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Requesting Your MOA Help Locating A BMW Contact For Assistance with my K1600GT Parts!

beemerdons

Certifiable Old Fart
Requesting Your Help Locating A BMW Contact For Assistance with K1600GT Parts.

I am Don Stanley, a BMW Rider continuously since March of 1969 and a Member of both BMW MOA and BMW RA, RA # is 21856 and MOA # is 24810. I am also very active on the MOA Club #89 website, the MOA Forum and the K1600 Owners Forum. I am asking for your help in locating and identifying a trusted Contact Person for BMW of North America and BMW Motorcycles in Germany.

Long story short, on October 13, 2011 my Son Seth and I aboard our BMW K1600GT struck a large mule deer dead center on Highway 12 halfway between Torrey and Boulder in Utah. Thank goodness we did not go down, even though my son's leg was severely bruised where the deer's carcass hit him.

We were towed up to BMW of Salt Lake City and our 2012 BMW K1600GT has sat there ever since!

This is why I am asking for your help, My Friends. Do any of you know of a Personal Contact within BMW of North America or BMW Motorcycles of Germany that I can contact to get parts for this bike.

For almost 4 months now I've been calling BMW of Salt Lake City, UT weekly to get a status on the repairs on my bike: Answer is always the same ÔÇô we still don't have the parts to repair your motorcycle!

As a 43 year long Owner and Rider of BMW Motorcycles I am as exasperated as the devil over this situation!

4 months of paying AAA Insurance Premiums for a bike that I cannot ride, 4 months lost of my bike's warranty that can never be recovered and 4 months lost in riding a M/C that is my very favorite BMW!

Thank goodness I've my very high mileage Yamaha FJR 1300 to ride, to at least keep me out motorcycling.

Very frustrating, as a 43 year BMW Motorrad Owner and Rider, that the Yamaha Corporation can keep you in parts for your Yamaha, but that BMW of North America and BMW Germany can't support you!

If you My MOA Forum Friend will provide me with a contact person at BMW of North America or BMW Motorcycles of Germany, I would be eternally grateful and would buy you a lunch when I do meet you!

My info: Don Stanley, Cell is 480-440-4666, email is beemerdons@aol.com and I'm in Chandler, AZ.
 
You're not alone. Another rider had his new K1300S stuck at the Salt Lake dealer waiting 2.5 months for an alternator. Here's the link if you want to read about his problem.
http://www.i-bmw.com/showthread.php?t=36468&highlight=alternator

In the end, BMW paid to have his bike shipped home, BMW paid the amount over $500 for trip interuption that the Roadside assistance did not cover, and BMW also paid him $750 for his downtime.
 
Ask the dealer to put you in touch with the Regional Rep. Then ask the regional rep to put you in touch with his/her boss. Do it in writing. Keep good notes: date, time, name, and place!
 
Ask the dealer to put you in touch with the Regional Rep. Then ask the regional rep to put you in touch with his/her boss. Do it in writing. Keep good notes: date, time, name, and place!

Thanks Lee and Paul for your advice! I hate to say this as a 43 year BMW Owner and Rider, but I now wish I'd bought the Kawasaki Concours 14 I was looking at!
 
Don, I'm sorry to hear about your situation. What a terrible circumstance. I don't know the first thing about how to solve this problem, so please allow me to ask a naive question: Could the parts be ordered directly from a European supplier?

I'd love to own a new bike, but wow this makes me think twice about it. I'm feeling a wee bit more contented with my 1995 oilhead than I was 10 minutes ago.
 
This is my 32nd year on BMW's. If I had that experience, I don't believe I'd see 33. I hope you get it sorted out.

BTW - I rode a slightly used Concours last summer. Terrific bike, great value.
 
BMW MOA is a Great Outfit!! Happy and proud to be a 32 year Member of our BMW MOA!!

