Breakdown of Iron Butt results by bike

[peterbulgar]

The final scorecard for the 2005 Iron Butt has been posted, and I broke down the results by model:
Model: #Started/DNF: DNF Reason(s)
All Bikes: 90/18
Yamaha FJR1300: 11/1: hit a tire carcass
BMW Oilhead: 33/6: transmission, clutch, pulled out, time barred, engine, unknown
BMW K-Bike: 11/4: blown engine, rider injured when bike fell on him at gas station, pulled out (2)
Honda ST1100/1300: 6/0:
Honda GL(1100 - 1800): 12/2: bad wheel on sidecar (GL1100), pulled out
Suzuki DL 1100: 5/1: hit a deer
Suzuki DL 650: 3/2: pulled out, unknown

In addition to the above the finishers included a Ninja 250, a Vespa 450, a 1977 BMW, a Honda VFR 800 (in fourth place!), a Triumph Trophy, and a Sportster. In addition to the above the DNFs included a Harley FXD, and a Boss Hoss (300hp V8 engine). What does all this mean? Probably not much. The Iron Butt is primarily a test of the rider - his or her skill, endurance, and planning, plus a certain amount of luck. Riders pulled out of the rally for a variety of reasons - a sudden attack of good sense, fatigue, one guy said he wasn't having fun anymore, and another had family in New Orleans and understandably wanted to get to them.

The sample for any one model of bike is too small to be of any statistical significance except perhaps for the BMW Oilheads. With 33 bikes represented, the BMW Oilheads included the GS, RS, RT, and R models. Three of the six DNFs were due to mechanical failure, and one of the finishers had the rear drive on his bike repaired during the rally. With 11 models represented the Yamaha FJR1300 and K-bikes were right behind the Oilhead in terms of numbers started. No mechanical DNFs for the Yamaha, but then it is a fairly new model. All six Honda ST1100/1300 bikes finished. The K-Bikes were overrepresented in the DNFs with four, but only one of those suffered a mechanical failure. Balance that with the K75 that came in seventh - wonder how many miles are on that puppy. Of the 16 DNFs where the reason is known, only five were due to mechanical failure. Four of those were BMWs - the fifth was a Honda GL with a bad sidecar wheel. As I said, it is a small sample, but if I were looking for a new bike and reliability were the sole consideration, I might not start with BMW...

(I'm also posting this on bmwsporttouring.)
peter '73 R75/5, '04 R1150RA

[xaque]

Thanks for that break down... I was wondering myself how the results looked when coupled with the make/model of each bike....

of course one of my favorite quotes comes to mind:

"There are three types of lies; lies, damn lies, and statistics."



Thanks again!

-Xaque-

[R4R&R]

rider injured when bike fell on him at gas station

I'm not sure I would admit to that one!

[bakernks]

Who knows how many miles these bikes have on them before the rally? It's been my observation that many of the regular rally contestants enter long distance events each year, often on a different machine than the year previous. I think it's safe to say the top guns would choose a used model that is reliable, say, an R1150RT with the depreciation well gone, maybe 25,000 miles, and would consider that bike a tool to do a rally season. If it's done 25,000 , it's probably a reliable machine but still has plenty of lifetime left. The next year, they use a used Honda ST1100 with 20,000 miles, use it up for a year's worth of rally's, then retire it. They don't look at these bikes quite the same as I might, where I buy a new one, and only put 6-10K a year on it pretty much for all pleasure riding and short distance traveling. It's romantic to think of someone tackling the Iron Butt on the family's BMW, then going back to riding to work on it, not that it couldn't happen, but this type of usage grinds these machines up.

[mistercindy]

Thanks for the post!

Suzuki DL 1100: 5/1: hit a deer

Ouch!!! That's the only one that made me wince!

[Paper]

Edited, and moved on...

[Pat]

It takes a unique fella to be able to put himself on Auto Pilot AND be fully alert..... and obviously more riders than not CAN'T. Incredible none the less. I remember running on adrenaline and virtually sleeping with my eyes wide open at 65 mph when I made my way from Boston to Sacramento in four days..... and that ain't NOTH'N compared to what these guys did!

I gotta admit though, I am truly saddened, disappointed, and otherwise feel like I've been let down buy the dismal results/mechanical failures of the legendary BMW product.

[rdsmith3]

I think some of you are looking at this with a glass-half-empty point of view. BMW has a tiny market share in this country -- what is it -- maybe 4%? Compare that to the HD, Honda, Yamaha, etc. market share.

Yet 7 of the top 10, and 10 of the top 20 finishers are BMW's. And 5 of the top 10 are oilheads. This representation is an improvement over previous rallies. So from both a cross-sectional perspective as well as a time series perspective, it looks like BMW oilheads have done well.

Also, more participants chose to use a BMW than any other brand. The representation of the oilhead is far greater than its market share. This could be because the type of person who chooses a BMW is more likely to be attracted to this event. OTOH, a person who is loyal to BMW but is competitive and wants to win will go with whatever brand they think will help them win the rally.

Finally, you cannot make a conclusion about the reliability of oilheads versus other brands if the other brands do not have a statistically significant sample size. Perhaps if the other brands had 33 entrants, they would have had even more failures. Maybe; maybe not. We just don't know, so we cannot make that comparison.

Congratulations to all the folks who entered this event. You have my respect.

Position First Name Last Name Make Model Miles Points
1 Shane Smith Honda ST1300 13,277 111,834
2 Chris Sakala BMW R1150GS-ADV 12,279 110,520
3 Jeff Earls BMW R1150GS 10,960 107,558
4 Mark Kiecker Honda VFR800 13,354 106,896
5 Jack Savage BMW R1150GS 11,016 106,005
6 Marty Leir BMW R1150GS 13,256 105,099
7 John Ryan BMW K75 12,573 101,218
8 Eric Jewell BMW R1150RT 12,081 101,020
9 Eddie James BMW K1100RS 11,066 98,415
10 Peter Hoogeveen Yamaha FJR1300 12,065 93,684
11 Jim & Donna Phillips Honda GL1800 12,731 91,893
12 Peter Leap Honda ST1300 10,686 91,841
13 Allen Dye BMW R1150RT 12,463 89,777
14 Tom Loftus Honda GL1800 12,079 89,694
15 Brian Boberick BMW K1200LT 11,465 88,915
16 Tim Conway BMW R1150GS 12,224 88,754
17 Terry Pipes Honda GL1800 12,483 87,627
18 Tom Melchild Yamaha FJR1300 10,023 87,014
19 Bill Shaw Honda GL1800 10,513 86,704
20 Jim Frens Honda GL1800 9,723 86,650

[sweatmark]

FWIW - With respect to BMW reliability, it's heartening to know that my R1150R's drivetrain is essentially identical to those found in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 13th and 16th position Finishers' bikes in the Iron Butt Rally's top 20.

Sure, Oilheads aren't perfect, but they ain't too bad, neither! Think I'll go lube my splines tonight, and be thankful I don't have ABS.