70 known failures so far in 2008
When: Jan 2008
Where:
Azrou, Morocco
Name:
Seatownmaster
Bike: 07 1200GS
Days lost:
holiday cut short by four days
Costs: 200+ mile van transport to port (£180) + (£65 fuel, police 'tips')
plus £663 reclaimed from BMW recovery
When: 2008
Where: Ireland
Name:
GSDreamer
Remedy: replaced by self
Where: M27
Name: Black Cloud
Bike: 54 1200GS
Remedy: paid for replacement (£75)
Days lost without bike for 4 weeks due to global shortage of replacement
Costs: train tickets to work
When: 2008
Where: New York, USA
Name:
Coalburner
Bike: 4000 miles on clock
Remedy: towed to dealer, new controller fitted
When: 2008
Where: Southport
Name:
M Hallsworth
Bike: 05
1200RT
Costs: £120 parts and labour
When: Jan 2008
Where: Liverpool
Name:
Paulenglish
Bike: 06 1200GS
Remedy: replaced by BMW Assist
When: Jan 2008
Where: London
Name:
grendal
Bike: 06 1200GSA
Remedy: replaced by dealer
Days lost: much inconvenience
When: Feb 2008
Where: at work, then at home
Name:
Phil Adams
Bike: 1200GS
Remedy: recovered on flat bed
When: Feb 2008
Where: Merseyside
Name:
Judda
Bike: 57 1200GSA (less than 1000 miles on clock)
Remedy: BMW Assist didn't have the part (there's a first), so recovered to dealer
When: Feb 2008
Where: Ireland
Name:
patzx12
Bike: 06 1200GSA
Remedy: replaced with a spare unit
When: Feb 2008
Where: Sunderland
Name:
bsogri
When: Mar 2008
Where: Lincoln, pulled up in stationary traffic and it idled for a minute then died.
Name: Owen Snell
Bike: 05 R1200GS
Remedy: Was on a test ride. Dealer came in his van. Bought it anyway.
Days lost: None, a couple of hours max but lucky really.
When: Mar 2008
Where: Istanbul
Name:
Expat
Bike:
Cost:
€120 for replacement part
When: Mar 2008
Where: Hillbilly Country, Northern Spain
Name: Colebatch
Bike: 06 1200GSA
Remedy: Paid a non BMW garage to replace it, as the BMW dealer in town was closed for the weekend
Cost: about £100. Bike was under warranty but if I waited for the BMW dealer I would have been delayed at least 2 days and would have to buy a new ferry ticket. Despite being under warranty, BMW would not reimburse me the replacement costs.
When: Mar 2008
Where: M6 Keele Services
Name: brianmaslen
Bike: 06 R1200GS
Remedy: called BMW Assist
When: April 2008
Where: London
Name:
Trickywoo
Bike: 05 1200GS
When: Apr 2008
Where: At home
Name:
Jonny L
Bike: 55 1200GS, 8000 miles
Remedy: Bike recovered to Vines via BMW Assist
Days lost: 2 days without bike, but got a free courtesy car so all OK. Missed a night down the pub though
Cost: All free under warranty
When: Apr 2008
Where: London
Name:
Patboy
Bike: 1200GS
Remedy: bike recovered to dealer
When: Apr 2008
Where: at home
Name:
Anonymous
Bike: 07 1200GSA
Remedy: BMW Assist had one on board (warranty)
Days lost: 0 but had to take the car that day
When: Apr 2008
Where:
Name: friend of
Judge
Bike: 06 1200GSA
Remedy: suffered controller failure twice
When: 3 Apr 2008
Where: on A3 - 3 miles from Guildford.
Name: Barfly
Bike: 06 1200GS belonging to Vines - I was test riding it with a view to buy
Remedy: mechanics from Vines came out (eventually - see my thread of the 4.4.08)
Cost: £s in mobile phone costs.
When: Apr 2008
Where: Surrey
Name:
Stephen Shury
Bike: 07 1200GS
Remedy: replaced by dealer
When : April 2008
Where : Surrey
Name : Mike Oszywa
Bike : 06 1200GS
Milage : 29k
Remedy : BMW emergency fixed on spot
When: Apr 2008
Name:
Hangman
Remedy: replaced by BMW Assist
When: Apr 2008
Where: Cahors, France
Rider: Nick_Boxer
Bike: 05 1200GS
Remedy: five hour wait, then recovered to a garage, then to BMW dealer
Days holiday lost: a full day getting the bike to the local BMW dealer
When: May 2008
Where:
Chefchaouen, Morocco
Name:
Tim Cullis
Bike: 2006 1200GSA
Remedy: Bob Wilson rode 250 miles to lend a spare unit
, then wiring bypass implemented
Days lost:
one complete day
Costs: tank of petrol and expensive hotel
When: May 2008
Where:
Meknes, Morocco
Name:
loan bike, World of BMW tour
Bike: 1200GS
Remedy: fitted Bob Wilson's spare controller (again)
When: May 2008
Where: Oxfordshire
Rider: Don Carmichael (second failure)
Bike: 55 plate 1200GS
Remedy: AA to dealer, controller replaced one from new model 1200, which I'm told is a new design; North Oxford BMW replaced FOC even though out of warranty.
