Dutchman
Registered user
Just back from our epic journey to the Nordkapp & back.....two 1200GS's made the northbound leg, only one returned.....
On Sunday 11th July, 1847 miles from Edinburgh, we reached the North Cape of Norway, a dream of mine for about 30 years and a trip some 10 months in the planning.......even though it was foggy when we arrived, the feeling of fulfilment was tremendous, but somewhat short lived.....
As always we took zillions of photo's which will get posted in due course....
We turned south, with about 12 miles to go to our overnight hotel at Kamoyvaer when disaster struck!
I'm riding with Gina as pillion and a full complement of luggage when I feel the rear end of the bike wriggle a bit......dry roads, no great speed.....50-55 perhaps.......took some bends, light braking, gentle acceleration and there it goes again......wriggle, wriggle..........
Having ridden bikes with both a loose rear wheel and a rapidly deflating tyre....the feeling was all too familiar........but I was still not convinced there was a problem....
Got safely to the hotel, unloaded the bike & checked in to the hotel.
Then I kicked the back wheel.......and was horrified to see about 4" of lateral movement at the tyre......did it again, just to convince myself I wasn't dreaming.........and sure enough the only thing stopping the wheel falling off was the caliper holding onto the brake disk....
Inspired by a thread on Advrider just before we left home, I had double checked the wheel mounting bolt torques just to make sure they were good & tight....so I had little worry about the bolts coming undone.
Closer examination revealed that the disk had worn, metal on metal with contact on the caliper mounting.......and it had all the hallmarks of the rear drive bearings having collapsed. I knew our Nordkapp Oddysey had come to an end.
Being aware that we were about 400 miles from the nearest BMW dealer at Tromso, I telephoned BMW Assistance with some trepidation, early the next morning.
Within two hours, the bike was taken away by a local recovery company and we had a Ford Transit rentavan.....no replacement bikes available!!
Our companions left us after breakfast and we headed south in the Transit......not before lengthy telephone conversations with my supplying dealer, John Clark (Tayside). BMW GB and faxes flying everywhere......
We were unable to rendezvous with our fellow GS'ers that night, at our next scheduled stop, mainly because at had been arranged for us to swap the van for a VW Bora.......still large enough to carry all our hard luggage, accessories, inner bags & riding gear.....
Next day we continued on our planned biking route, not much fun doing a bike trip in a fekkin' car......but at least we made it to Svolvaer on the Lofoten Islands where we caught up with Peter & Pauline and an amount of red wine.....
BMW Assistance have allowed us the use of a car to continue the tour, paid for the Alta hotel and the extra fuel, tolls etc incurred by using a car instead of a bike......and again arranged a swap of car at Mo I Rana......Renault Laguna estate this time.........all the way to Bergen.
Within a couple of days (literally) after I uttered the useful phrases 'I'm rejecting this bike because it's not fit for it's intended purpose' and 'I'm rejecting this bike because it's not of merchantable quality' in the direction of BMW GB (remember it's six weeks old with just over 3000 miles in total).......we had some great news: We were being given a brand new 1200GS and financial compensation for the ruined second half of our holiday.
The 'old' GS is being repatriated back to Dundee for repair (& onward sale as a used bike, so buyer beware:ST04VOC is going to have major mechanical surgery before appearing gleaming in a showroom near you.....)
My new GS arrives at JC's tomorrow (22nd) and I'll be collecting it on Saturday, complete with custom paint job........beak, tanktop & side panels in a rather fetching shade...........Fjord Grey, of course..........!!
Sincere thanks are due to Mark Wilkie & Brian Malcolm at John Clark (Tayside) & Shevani Ramnath at BMW Customer Service for making the new bike happen so quickly and for everyone at BMW Assistance Europe for making the whole episode as painless as possible.....
All that remains is for BMW to take a close look at the rear drive bearings/quality/design to try & ensure that there is no repetition......?
Pix to follow....
Cheers
Dutch
On Sunday 11th July, 1847 miles from Edinburgh, we reached the North Cape of Norway, a dream of mine for about 30 years and a trip some 10 months in the planning.......even though it was foggy when we arrived, the feeling of fulfilment was tremendous, but somewhat short lived.....
As always we took zillions of photo's which will get posted in due course....
We turned south, with about 12 miles to go to our overnight hotel at Kamoyvaer when disaster struck!
I'm riding with Gina as pillion and a full complement of luggage when I feel the rear end of the bike wriggle a bit......dry roads, no great speed.....50-55 perhaps.......took some bends, light braking, gentle acceleration and there it goes again......wriggle, wriggle..........
Having ridden bikes with both a loose rear wheel and a rapidly deflating tyre....the feeling was all too familiar........but I was still not convinced there was a problem....
Got safely to the hotel, unloaded the bike & checked in to the hotel.
Then I kicked the back wheel.......and was horrified to see about 4" of lateral movement at the tyre......did it again, just to convince myself I wasn't dreaming.........and sure enough the only thing stopping the wheel falling off was the caliper holding onto the brake disk....
Inspired by a thread on Advrider just before we left home, I had double checked the wheel mounting bolt torques just to make sure they were good & tight....so I had little worry about the bolts coming undone.
Closer examination revealed that the disk had worn, metal on metal with contact on the caliper mounting.......and it had all the hallmarks of the rear drive bearings having collapsed. I knew our Nordkapp Oddysey had come to an end.
Being aware that we were about 400 miles from the nearest BMW dealer at Tromso, I telephoned BMW Assistance with some trepidation, early the next morning.
Within two hours, the bike was taken away by a local recovery company and we had a Ford Transit rentavan.....no replacement bikes available!!
Our companions left us after breakfast and we headed south in the Transit......not before lengthy telephone conversations with my supplying dealer, John Clark (Tayside). BMW GB and faxes flying everywhere......
We were unable to rendezvous with our fellow GS'ers that night, at our next scheduled stop, mainly because at had been arranged for us to swap the van for a VW Bora.......still large enough to carry all our hard luggage, accessories, inner bags & riding gear.....
Next day we continued on our planned biking route, not much fun doing a bike trip in a fekkin' car......but at least we made it to Svolvaer on the Lofoten Islands where we caught up with Peter & Pauline and an amount of red wine.....
BMW Assistance have allowed us the use of a car to continue the tour, paid for the Alta hotel and the extra fuel, tolls etc incurred by using a car instead of a bike......and again arranged a swap of car at Mo I Rana......Renault Laguna estate this time.........all the way to Bergen.
Within a couple of days (literally) after I uttered the useful phrases 'I'm rejecting this bike because it's not fit for it's intended purpose' and 'I'm rejecting this bike because it's not of merchantable quality' in the direction of BMW GB (remember it's six weeks old with just over 3000 miles in total).......we had some great news: We were being given a brand new 1200GS and financial compensation for the ruined second half of our holiday.
The 'old' GS is being repatriated back to Dundee for repair (& onward sale as a used bike, so buyer beware:ST04VOC is going to have major mechanical surgery before appearing gleaming in a showroom near you.....)
My new GS arrives at JC's tomorrow (22nd) and I'll be collecting it on Saturday, complete with custom paint job........beak, tanktop & side panels in a rather fetching shade...........Fjord Grey, of course..........!!
Sincere thanks are due to Mark Wilkie & Brian Malcolm at John Clark (Tayside) & Shevani Ramnath at BMW Customer Service for making the new bike happen so quickly and for everyone at BMW Assistance Europe for making the whole episode as painless as possible.....
All that remains is for BMW to take a close look at the rear drive bearings/quality/design to try & ensure that there is no repetition......?
Pix to follow....
Cheers
Dutch
Looking forward to the pics. 
