That sucks

Nice to get a ride in November, too bad it had to end with a broken drive belt,

60,000 klms no shame Victory recommends a belt at 45,000 klms you take your chances...

Trust the engineering on the Victorys provides for easier replacement than on most Harleys, they can be a real bear.

We're all guilty of stretching things from time-to-time unfortunately, as you say, "you takes your chances..." and that's life.

Cheaper than a Beemer final drive event

Yes, but only if there is a premature failure of the BMW final-drive. Just 0.25L of gear oil every 40,000km is very easy. That is, provided the BMW final-drive doesn't suffer the dreaded premature failure that plagued several 2001-2004 bikes and some outside those years unfortunately.

So, it's $200+/40,000km for a belt for a Harley, Victory, etc., or take your chances with the shaft. ;-)

Yes buddy of mine just had his final drive replaced 3000 plus tax as i understand it the bearing failed and that metal toasted his drive on his K1200 LT think it's an 05 not a fun way to end your season

Yes, the K1200 during those years had some real issues that BMW did a terrible job of refusing to admit for way too long. I seem to recall reading that at an Iron Button Rally many years ago something like 20%+ of the bikes in the affected model / year ranges had final-drive failures. Can't recall, but it might have been that event that forced BMW to admit there was a real issue. Like I say, I'm not sure if that was the event, but I do recall that the failure rate for riders going to that Rally was an amazing 20%+.

IIRC, they made changes on the R models in 2004 and the K in either 2004 or 2005, but were still seeing the issue crop up on some as recently as 2007. However, I don't know the details, but I'm sure someone here likely does.

That was the famous Ironbutt year 2007 when at least 5 rear drives shat the bed. My brother in law works for Gerhard Memmen Kreuger in Germany who shipped his brand new 1200GS over to compete. He left the old bike home so he could ride a new one and improve his previous multi IB finishing position. He was a hard core butter lol. On the rally at 4000 miles the FD crapped out, he was not happy and out many dollars in freight costs just to compete. The other famous bike to break down was a MAX BMW prepped GS fresh out of the shop ridden by Rob Nye.  it blew at about 4000 miles into the race, day 3 or 4. Not a good year for the German factory engineers who still had their heads in the sand.

Not a good day at all, but one they all too often have brought upon themselves by, as you say, sticking their heads in the sand. Unfortunately, it isn't the only time they've refused to even entertain the thought that they might have messed up until there simply cannot be any other explanation. It's a very bad habit I really wish they'd rid themselves of.

Disappointing and frustrating for all BMW lovers, but I'm certain it must have been absolutely infuriating for those directly hit.