C
CAPT_CURMUDGEON
Guest
Like to share with you guys and gals a problem I had with my R1200GS. Spent months and many $ preparing Shadowfax for my retirement inauguration trip to Montana from Blue Ridge VA. The fateful morning arrived, loaded her up, kissed darling wife goodbye and made it as far as the stop sign at the end on my street. ABS "brake failure" and no power assist. Back to the garage for a look-see. Had fleeting thoughts about catching a dealer on the way out, but silly boy, this is a BMW not a Harley, and dealerships are scarce in the heartland. Since I had an appointment to make on the Crow Indian reservation (mission trip) darling wife helped me remount on my unserviced and bug-splatted Battle Star ElectraGlide and off I went. 4,500 miles round trip without a hitch and had it serviced in Billings MT at a HD dealer very close to where I was staying. While waiting, the Sales Manager let me chose any bike I wanted for a test ride. Got a Ulysses XT very dirty on an awesome unpaved butte dirt road and all the manager wanted was to make sure I had a good time. I can't remember the last time a similar perk was extended to me at a BMW dealer, like never. I also recalled all the dealerships I had in Mississippi (last residence), like none.
Got back and found out that when I installed a Bob's BMW wrist rest, I had a slight misalignment of the hand guard. It was touching ever so lightly on the front brake lever and would not let the initial start up sequence clear the ABS fault. The garage door was down when I was checking it and I noticed the brake light was on. If the garage door was up I wouldn't have noticed and probably hauled it by truck to the nearest dealer where their one mechanic at great expense would hopefully discover the problem.
Lessons learned:
Check the bike out thoroughly after each do-hickey you install, no matter how insignificant it may appear.
Don't do above or add anything new immediately before a big trip.
Check your hand guards alignments occasionally to ensure you have proper clearance with the levers.
I don't know, after 35 years being a BMW Owner (my BMWMOA # is 25696) I am ready to throw in the towel and you may see a 2005 R1200GS ABS in the Flea Market or e-Bay soon. Over complex, expensive, sparse or no dealer support. No, I am not going back to R100 airheads as I experienced quite enough Bing carburetion quirks to last a lifetime. Even with all its faults the Buell is starting to look better as a cross country single up dirt road machine. Maybe I am just mighty disappointed with the whole BMW experience.
Got back and found out that when I installed a Bob's BMW wrist rest, I had a slight misalignment of the hand guard. It was touching ever so lightly on the front brake lever and would not let the initial start up sequence clear the ABS fault. The garage door was down when I was checking it and I noticed the brake light was on. If the garage door was up I wouldn't have noticed and probably hauled it by truck to the nearest dealer where their one mechanic at great expense would hopefully discover the problem.
Lessons learned:
Check the bike out thoroughly after each do-hickey you install, no matter how insignificant it may appear.
Don't do above or add anything new immediately before a big trip.
Check your hand guards alignments occasionally to ensure you have proper clearance with the levers.
I don't know, after 35 years being a BMW Owner (my BMWMOA # is 25696) I am ready to throw in the towel and you may see a 2005 R1200GS ABS in the Flea Market or e-Bay soon. Over complex, expensive, sparse or no dealer support. No, I am not going back to R100 airheads as I experienced quite enough Bing carburetion quirks to last a lifetime. Even with all its faults the Buell is starting to look better as a cross country single up dirt road machine. Maybe I am just mighty disappointed with the whole BMW experience.