This is not a rant about BMW, even though it will sound like it. I'll post it on the MOA site and ADVRider, just maybe looking for somebody to either cheer me up or knock some sense into me. I've got a 2005 R1200GS, bought new at the end of 2004. The quality has been terrible. I'd have to make a list - but major issues: right cylinder lining failed at 12K and took piston and rings with it; front brake rotors warped; transmission seal leaking; seat mildewed on the inside (gray seat - you could see it all over from the outside); clutch input seal failed and took all the clutch plates with it. All that under the 3 year, 36K warranty. No problems for the past couple years, which I jinxed myself by telling somebody recently. Now with 41K miles the servo ABS system is acting up. Twice the warning light has stayed on, with no servo assist, for a mile or two, then reset and all is fine. Here's where I'm maybe partly to blame. I didn't do the brake flush. All other recommended maintenance done on schedule, but not the brake flush.
So yesterday I hauled it 175 miles to the dealer. (We have no dealer closer than 3 hours away, despite a population in the millions.) I won't identify the dealer. I think they're a good dealer, I like them, and I don't blame the technician for what happened yesterday. Anyway, the plan was I drop it off, leave it all week, pick it up next Saturday. I hung around for a while, looked at new bikes, talked BMW, bought a shirt and some airhead crush washers, even took a couple test rides - you all know the drill. And as I was getting ready to leave, the technician was starting to work on my bike. He apologized for not starting earlier - he didn't know I was planning to leave it. He told me if I could stick around a couple hours, he should have a handle on the problem, if not fixed. Sure ! Anyway, they had ordered a front brake microswitch, because in trying to diagnose the problem at home, I found if I repeatedly squeezed the lever, after 6 or 8 times the servo would stick "on". I thought that was the problem. He did the full flush of the system, and had me watch as he hooked it to the diagnostic computer. The only fault code stored was for low fluid. Full pressure held fine. We could not duplicate what I had observed at home with the switch. Not after the flush, or before, or even when I had first unloaded it from the truck that morning. They had ordered the microswitch, it's only $24, and I considered asking him to install it anyway, but he was confident the switch was not the problem. Told me that three times. Again - no criticism of the technician or dealership. He impressed me as knowledgeable and competent. I worked in the back end of car dealerships for 10 years in my youth, and I know how frustrating it is to fix a problem when you can't duplicate it. And that switch still may not be the problem.
So while I am there, I find they're making good deals on the 2009's. I test rode a 2010 GSA, and I could not tell any difference in the engine with the cam heads. Plus, I was a beta tester for BMW on the 2005, paid the price, and I'm not interested in being one for the new engine. I know it's been out a couple years on the HP2, but it's still pretty new. I came home seriously thinking of trading for a new 2009, or buying the 09 then trying to sell mine. All in all, feeling pretty good. Until I backed the bike down the ramp off the truck and the servo stuck on. $&%*#. Exactly what it was doing before I took it to the dealer.
I've been riding BMW's and an MOA member 30 years. Despite BMW having abandoned most of Illinois, despite my belief their quality is at best marginal, I still consider myself a BMW guy. The visit to the dealer reinforced that. Do the rest of you feel that? Like, "these are my people - hang around, talk BMW's etc." There's a Harley dealer 7 minutes from my house, and a half dozen more a short drive away. I'd like to have that convenience, and the friends I have with newer Harley's have had zero problems, but I'm not a Harley guy. Closest they came to getting me was the Ulysses, and now Buell is gone anyway.
So now I'll call the dealer Tuesday, make arrangements to haul it back rather than ride it in case I have to leave it. I might have them send me that switch, and I'll install it. But if that doesn't fix it...if it's the servo, I'm not paying $2500 plus labor for a new servo. Not for a bike worth maybe $7K. They said they can rip out all the servo system, and convert the bike to non-ABS, non-servo assist
I love that GS. Riding it, that is. There's nothing else like it. I just bought a used Scrambler for riding around town and nearby back roads, and it's a hoot. (Steve McQueen jump the fence thing maybe.) But it's no GS in the capability or comfort department.
