“What new owners have experienced instability problems

I have steering dampers on my other bikes and don't notice any downside. Especially if the damping is adjustable, I can't see a reason not to fit one to provide assurance you have the assistance they provide to help prevent a tank slapper.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Count said:
I have steering dampers on my other bikes and don't notice any downside. Especially if the damping is adjustable, I can't see a reason not to fit one to provide assurance you have the assistance they provide to help prevent a tank slapper.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Always make it my goal to avoid slappers.
 
A difficult subject....I brought Motorcycle Sports and Leisure magazine for the first time as it had the first LC report. They mentioned the bike "nodding its head" on rapid gear change and fast throttle opening..mentioned that if you back off a little no problems and one of the most stable bikes they have ridden. A contradiction but certainly no tank slapper.

I have to say I feel a little for BMW....some talk about a wall of silence however, if they cannot recreate the conditions then they cannot fix what ain't broke or comment any further. If the Kevin Ash accident was as a result of a product failure, I should imagine they cannot comment for legal reasons.

If the latter is the case the chances of them letting bikes into the general population with a known fault i would have thought has got to be zero.

However, you cannot ignore the Bike incident....I agree they will have thought long and hard about reporting on this....I would love to know whether their bike had the crimped tubes, conditions etc as this could have been just a one off. I remember watching with horror a GPz have a high speed tank slapper....the bike was not withdrawn from sale or reported as having a problem....would this have been different if a journalist had been riding it at the time....I wonder
 
Mad_Accountant said:
Thank you for the civilised reply.

I am the first to admit that my experience is all road...

And by the way - I HATE steering dampers. If they fit one I certainly won't buy the bike :ronno
Click to expand...

Why the hate for steering dampers? I have one on my 07 GSA (a Scott's) which certainly settles the bike in high gusty cross winds and offroad on sand. It's fully adjustable.

As BMW claims the GS to be dirt capable, I am surprised they do not offer an after market damper. Offroad, on a heavy bike, a damper is really a help if the rider is not an expert. And every expert dirt rider I know runs a damper.

On the road, in very windy situations I often run into out in the deserts, I crank the damper to max and it's as if the wind disappears.
 
Socalrob said:
Why the hate for steering dampers? I have one on my 07 GSA (a Scott's) which certainly settles the bike in high gusty cross winds and offroad on sand. It's fully adjustable.

As BMW claims the GS to be dirt capable, I am surprised they do not offer an after market damper. Offroad, on a heavy bike, a damper is really a help if the rider is not an expert. And every expert dirt rider I know runs a damper.

On the road, in very windy situations I often run into out in the deserts, I crank the damper to max and it's as if the wind disappears.
Click to expand...

I bought the new Lc,thinking of putting a steeringdamper on it,mostly to steady the bike in heavy crosswind,where can you get one that fits the bike.
I do not expect any TS as I never go offroad.
 
Socalrob said:
Why the hate for steering dampers? I have one on my 07 GSA (a Scott's) which certainly settles the bike in high gusty cross winds and offroad on sand. It's fully adjustable.

As BMW claims the GS to be dirt capable, I am surprised they do not offer an after market damper. Offroad, on a heavy bike, a damper is really a help if the rider is not an expert. And every expert dirt rider I know runs a damper.

On the road, in very windy situations I often run into out in the deserts, I crank the damper to max and it's as if the wind disappears.
Click to expand...
Interesting. That's one thing I always disliked about my GS, instability in crosswinds or turbulence on highways. I see no reason why the new LC would be different. Any idea if they intend to make one for it?
 
oldnfat said:
...the chances of them letting bikes into the general population with a known fault i would have thought has got to be zero.
Click to expand...

Remember the servo brakes that suddenly stopped working? A friend of mine reported two incidents to BMW quite early, and pointed out exactly what was the problem. They did not ever admit anything was wrong, but then one day the servo was gone.