Days work/holiday did you lose? Without bike for a week
Incidental costs? Lots of mobile phone costs.
When: May 2008
Where:
Strasbourg, France
Name:
Trailbike Magazine on loan from BMW for comparison test against KTM 990
Bike: 2008 1200GSA
Remedy: recovered on truck to dealer
Days lost:
When: May 2008
Where: outside lane of M4
Name: Nick Kitchin
Bike: 57 1200GS
Remedy: recovered to dealer and repaired under warranty
When: May 2008
Where: at home
Name:
Trevor
Bike: 05 1200GS, 13500 miles
Remedy: drove to dealer to collect replacement
Cost: yes, out of warranty
When: May 08
Name: brummie
Bike: 07 1200gs
Remedy: repaired under warranty 2 days
When: May 2008
Where: outside lane, M4
Name:
Fabian
Bike: 07 1200GSA
Comment:
"I nearly died!"
When: May 2008
Name: friend of
Dr John (again)
Bike: 07 1200GS
When: May 2008
Name: customer of
Mototech
Bike:
1200ST
When: May 2008
Where: Berkshire
Name: Simon Graham
Bike: 05 1200GS
Remedy: new one fitted by BMW dealer £150
Bike was in the dealer for 5 days (I could only get there on the weekend to pick it up), and i had to commute on my GSF1200 instead.
When: May 2008
Where: Scotland
Name:
Beemer RT
Bike: 06
1200RT
Remedy:
Days lost:
bike off the road for two weeks waiting for new controller
When: Apr/May 2008
Where: near home
Rider: mac163 (Lister Cummings)
Bike: 05 1200GS
Remedy: As no spares were available and a 2,000 mile plus trip round Scotland within days away - Technician bypassed relay with direct feed to battery and ran wires to a push connection up below bars.
Incidental costs: not covered under warranty
When: May 2008
Where: Eifel region, Germany
Name:
GSBand (second failure)
Bike: 57 1200GS
Remedy: BMW assist sent BMW service mobile, then recovery truck. Next day BMW Cologne stripped a new bike of a pump controller so I could continue my trip.
Days holidays lost: 1 day
Incidental costs? Hotel paid by BMW
Coment: I've bought a spare that I carry with me on trips abroad.
When: May 2008
Where: near house
Rider: Ken Seaton
Bike: 05 1200GS
Remedy: BMW Assist said no spares in the country, however replaced with one from Riding School bike
Cost: not covered by warranty
Comment: new pump module is part number 16 14 7 719 844
When: May 2008
Name:
AlexW
Bike: 06 1200GS
Remedy: recovered to dealer
When: May 2008
Where: Scotland
Name: friend of
Tartan Terror
Bike:
Remedy: replaced by BMW breakdown
When: May 2008
Where: Colchester, Essex
Rider: stra1200GS
Bike: 04 1200GS 14000 miles
Remedy: recovered using own trailer, hours and hours of self-diagnosis, bike inoperable for several weeks
Remedy: bypassed controller using wiring direct from battery with make/break connection on handlebars and shorting wire on keyring
Cost: £250+ for GS911 + 2M of cable + terminals
Comment: I bought a GS911 diagnostic tool after the failure which eliminated all the other likely causes. I have no intention of replacing the controller since the rewire solution works fine although I'm left wondering whether the pump is now being overstressed.