But considering all that, considering all the issues with late model BMW's - final drives, EWS failure, fuel mapping issues, fuel pump relays, etc - considering all the dealers less than 3 hours away (and there were a bunch when I started riding BMW) are now gone - why was I thinking of buying another one? Is that sick or what?
So yesterday I hauled it 175 miles to the dealer. (We have no dealer closer than 3 hours away, despite a population in the millions.) I won't identify the dealer. I think they're a good dealer, I like them, and I don't blame the technician for what happened yesterday. Anyway, the plan was I drop it off, leave it all week, pick it up next Saturday. I hung around for a while, looked at new bikes, talked BMW, bought a shirt and some airhead crush washers, even took a couple test rides - you all know the drill. And as I was getting ready to leave, the technician was starting to work on my bike. He apologized for not starting earlier - he didn't know I was planning to leave it. He told me if I could stick around a couple hours, he should have a handle on the problem, if not fixed. Sure ! Anyway, they had ordered a front brake microswitch, because in trying to diagnose the problem at home, I found if I repeatedly squeezed the lever, after 6 or 8 times the servo would stick "on". I thought that was the problem. He did the full flush of the system, and had me watch as he hooked it to the diagnostic computer. The only fault code stored was for low fluid. Full pressure held fine. We could not duplicate what I had observed at home with the switch. Not after the flush, or before, or even when I had first unloaded it from the truck that morning. They had ordered the microswitch, it's only $24, and I considered asking him to install it anyway, but he was confident the switch was not the problem. Told me that three times. Again - no criticism of the technician or dealership. He impressed me as knowledgeable and competent. I worked in the back end of car dealerships for 10 years in my youth, and I know how frustrating it is to fix a problem when you can't duplicate it. And that switch still may not be the problem.
So while I am there, I find they're making good deals on the 2009's. I test rode a 2010 GSA, and I could not tell any difference in the engine with the cam heads. Plus, I was a beta tester for BMW on the 2005, paid the price, and I'm not interested in being one for the new engine. I know it's been out a couple years on the HP2, but it's still pretty new. I came home seriously thinking of trading for a new 2009, or buying the 09 then trying to sell mine. All in all, feeling pretty good. Until I backed the bike down the ramp off the truck and the servo stuck on. $&%*#. Exactly what it was doing before I took it to the dealer.
I've been riding BMW's and an MOA member 30 years. Despite BMW having abandoned most of Illinois, despite my belief their quality is at best marginal, I still consider myself a BMW guy. The visit to the dealer reinforced that. Do the rest of you feel that? Like, "these are my people - hang around, talk BMW's etc." There's a Harley dealer 7 minutes from my house, and a half dozen more a short drive away. I'd like to have that convenience, and the friends I have with newer Harley's have had zero problems, but I'm not a Harley guy. Closest they came to getting me was the Ulysses, and now Buell is gone anyway.
So now I'll call the dealer Tuesday, make arrangements to haul it back rather than ride it in case I have to leave it. I might have them send me that switch, and I'll install it. But if that doesn't fix it...if it's the servo, I'm not paying $2500 plus labor for a new servo. Not for a bike worth maybe $7K. They said they can rip out all the servo system, and convert the bike to non-ABS, non-servo assist
I love that GS. Riding it, that is. There's nothing else like it. I just bought a used Scrambler for riding around town and nearby back roads, and it's a hoot. (Steve McQueen jump the fence thing maybe.) But it's no GS in the capability or comfort department.
But considering all that, considering all the issues with late model BMW's - final drives, EWS failure, fuel mapping issues, fuel pump relays, etc - considering all the dealers less than 3 hours away (and there were a bunch when I started riding BMW) are now gone - why was I thinking of buying another one? Is that sick or what?