Rob’s R1200GS breaks down again!

[Anonymous]

#2535

Gunnyrob's Beemer Breaks Again!!

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Well my faith in the legendary reliability of BMWs took a massive hit yesterday!!!In the pre-dawn murk of Friday, 9 May, I listened to the weather report & decided to have a crack at attending the Cold Duck ralley at Waipawa. Cos I'm a double hard wanna be adventure rider, I decided to take Mighty Max (My trusty Bavarian steely steed) through the Western Access in central Waikato, then West side of Lake Taupo, then round the mountains to Waiouru via National Park. Then it was the crowning glory, the Gentle Annie, otherwise known as the Taihape-Napier Road.Off I went and up until Te Awamutu, the weather was shite. Buckets of rain even managed to penetrate the near impregnable outer layer of my flash riding jacket & soaked my cellphone (As I would find out later)Turning left at Kihikihi, the weather abated, the roads dried and all was cool. "This road would be a fantastic ride for the Kiwibiker mob going to Turangi for Queens Birthday" I thought to myself as I swept past the dams toward Mangakino. (lots of straights, as in maximum velocity straights, sweepers and no cops.)On a straight bit of road I passed an Air force van, recognised the driver, and gave him a cheery toot and wave before blasting off into the distance.Weather round the mountain looked like crap, so I headed down the desert road. I even passed a cop who was trickling along at 95kmh, passing him at a steady 100 in 5th gear. I stopped at the first eatery on the left in Waiouru (next to Subway) warmed up by the fire and had an excellent all day breakfast & coffee. Then I gassed up & set off for the Annie.What a great road. The first 60 km is excellent (though narrow) well paved seal. Spectacular scenery especially around the Rangitikei River. I hit the gravel at a good pace, there's 60 km of that, and from what I saw it was hard pack dirt topped with pea gravel. On the GS, that means 80kmh on the straight bits, but 10kms into it, it all turned to custard  😮  I was tackling a steep down hill when, over the gentle melody in my headset (Chemical Brothers) a high pitch metallic screech from Max's nether regions jarred me from my state of Motorcycling Nirvana.A blip of the throttle did nothing else but increase the volume of the noise, so with an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach, I coasted to a halt near a work crew crushing gravel.I shut him down, then started up again. Hmmm, engines going, so I pulled in the clutch."Screech"I engaged first gear & let out the clutchSCREEECH (and no forward movement)"Well," I said. "I'm *ucked"And I was. I pulled out my cellphone. Through misty plastic it said "There's no network out here you dumb ass" And so I had to have a think about what to do next. One of the work crew came over & asked what I was up to.I told him."You're *ucked" he said, and went back to work.      Having been bailed out of a not quite so bad situation by the AA last year (go search for "BMW Broke Down), I again needed their help. I scratched a desperate note with all my details and flagged down a passing car. (the first for half an hour) Luckily it was an Army Bloke going off to a sheep station further up the line. You can always trust fellow military folks, and after explaining my plight, I asked him to call the AA. "Make sure you tell them the bike is really busted and I need a recovery vehicle". He nodded, gave me a thumbs up, a smile, tooted and zoomed off.2 hours later, I was pretty up to speed on how the gravel crew worked with the loaders, diggers & crushers. Next time I'll make sure I take a book.Then the AA recovery truck from Taihape came around the corner! "You're a long way out" said the AA Dude, "what's wrong?"I showed him."You're *ucked!" he said, and we pushed Max on board his second AA tow truck within a year.Back at Taihape Suzuki, we asked if they could help. "Through clenched teeth, sucking badly, they said, "Nah Mate, you're *ucked. nearest BMW workshop is Hamilton.""Hamilton?" I said, disbelievingly; "Man I'm *ucked!"The AA dude (who used to help organised the cold kiwi rally when it was the REAL cold Kiwi at 6 cross Army camp) "Oh well, lets get it back to my garage, and we'll come up with a plan"So we did.......      Friday. 5pm. Who owes me a REALLY big favour?My Brother, Warren does!! Ring Ring!WARREN:"Hello, Warren speaking"GUNNYROB: "Hey Warren, I'm in Taihape and my bike's fucked. Can you get a trailer & come and pick me up?"W:  "TAIHAPE? What are you doing in Taihape????"Long story ensued. W: "Right, I need to do some phone calls. Ring me back in half an hour."W: (30 Mins later) "I'll pick you up TONIGHT in FROSTY's Van, make sure we can get access to the bike at night, YOU'RE DRIVING HOME"GR: "I'd better get a Motel then!"      I grabbed the Givi bag with my shower supplies and non riding clothes & found a cheap (affordable & adequate) room at the Taihape Motel. Opening the top box, I discovered the lid of my jar of instant coffee power had fallen off, so now all my clothes were coffee flavoured!  😐Shower & Bed.Eventually, the gravel crunching sound of a van hauling up outside the unit after a restless couple of hours meant help had arrived!"You Knob" jibed Warren, " Cora's (His wife) not very happy with you!!"We tried to look as innocent as two people could while manhandling a BMW into a van just off the main drag of Taihape at 2am on a saturday morning.W: "Right, lets go, you're driving"GR: "Sweet, we're gone"Thus ensued 6 hours of man talk, bike talk, napping (passenger only) and coffee (Driver only)The bike only fell over in the van onceW: "Ooops, maybe we SHOULD have gone up SH 1 instead of the twisty road!) But other than a popped mirror all was good.We dropped Max off at experience."Dear Dear" observed Sebastian, the mechanic. "That sounds like the clutch. If you're lucky, that will be the only thing wrong. If the gearbox input shaft is damaged, it will be VERY expensive.""Dear Dear" Observed Gunnyrob. "How long till he's fixed?"S: "At least a month, I'll call you with an estimate in a couple of weeks."" Dear dear" I thought, "That's me pretty well *ucked!"  So, that's it until I get the damage report. As I type this, I've had about 2 hours sleep since 0500 yesterday, have ridden/driven 900+km & have been pretty stressed.Don't know when Max will be back from the BMW hospital, but am waiting for his return with bated breath.Such a day of contrasts, I was REALLY SO GETTING into the groove, all was clicking totally, then it just stopped. It could have been a lot worse, so I'm grateful it turned out the way it did.So many thanks of mine go to the AA rep in Taihape (I'd still be there otherwise!;FROSTY for making his van available for stranded Kiwibikersand WARREN for being such an outstanding brother to go 950km out of his way to rescue a broken down BMW(Thanks too to his lovely wife Cora, who had to do without him for a night )So, no more rides for a month & a bit. Missed the Cold Duck, but hopefully the trip to the Cold Kiwi won't be as eventful

