Conundrum

[Grumpy Goat]

Happy new Year from a UK Subscriber. 

I hope you can help advise me with a “conundrum”……

I have a 2016 Lupin Blue RS which I LOVE, have “made mine”, and tour on in Europe (EU).
...

My input based on my experience ... a lot depends on how much you work on your bike yourself, and you did not mention that aspect in your post although you did allude to the possibility that it may be only serviced by a BMW dealership. 

Another important thing is the type of coverage you have under the contemplated plan. Many people refer to warranties they have although their expectation is more along the lines of what would be covered under a maintenance contract. 

Warranties don't typically cover normal wear items, but rather manufacturing defects that occurs with normal usage during the period of coverage. One has to read the fine print to see exactly what is covered and how it is covered. 

There could also be items that an authorized shop may document as qualifying for coverage, but which could be deniable by the warrantor if they had all the facts and were able to see the issue firsthand.

If you do get all your work done by the BMW dealership and little / none done yourself, and if the cost of the contract is reasonable (which is subjective) then I think that getting the warranty and breakdown coverage is a good thing.

Some here have gotten warranties and others have not so many POVs could be had on this. I have 60k on my bike and never had a warranty beyond the BMW 3 year / 36k mile warranty. As you know from the YT channel, I do work on my own bike as far as my capabilities will allow (I am no mechanic but as an engineer I tend to "fiddle" ...) so I figured, that a warranty would not be needed if I work on the bike myself and do routine maintenance. If more than that is needed then I would walk away and get a more reliable machine. No drama tolerated with me.

So far, and knock on wood, my RS has been good to me so my plan worked for me. As for the rear shock going ... I have not known this to be a significant occurrence (and could be ignorant of this fact). Suspensions are wear items that need periodic maintenance to function as designed. If the evidence for this is anecdotal based on the opinions on the Internet then take it with a pinch of salt. There is a lot of nonsense on the Internet in addition to good stuff.