akbeemer
SURVIVOR
Annie and I took off Friday for a two week ride around the west. Plan was to ride to Washington and the Cascade Hwy then south thru Oregon and spend a few days riding in northren Kalifornia. After that maybe Colorado.
We made it to Republic, WA on day one and camped. Then the rain started. Rain in the Pacific Northwest..... who knew?
On Saturday the ride on Hwy 20 was great. We were in and out of rain, but the scenery is fantastic and traffic very light. The Cascade Hwy is one of our favorites. We made it to Washington Pass where it was 39* and raining.
As we descended the west side the sky turned blue, birds chiped, the temperature rose and things turned into a smoldering pile of crap. Annie's Throttle Position Sensor, on her 2017 R1200GS with 4000 miles, stopped sensing and her bike would only idle. Happened as she was doing 60 MPH and she had to coast to the side of the road. After a restart the TPS functioned normally. We made it to Seattle BMW at 4 PM on Saturday and they were helpful in diagnosing the problem. It is a warranty issue but the part will take 4-5 days to get, after they order it on Tuesday. We decided to head for home and hope the TPS lasted. The mechanic in Seattle showed us a reset procedure and said it could work for a year or fail in 5 miles. Riding thru Seattle is a joy and doing it in heavy rain just more icing on the cake. We decided not to try to go over Snoqualmie Pass in frog choking rain so found a room in the Bates Motel. On Sunday the rain lifted and we made it to east WA before the TPS failed 4 times on I-90 within 80 miles. It was dangerous, of course, because it happened without warning. we got a room in Liberty Lake east of Spokane and on Monday I rode home (300 miles) and got our trailer and drove back to WA. There is a dealer in Spokane but we did not want to wait there to have it fixed.
We got the bike to Big Sky Motorsports yesterday. The Service Manager, Buster, and Master Tech, Andy, have always treated us well. I tend to only use the dealership for warranty work but both these guys have been great to deal with and competent in their jobs. Andy got on the bike right away and within an hour I see him riding away on a test ride. When he returns he says she is good to go. The TPS did not need replacement. There is a bulletin out that says if certain TPS related codes are present, then the tech is to change the tolerances that the main computer will accept from the TPS. The bulletin has been out since February. Annie rode the bike home (120 miles) without issue. I followed in my truck, pulling a trailer. I got the impression she is going to expect the Ewan and Charlie "Long Way Round" treatment in the future.
We made it to Republic, WA on day one and camped. Then the rain started. Rain in the Pacific Northwest..... who knew?
On Saturday the ride on Hwy 20 was great. We were in and out of rain, but the scenery is fantastic and traffic very light. The Cascade Hwy is one of our favorites. We made it to Washington Pass where it was 39* and raining.
As we descended the west side the sky turned blue, birds chiped, the temperature rose and things turned into a smoldering pile of crap. Annie's Throttle Position Sensor, on her 2017 R1200GS with 4000 miles, stopped sensing and her bike would only idle. Happened as she was doing 60 MPH and she had to coast to the side of the road. After a restart the TPS functioned normally. We made it to Seattle BMW at 4 PM on Saturday and they were helpful in diagnosing the problem. It is a warranty issue but the part will take 4-5 days to get, after they order it on Tuesday. We decided to head for home and hope the TPS lasted. The mechanic in Seattle showed us a reset procedure and said it could work for a year or fail in 5 miles. Riding thru Seattle is a joy and doing it in heavy rain just more icing on the cake. We decided not to try to go over Snoqualmie Pass in frog choking rain so found a room in the Bates Motel. On Sunday the rain lifted and we made it to east WA before the TPS failed 4 times on I-90 within 80 miles. It was dangerous, of course, because it happened without warning. we got a room in Liberty Lake east of Spokane and on Monday I rode home (300 miles) and got our trailer and drove back to WA. There is a dealer in Spokane but we did not want to wait there to have it fixed.
We got the bike to Big Sky Motorsports yesterday. The Service Manager, Buster, and Master Tech, Andy, have always treated us well. I tend to only use the dealership for warranty work but both these guys have been great to deal with and competent in their jobs. Andy got on the bike right away and within an hour I see him riding away on a test ride. When he returns he says she is good to go. The TPS did not need replacement. There is a bulletin out that says if certain TPS related codes are present, then the tech is to change the tolerances that the main computer will accept from the TPS. The bulletin has been out since February. Annie rode the bike home (120 miles) without issue. I followed in my truck, pulling a trailer. I got the impression she is going to expect the Ewan and Charlie "Long Way Round" treatment in the future.
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