[Dave Ross]

#9795

Sorry to hear that, that's is a real bummer. It does sound a bit like the splines to me. How many K's has your bike done? Hope it turns out to be affordable. It was a nice story though. The trouble with these forums is that bike problems seem to play a prominent role. Knock on wood, my 1150 has been good during the last 85000km, all I am getting is normal wear and tear. I will keep riding it until the wheels fall off (not literally I hope).

[Anonymous]

#9796

Yesterday was my first try of the ASC on my new 08 dventure. Well things did not go well; the red lights came on and that was it. No ASC no ASB no speedo. I Get a phone call from Experience today. Looks like it is a very expensive major component has gone and they have to get approval from BMW to fix the bike 😕 Once they get approval it will be 2 weeks before the parts will arrive. 😥Now I have a very black 08 k1200s in the garage.  🙄

[Xan]

#9797

Sorry about your bike  🙁But your report is good entertainment to me while I can't ride a motorcycle and I enjoyed it  😆Thank you.

[Dave Ross]

#9798

Yesterday was my first try of the ASC on my new 08 dventure. Well things did not go well; the red lights came on and that was it. No ASC no ASB no speedo. I Get a phone call form Experience today. Looks like it is a very expensive major component has gone and they have to get approval from BMW to fix the bike 😕 Once they get approval it will be 2 weeks before the parts will arrive. 😥Now I have a very black 08 k1200s in the garage.  🙄

That's what worries me about having a bike loaded up with  electronics, they can go wrong. If you haven't got it, it can't break. BMW has done the same with their cars, or should I say the bikes have followed the cars, and have been loaded up with electronics. While I believe that modern engine management technology is necessary to increase performance while keeping emissions and consumption down, in a lot of other instances it leads to unnecessary complications. As your bike gets older these components will suffer and the their replacement cost will be ridiculously expensive compared to the residual value of your bike. Of course for that to matter you'd have to keep your bike for more than a few months. How are you finding the K1200S? Is that the one that has a bit of experience?

[Anonymous]

#9799

I'm not worried about it. It's man made so things will go wrong. What am worried about is losing my licence on the K bike. I do know it corners really easy at speed. I thought it was a hard bike to corner after seeing others ride the bike but it is not. I do know the K is hard on my body. 😀

[Dave Ross]

#9800

Enjoy it while you have it, I am sure you can put up with the discomfort for a few days.

[Anonymous]

#9801

Sorry to hear that, that's is a real bummer. It does sound a bit like the splines to me. How many K's has your bike done? Hope it turns out to be affordable. Hi Alex, He's done almost 70,000km.  The only other thing that went wrong was the fuel pump relay burning out last year.

[Dave Morris]

#9802

if ya purchased a real BMW u would not have these problems :evil:b

[Anonymous]

#9803

if ya purchased a real BMW u would not have these problems :evil:b

THERE IS NO PROBLEM WITH MY BMW CAR 😉

[Jim Young]

#9804

Sorry to hear about your problems Rob, thats the concern I have with my GS now that it is out of warantee, if anything goes wrong it's usually expensive.Have you enquired with any of the other BMW dealers to see if they can fix it quicker, 2 months is an awful long time to wait for repairs.Anyway heres hoping its not toooooooooooo expensive.  🙁

[Anonymous]

#9805

Was it a yellow GS by any chance??I passed a BMW rider on the Napier Taihape road (a yellow one) just after the road works (on the shingle) at about 1.00pm on that Friday, and I was so jealous as I was in my car 🙁If it was you I am sorry I wasn't running a little late, because you were still moving when I saw you  😉I was in a Blue Wagon and gave  friendly wave  🙂Cheers Scott

[Anonymous]

#9806

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[Anonymous]

#9807

Yep that was me about 3 minutes before I broke down!  Sorry I didn't wave back as I was concentrating on doing the gravel thang.

Was it a yellow GS by any chance??I passed a BMW rider on the Napier Taihape road (a yellow one) just after the road works (on the shingle) at about 1.00pm on that Friday, and I was so jealous as I was in my car 🙁If it was you I am sorry I wasn't running a little late, because you were still moving when I saw you  😉I was in a Blue Wagon and gave  friendly wave  🙂Cheers Scott

[Alan & Mill]

#9808

I agree that your prob is likely to be the splines.Interestingly the KiwiBiker forums are discussing the same issue. There are some good links there FYI.  http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=73704

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