it — $47
7-day money-back guarantee
Volume I-III

The Complete Moto Guide Archive

All three volumes, including The Owner's Vault — never sold on its own.
$97
one-time · instant PDF
  • All 85 field notes, {TOTAL} pages
  • All 10 schematic diagrams
  • Volume III — The Owner's Vault, bundle only
  • Model-by-model: what to buy and what to avoid
  • The ten-step pre-purchase walkaround
  • The campaign phone call that gets work done free
Get it — $97
7-day money-back guarantee
What is inside

Eighty-five field notes.

The Longevity Files

Volume I · 55 pages · 31 field notes
  1. Your Bike Has Three Separate Oils, Not One
  2. What Lifetime Fill Actually Means
  3. Gear Oil Does Not Wear Out The Way Engine Oil Does
  4. The Final Drive: A Quarter Of A Litre Doing The Hardest Job
  5. Reading The Magnetic Drain Plug
  6. The Thirty-Second Rear Wheel Rock Test
  7. The Three Spline Joints On Your Motorcycle
  8. Fretting: Why Splines Do Not Wear, They Weld
  9. Moly Paste Is Not Grease
+ 22 more

The Workshop Handbook

Volume II · 47 pages · 29 field notes
  1. Why A Generic Code Reader Tells You Almost Nothing
  2. What A Proper BMW Tool Actually Does
  3. Resetting The Service Reminder Yourself
  4. The Relearn Ride After Any Battery Disconnect
  5. The Throttle Adaptation Reset
  6. Telelever Is Not A Fork With Extra Parts
  7. The Ball Joint That Appears On No Service Schedule
  8. Two Tests, Two Different Answers
  9. Steering Head Preload Gets Diagnosed As Tyres
+ 20 more

The Owner's Vault

Volume I-III · 44 pages · 25 field notes
  1. A Good Motorcycle Is One That Lets You Do The Maintenance
  2. Maintenance Access Is A Design Choice, Not An Accident
  3. Which Generation You Are Buying Into Matters More Than The Model Name
  4. Parts Availability Is A Running Cost
  5. The Servo Brake Generation: Good Bikes, One Serious Risk
  6. The Big Faired Tourer And The Fifteen-Dollar Teardown
  7. These Are Maintainability Problems, Not Engineering Failures
  8. The Cruiser That Never Found Its Feet
  9. The Failure Mode That Should Change Your Shortlist
+ 16 more
Questions

Before you order.

What exactly do I get?

PDF files, sent the moment you pay. Volume I is 55 pages, Volume II is 74 and Volume III is 66. The Archive gives you all three, which is 146 pages in all.

Does this apply to my model?

The three oils, the splines, the valves, the brake fluid and the voltage floor are shared across the boxer and shaft-drive K bikes. Where a model differs, the books say so: wet clutch or dry, telelever or normal forks, servo brakes or plain ABS, cable throttle or ride-by-wire.

Can I buy Volume III on its own?

No. The Owner's Vault only comes with the full Archive. That is where the model guide, the ten-step walkaround and the campaign phone call live.

Do I need to be a mechanic?

No. Most of the book is checks, timing and habits: rock a wheel, read a drain plug, measure a voltage, choose a gear. Where a job really does need skill, the book says so.

Is this an official BMW book?

No. It is an independent field archive and it is not linked to BMW Motorrad or any brand named in it. Check anything safety-critical against your own manual. Then check it with a qualified mechanic.

What if it is not for me?

Seven days, money back, no questions. Write to info@themotoguidearchive.com and we sort it.

One deferred spline service costs more than all three volumes.

146 pages, 85 field notes and 10 drawings. Instant download, one payment, and seven days to change your mind.

Get the complete archive — $97
Or start with a single volume above