When: May 2008
Name:
GSBand (again)
Bike: 07 1200GS
When: May 2008
Where: Suffolk
Name:
oldenoughtoknowbetter
Bike: 07 1200GSA
Remedy: was carrying a spare
When: 3 May 2008
Where: A12
Name:
Rat-on-a-GS
Bike: 57 1200GS (mileage 1252)
Remedy: recovered to dealer and replaced
Days lost: 2
and then again one month later
When: Jun 2008
Where: A12 (nearly wiped out by Dutch lorry)
Name: Rat-on-a-GS
Remedy: BMW Assist failed to find fault, recovered to dealer and part replaced
Bike 57 1200GS (mileage now 1874
Days lost: 3
When: Jun 2008
Where: Northern England
Name and bike details:
Markgsxr
Remedy: replaced by BMW breakdown
When: June 2008
Where: an hour and half from home
Name: Temple
Bike: 07 1200GS, 3000 miles
Remedy: rescued and replaced under warranty
When: Jun 2008
Where: West Midlands
Name:
RustyNuts
Bike details: unknown
Remedy: recovered to dealer,
two+ days delay in getting parts
When: Jun 2008
Where: Australia
Name:
Pukmeister
Bike: 2004 1200GS
Remedy: bike recovered by friend with trailer
Days lost: one
When: Jun 2008
Where: Wales
Name:
JFC
Bike:
Remedy: recovered to home, unit on order
Days lost:
When: Jun 2008
Where: Scotland
Name:
Temple
Bike: 2007 1200GS
Remedy: recovered to dealer
Days lost: four days without bike
When: Jun 2008
Where: Berkshire
Name:
Littlemegdog
Bike:
Remedy: replaced by dealer
Days lost:
When: Jun 2008
Where: Dublin
Name:
purtywhipper
Bike: 2006 1200GS
Remedy: transported by van to dealer
Days lost:
Costs: €60 van, €30 labour (out of warranty)
When: Jun 2008
Where: French Pyrenees
Name:
Brian
Bike: 1200GS
Remedy: bike recovered
Days lost: 2 days
Costs: paid for parts and labour
When: Jun 2008
Where: Warwickshire
Name:
speedy23
Bike: 05
1200RT
Remedy: replaced FOC although out of warranty
And another one, on the bike 'subsidised' by BMW to replace the Lemon.
When: Jul 2008
Where: Tipperary, Ireland
Rider: The Bede (John Tremayne) first failure was in Jul 2006
Bike: 08 1200GSA
Remedy: recovered back to campsite, feck about for half a day waiting for bike to be recovered to Keary's in Cork, feck about for the rest of the day stranded at a campsite, without food or money, waiting for the promised 10:00am rental car. Feck about for another day, not too far from Cork waiting for the fix to be done, news received at 5:30 too late to do anything about it. Feck about the following day rushing to Cork to collect and load the bike then hell-for-leather-it to make the ferry
Days holiday lost: 4 days out of 8 fecked
Incidental costs: £30 in cellphone calls and 4 days of expensive trip down the dunny.
When: Jul 2008
Where:
Khorog, Tajikistan
Name:
PaulM
Bike: 1200GSA
Remedy: new part send by DHL from UK
Days lost: two weeks
When: Jul 2008
Where: Liverpool
Name:
teal'c
Bike:
1200RT
Remedy: drove to dealer to collect replacement
When: Jul 2008
Where: riding across Germany
Rider: Flash Of The Gap
Remedy: cost €400 to transport to hotel, another rider had a spare
When: Jul 2008
Where:
La roche sur yon
Name: frank1200
Bike: 06 1200GS
Remedy: new one fitted
Days lost: 3 days holiday and home 2 days early=5
When: 12 Jul 2008
Where: tour of Scotland and NE England
Name: Jaythro, Tucker QuayVipers MCC
Bike: 04 1200G
Remedy: wiring bypass carried out, bike out of warranty
Days lost: couple hours lost tryin to get the hold of me BAd signal in the rocks of Dungloe!
When: July 2008
Name: Beemerboy9
Bike: 05 1200RT
Remedy: original controller replaced
When: Jul 2008
Where: Praa Sands
Name: gingercoasti
Bike: 07 1200GSA, 9378 miles
Remedy: recovered to dealer
When: Jul 2008
Where: M25 outside lane 70mph
Rider name TalonFS (Simon Darch)
Bike: 07 1200GS
Remedy - BMW Assist replaced FPC
How many days work did you lose? Day off work
When: Jul 2008
Where: Edinburgh City Bypass, while filtering (it was quite 'interesting'!)
Rider: SpyInTheCamp (Kai)
Bike: 05 1200GS, 30,600 miles on clock
Remedy: AA took it to local delaer.
Days work lost: Half a day off work
Incidental costs: taxis plus FPC replacement (out of warranty)
When: Jul 2008
Where: bottom of Stelvio Pass, Italy
Rider: Gary Pitchford
Bike: 06 1200 GS 34000 miles
Remedy: One of the lads carried a spare as he had heard it was a weakness.
Time lost: 2 hours of holiday lost.
Comment: Will now carry a spare.
When: 6 Aug 2008
Where: Manchester
Rider:
Kev G
Bike: 1200GSA
Remedy: pushed home, BMW Assist replaced FPC
When: 6 Aug 2008
Where: luckily 100 meters from home after a 200+ mile journey
Rider: BarmyFred
Bike: 07 1200GS
Remedy: BMW assist took me to Balderstons, Peterborough. New controller fitted while I waited
How many days work/holiday did you lose?: 1/2 a day.
Incidental costs?: Bought some new gloves while I waited and booked a test ride of a K1200R Sport...