To answer your other questions.
1. I do have negative and positive experience but so far the good things outweigh the bad ones. BMW services and dealerships in Thailand are quite a snobs. If you are long time client who keeps upgrading BMW bikes every few years and buys lots of stuff from them, they treat you super. I have witnessed awful treatment given to new BMW owners, quite amazed by such attitude. But one service center is by far the worst of any kind in Thailand: Barcelona Motor, Chiang Mai. The level of incompetence, lack of interest in helping clients not to mention generally awful attitude and quite simply dumbest staff you can find anywhere. Stay away from them, they will actually ruin your bike.
2. Since Barcelona Motor disbanded in Phuket and Siam Motorrad took over, things have dramatically improved. I used to ride with current owner and the general manager way before they ever thought of even opening Siam Motorrad. Very happy with customer service, no complaints at all. I hear MF Motorrad in Samut Sakhon is good too, in fact best selling branch in entire country. Must be reason for that. Did few basic services and adjustments with them, no problem. But I did deal direct with the owner though. When he isn't around, which is not quite often, staff is not up to par, just like anywhere else in Thailand.
3. I do have a mechanic here in Phuket, he's been working on my bikes for past 6 years. There was no issue he could not handle, including complex electronics wiring. Trained in Europe but hardly speaks any English. He quit BMW and work on his own these days.
4. BMW Motorrad Thailand is the main stockist for parts and they redistribute them as per requests from individual service centers. Most of the time they do have a parts, these days they improved dramatically because of huge BMW bike sales within last 2 years. Only older models like yours could be affected so they have to order direct from Germany. Individual service centers are poorly stocked, only basic stuff.
