I ride with Philip a lot, he owns a 2004 (I think) 950 and not even the S. He has had a lot less issues than I have, so I do not look down on older stuff. The thing is they feel old. I have the GS background and not an Enduro bike background. I did not grow up on scramblers. I do not feel at home on an overgrown scrambler, but I have no illusions about them being a lot more capable than the big 1190.
So, on the oil tanker. Well I kitted mine out a lot as well, and the second one I bought kitted out. Both had a hard life and was showing it. But honestly I cant say. On my GS the only things that broke was the things I fitted. Adv screen kept coming loose on the GS, aftermarket topbox rack bend over once from being overloaded on a round-Lesotho pillion trip, stuff like that.
On the 1190 I had to quit 700km into my iron butt ride attempt on gravel. On the GS I crashed hard a 1000km into the iron butt ride and still finished the last 600km. (went of the road and hit deep sand bank, bike somersaulted, windscreen and stuffs broken but it could go on). The 1190 required a suspension upgrade to do the same. I have burned the clutch on Old mill drift route on the GS that its stuck in first, in a cloud of clutch smoke. got of the bike and helped the others, got on again and it was fine again, I am not to sure the 1190 can take abuse like that, neither can the LC. Then the 1190 has the air filter issue as well while you can go buy a random GS Adv now and ride gravel highways with the occasional hard hits all the way to Etosha, no mods needed.
That being said, the final drive is a time bomb. Mine went at 55000km. (I rode my first GS from 17k to 78k km in 2 years) and that aluminium head unit bracket also likes to break.
SO, in conclusion there is no conclusion. But if I cant do a trip soon without having to fix or tweak something before going then there will be a conclusion....
Oh, and the popularity of the GS is a huge gain in terms of secondhand parts availability!
I am rather happy on my 1190, kitted in full BMW twat suit