I just want to say how happy and proud I am to be a 32 year Member of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America. I've already been reassuringly contacted by Ray Zimmerman, Marc Soliere, Jim Wright and Mary Baker and they are going to use their collective influences with BMW NA to get my K1600GT back on the road ASAP!
 
Seems pretty clear the introduction of the the 1600 preceded significantly getting the spare parts situation organized. Can't think that it's any different in Europe, as getting parts from Europe is easy for BMW NA.

There's really no way this is just bad luck for one person, be they a newbie or a many year MOA member and characterizing a solution in terms of personal favor or personal intervention is kind of unrealistic.

It's one of those things you usually don't ask about when buying a new bike, isn't it?

Seems to me the solution is to publicize the problem so that 1600 sales start to suffer. THAT will get fires lit under the people that need it.

How about some "investigative journalism" in MOA ON?
 
It's one of those things you usually don't ask about when buying a new bike, isn't it?

Or car for that matter. I had friend years and years ago purchase a new Honda Civic and the distributor failed. Yeah it was way be when distributors were still used on cars. Anyway, he had to wait weeks (it was well over a month) to get a new one from Japan.

Of course that doesn't help the OP. It just reminds us that we're not alone. Glad to read that it looks like his in touch with the right person now.
 
Just sent a PM, DS. Remember the F800S I lemoned out?

You should have called me, LOL!
 
Thanks Lee and Paul for your advice! I hate to say this as a 43 year BMW Owner and Rider, but I now wish I'd bought the Kawasaki Concours 14 I was looking at!

I understand why you're saying that, however, if you head over to one of the Kawasaki Concours forums, you'll read stories about people waiting 2+ months for transmissions from Japan, and still they have no estimated shipping date.

The unfortunate reality is that it seems that every manufacturer has riders who have waited for periods of time far exceeding what I'd consider acceptable to receive parts for their bikes.

Once your K1600 is back on the road, I have no doubt that the wait will be nothing but a distance memory, and the joy of ownership will return.
 
..... I hate to say this as a 43 year BMW Owner and Rider, but I now wish I'd bought the Kawasaki Concours 14 I was looking at!

Grass is not always greener.....

Had a C-14 for 1 season. Was not happy- SLOW parts availability. SOLD.
 
Just sent a PM, DS. Remember the F800S I lemoned out?

You should have called me, LOL!

Friend AZ-J, yes I should have called you! If you're ready for this, I found out yesterday the only part that is really missing from the final repair of my bike is the coolant tank!

I did not get informed of this by BMW SLC, my AAA insurance adjuster gave me the news.

Can you imagine a $28.50 plastic reservoir has been holding up a $28,500 Beemer M/C!

All's well that ends well, Long Time Friends in both BMW MOA and BMR RA are helping me.

As soon as "Gisele" is back in our Arizona driveway, I'll post up a photo of her, Seth and I.
 
Can you imagine a $28.50 plastic reservoir has been holding up a $28,500 Beemer M/C!

I isn't the first time...
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From Shakespeare's Richard III, 1594:

CATESBY:
Rescue, my Lord of Norfolk, rescue, rescue!
The king enacts more wonders than a man,
Daring an opposite to every danger:
His horse is slain, and all on foot he fights,
Seeking for Richmond in the throat of death.
Rescue, fair lord, or else the day is lost!

KING RICHARD III:
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

CATESBY:
Withdraw, my lord; I'll help you to a horse.
 
Hi Guys,

The one and only part that has been missing for months now is: Coolant Bottle Part Number 17 11 7 724 711. It is just amazing to me that a part worth just over a hundred bucks is keeping an almost thirty thousand dollar motorcycle from being back on the road. Unbelievable, this item looks like the plastic milk jug in our home refrigerators!!!

Thanks,


Don Stanley
1061 N. Amber St.
Chandler, AZ 85225
Cell: 480-440-4666
 
In the past, a clever mechanic would have found a way to make a temporary substitute. I wonder if it is a legal liability issue that prevents this today...
 
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