Remember all the F650GS forks that have suddenly broken on flat pavement? All in the exact same spot, totally unprovoked. Hard to prove of course that it was the cause and not the result of the crash. BMW never admitted anything wrong, but we know that cases have been settled out of court in USA. All totally hush, of course. Never admitted a problem, but suddenly redesigned the casting of the right leg. (There are threads about this in many forums, search advrider and f650.com.)

Then there is the F800GS and its tendencies to suddenly jump around when ridden standing up at high speeds on gravel. (A friend of mine totalled a rental in SA. At 140 Kmph, the bike suddenly started a violent shake, maybe what could be called a tank slapper? Heard it also happened to a couple of the GS Trophy guys a couple of years ago, but not confirmed.) Extreme riding, will never be an issue to most of us. But still scary.

We can only guess how many severe accidents have been caused by product fauilures. I am sure BMW do their best to make a great and safe product, but I do not think we should be gullible and believe that BMW would never let anything dangerous pass. They have lawyers and bean counters too, and in this age of litigation and financial troubles they will not always let an honest engineer make a recall on 20 000 fork legs because they think 200 may have a casting fault. Especially if they can be sued for millions by some widow for admitting the fork was faulty. So let us discuss openly, but without going all paranoid.
 
In The MIRA files in Classic MCM, one of the journos describes testing bikes back in the bad old days.

He talks about the pressure bike magazines were under from the manufacturers, whose payments for advertising kept the magazines afloat, and how negative bike reviews were very much discouraged by editors.

An example is the Norton Combat engine, which because well known for grenading itself. It seems the bike that Motor Cycle (I think) tested also had serious problems during the test, but these were never reported in the published article for the above reasons.

I do not know whether the new GS test bike had a tank slapper, or if it did, why, because I simply wasn't there.

But if it did, I'm glad the press are not too shy to mention it.

Just for the record, if I was after a new bike at the moment I'd definitely consider a WC.

Paul G
 
The Other PaulG said:
In The MIRA files in Classic MCM, one of the journos describes testing bikes back in the bad old days.

He talks about the pressure bike magazines were under from the manufacturers, whose payments for advertising kept the magazines afloat, and how negative bike reviews were very much discouraged by editors.

......
Click to expand...

I can't for the life of me remember what the model was but Bike nearly folded in the late 70's/80's? when Honda withdrew all advertising for a couple of years after an 'honest' test report on one of their bikes by the magazine.

Andres
 
Here we go, found this on an Ozzy site:

While testers in America applauded the Gold Wing, the British press greeted it with cynicism. Soon termed a two-wheeled car or ‘Lead Wing’, Bike magazine was particularly scathing, prompting Honda to withdraw its advertising, and refusing the mag test bikes for a year.

This referred to the original GL1000. Thanks for that Outtomunch. :thumb2
 
Hammam said:
Interesting. That's one thing I always disliked about my GS, instability in crosswinds or turbulence on highways. I see no reason why the new LC would be different. Any idea if they intend to make one for it?
Click to expand...

I would think Between Scott's, Hyperpro, and RalleMoto that there will be one or more dampers available within a year. I will miss the damper on my GSA if I make a trade on a WC, but at least the WC already has a slipper clutch. I put a ceramic slipper clutch on my GSA when a seal failed, and I now think a slipper clutch is almost a requirement on a boxer bike.
 
Mad_Accountant said:
......................

I agree with all the details you list but the ones I would want are road surface (an image of "the imperfection" would be nice" and, indeed , how many hands were on the bar. I am fairly "inner circle" with my dealer and am sometimes told things in confidence and would not dream of repeating them.

Actually, on that subject I rather feel that Forumers should keep private the details of their particular deals as they could cause great discomfort to the dealer and possibly distress to customers who have already purchased.

.....................
Click to expand...


You're serious aren't you :eek: must be something to do with being fairly "inner circle" :nenau

Andres
 
'Inner circle'...............is that what you believe?

Or the dealer, lets you think you are?
 
Just wanted to say that this thread is becoming soooooooo boring!
 
Inner Circle..at their finest....

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yVBB2upbVys" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
I don't think I've ever penetrated a BMW dealers inner circle.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
You must log in or register to reply here.


Back
Top Bottom