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2006 R1200RT servo brakes died - now undead

tasslehawf

New member
So I picked up my bike from the shop last week for a mysterious electrical issue (turned out to be the battery). As I was leaving the shop I noticed the brake failure warning wasn't turning off after a couple miles so I took it back to the shop. My mechanic had me pick up the bike yesterday to bring home while we wait for a spot to send the brake module to to Module Masters for a rebuild. So we load up the bike and I take it home. When I get home, I turn it on the unload it and the brakes start working again. I went out and checked today and they were still working.

1) Should I still get the module rebuilt? I'm thinking I should.
2) Is it safe to ride in the mean time?
3) Do these modules tend to go on the fritz and come back again?

My mechanic seemed baffled. He was pretty sure once they're toast, they're toast.
 
Just make sure the brake service is up to date

Make sure the brake flush & bleed is up to date and done correctly. I wouldn't jump the gun and send the unit out for rebuild / repair until it is broke. "If it ain't broke don't fix it". Just be aware if you get the warning light and no whizzy noise from the brake servo you may have weak and ineffective brakes.
 
1) Should I still get the module rebuilt? I'm thinking I should.
2) Is it safe to ride in the mean time?
3) Do these modules tend to go on the fritz and come back again?

My mechanic seemed baffled. He was pretty sure once they're toast, they're toast.


1. Are you sure module masters is doing this rebuild? They were a couple of months away from having all the parts for several years. When I finally needed them I got myself added to the waiting list but finally just gave up and removed the ABS module.

2. Safe? Short answer is not really. My system was losing the back brake and front still had servo power so it seemed ok. I put a couple of thousand miles on it with it doing that occasionally. Then the front starting going out as well leaving me with just residual brakes. Residual braking is not as bad as most people make it out to be but it does add a slight delay (maybe a quarter of a second) between the time you start squeezing the brakes and when you can stop so you can't really call that safe. I took my bike out occasionally with residual braking just so it wasn't sitting so long without running and everything was fine until one day the ABS unit started randomly kicking in and cutting out again. When that happened I had no brakes at all. Luckily I was on a main road attempting to turn left so I just kept going straight. Had I been approaching a major intersection it could have ended badly.

3. That was my experience. It would work fine sometimes and not others.

The good news is that when I finally got tired of waiting and removed the ABS module I have perfectly good brakes. Just not servo powered or ABS.
 
I have heard of people changing out the servo/ABS for regular brakes before and am curious what all needs to be done. Do you have a link to the instructions or tips to pass along? My brakes are okay now but I have had to have multiple repairs to them and it plays in the back of my mind what would happen if they fail while riding.
Also, how did you bypass the onboard computer to so that it does not constantly say brake failure?
 
I have heard of people changing out the servo/ABS for regular brakes before and am curious what all needs to be done. Do you have a link to the instructions or tips to pass along? My brakes are okay now but I have had to have multiple repairs to them and it plays in the back of my mind what would happen if they fail while riding.
Also, how did you bypass the onboard computer to so that it does not constantly say brake failure?


There may be a better more high tech way of solving the brake failure warning but what I did was take the cover off the dash and put black electrical tape over the brake failure light and the main error led so they are no longer visible. Since I can no longer see the main error light I added a digital voltmeter so I have a warning if the electrical system has an issue.

Lots of links on the internet about how to do this. This link is actually a GS but the procedure is the same and this has some pretty good pictures.

https://advrider.com/f/threads/how-i-removed-servo-iabs-brakes-on-my-05-clap.993562/

As far as tips. The hardest part is deciding to do it. The servo brakes were really fantastic when working properly and I really did not want to get rid of them but the cost to repair them was just out of line with the value of the bike.

I went the cheap way and just rerouted the existing lines as the link above shows. What I would actually recommend would be to get replacement lines to go directly from master cylinder to calipers.

I have about 7000 miles on the bike since I did the conversion and they are working great.
 
I don't know what actual diagnostics were done, but concluding that you have a bad ABS module just because you got a fault is an expensive way to go. Could be a bad lever switch, could be a bad bulb, could be a few things that don't require the module to be rebuilt.
 
On a 2006, if you take off before the bike goes through it's system check, you will get the brake failure warning. I did it a couple of times on my 2005 and it did the same thing when I went to trade it in. The salesman came back and said the warning light was on and the mechanic asked him if he waited for the bike to go through its self test and he said "no". He turned the bike off and restarted, waited then took off. The light went off.
 
Yes there are a number reasons why the light comes on, I have just had some of the very expensive repairs done over the last two years. None were the major rebuild of the servo system. But my fear is that is next so I want to be prepared for a rebuild into "normal" if you know what I mean.
 
1. Are you sure module masters is doing this rebuild? They were a couple of months away from having all the parts for several years. When I finally needed them I got myself added to the waiting list but finally just gave up and removed the ABS module.

My mechanic said they told him some time next year for $750.

The good news is that when I finally got tired of waiting and removed the ABS module I have perfectly good brakes. Just not servo powered or ABS.

Do you think the bike will be sellable with the abs removed? My plan was to ride it through the winter and get rid of it for something newer.

Also, my mechanic seemed to indicate that the speedometer would cease to function..?
 
My mechanic said they told him some time next year for $750.



Do you think the bike will be sellable with the abs removed? My plan was to ride it through the winter and get rid of it for something newer.

Also, my mechanic seemed to indicate that the speedometer would cease to function..?


I would suspect the resale value would take quite a hit but it would be better than a bike with no brakes. I would not hold my breath waiting for that Module Master rebuild.

When you remove the ABS module you separate the electronic module from the end of the unit and reinstall that. Speedometer and Cruise control all work just fine. Only issue is the blinking lights on the dash which can be just covered up.
 
Do you think the bike will be sellable with the abs removed? My plan was to ride it through the winter and get rid of it for something newer.

If you decide to sell the bike with the ABS removed, you had better put in writing and signed by the buyer with a copy for each of you, that the ABS is not functional.
 
I would suspect the resale value would take quite a hit but it would be better than a bike with no brakes. I would not hold my breath waiting for that Module Master rebuild.

When you remove the ABS module you separate the electronic module from the end of the unit and reinstall that. Speedometer and Cruise control all work just fine. Only issue is the blinking lights on the dash which can be just covered up.

I would not literally try to hold my breath, but Modulemaster is now rebuilding whizzy servos. They have a very large backlog of work, so their website does say the rebuild is "Not Currently Available", and they request that repair requests be made before shipping them the module.

RH Electronics in Germany has been repairing the servo modules for several years, ~$1000. Their web site is best viewed in Chrome unless you can read German.
 
I would not literally try to hold my breath, but Modulemaster is now rebuilding whizzy servos.

That's good to hear. Modulemaster certainly has a good reputation for the repairs of the newer units, but I'm sure you can understand my skepticism after years of hearing the same line (we are almost there).

A quick search found one first hand report of having a module rebuilt. It was a glowing report so they apparently did a great job but he also got on the waiting list in 2015. I did not get on the list until 2018 so it will probably be quite a while before I have to make the decision to repair or not.

Are you aware of others who have had the iABS modules rebuilt?

When I originally had the problems I would gladly have paid the $750 dollars for the rebuild. Now after having already done the conversion it is going to be a much tougher call. Not only do I have a 13 year old bike with 80,000 miles on it but I have a tendency to treat it like an adventure bike rather than a highway bike and it has the scratches to show it so $750 is going to be a significant chunk of the total value of the bike. Even so I liked those whizzy brakes so much that I will probably bite the bullet and get the rebuild done.
 
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