07 GSA Rear Spoked wheel problems

[Deleted account 210609001]

i find it unbelievable that they were checked over before the buyer gets them and no one noticed, or were they told not to see it, i wonder?

A friend picked up a brand new R1200RT a few weeks ago.

The salesman tried to show him how the steering locked worked but couldn't turn the bars far enough. Salesman gave up and said "you'll work it out" or something similar. Luckily my friend was rather more tenacious and investigated further. He found the steering was being stopped by the strap used to hold the bike in the crate.

After a couple of days riding, he went out to give it a wash and found two of the front brake caliper bolts were loose - one not even finger tight.

He's a Northerner through and through and negotiated some serious discounts by way of compensation.

PDI check? Don't be silly...

Convinced me to do my own servicing as far as I can from now on. Might take me a whole lot longer, but at least I know it'll be done properly.

 

[Voyager61]

Hi Everyone

Well I have experienced some unevenness in the braking when nearly stopped. I had a chat with Gary (Gazzabart) about his issues when we met at Bahnstormer the other day.

Subsequently had the rear end looked at. The bike was taken out by one of the mechanics, who rode it straight into the workshop when he got back (telling I thought).

Anyhow, I was told by Jody that I need a replacement 'hub' ... not sure exactly what this means since the only 'hub' identified on the fiche here:

http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com/fiche/MainDiagrams.asp?mospid=49382

is the one connected to the rim by the spokes.

So I shall wait and see what gets done.

I should say that this didn't raise any eyebrows at Bahnstormer and they approached the whole thing with low key professionalism and without fuss.

Odo: 2750

 

[GrinningGSer]

Calling Mods !

My original thread title is now misleading because the cause of my apparent wonky wheel was a failed wheel bearing and the apparent warped disc problem was all caused by a faulty carrier (part number 2 on my earlier diagram)

Therefore this is NOT, after further investigations, a wheel OR disc problem.

MarkGSXR, with his impressive youtube vid, may soon find that his problem is also the carrier, although his dealer has instead chosen to change the final drive in desparation so his definitive diagnosis may be hidden.


Changing the title to 'GSA rear carrier problem' would be more helpful for others ?

 

[Panzer]

Nope

My rim is miles out, my hub was cast in a chocolate factory, my rear disc carrier was machined incorrectly and there was a problem with my final drive all of these have been replaced ! (three rear wheels , two discs ,one final drive complete and one remachined rear hub ie disc carrier )all is better but still not even close to being right. This seems to be a quality control problem as what they are getting in to refit is still no good.If yours was cured by the part they replaced you were lucky it wasnt from the batch of crap mine came from. I still like the bike and i know when this is cured it will be a great bike i will stick with it its not the dealers fault its still rests with the boffins at BMW production.

 

[csd4t]

Mine goes in tommorrow, I have told the dealer it is the final drive or carrier that are out, not the wheel so we will see what is fitted, one things for sure if it aint right it will go straight back until it is.
1.5mm out of true is an MoT failure. Dealer told me 1.5mm is BWM tolerance, read into that what you want

 

[GSmonkey]

The stealers checked my disc and wheel and all were in tolerance. They've still got to replace the rear wheel for corrosion, so I'll be interested to see if that makes any difference.

They did tell me they measure the runout from the inside of the rim, which is machined, not the outside.

The tyre still 'wobbles' from side to side on tickover - more than the demo bike with cast wheels did. I can't feel it when riding, so not that bothered.

 

[woody's wheel works]

to all you folks in UK keep up the pressure...

dear fellow riders,,,,i can rest assure you that you are not alone in the travails of the BMW GS/GS ADV/HP-2 wobbly wheels and the wobbly rear end scenarios..

you have 2 separate problems that when occuring together compound the effects of each anomaly and you have a motorcycle with severe handling characteristics that exacerbate at speed,,,it starts with unususal vibration in the handlebars,,, and as you approach 100mph/160 kph the motorcycle will start
shaking and weaving especially in corners ,,you get the feeling you will have a tankslapper on your hands

the first problem is of course the vast tolerances allowed for all the x-laced wheels made in the berlin factory using Behr rims,,,remember no one ''trues''these wheels they are assembled in this hugh machine that grabs the rim and locates the hub and the assembler puts all the stuff together and finishes it off with an automatic torque wrench,,,end of story

no other wheel ever produced by BMW has such loose tolerances,,,they get by with it because the knobby tires you all use mask the problem,,,install some real road rubber and you will instantly start experiencing wiggles and vibrations on your bike

the Rx for that is having them retrued by someone that knows the vagaries of trung x-laced wheels,,,or you can bring them back to the dealer and it is always a crap shoot if you get a ''better'' one,,,

the second problem was first diagnosed by me several years ago after a fellow from Danemark cruised by the shop after having several wheels and rear end assemblies replaced on his journey from alaska to south america via denver ,,,a dealership in denver sent him my way for an analysis,,his rear end shimied just like the 2 youtube video clips posted earlier in this thread,,,

the second problem has NOTHING to do with discs or wheels because the entire drive shaft assembly is wobbling in an orbit that makes anything attached to it ie discs and wheel go along for the ride,,,,so fellow riders pay attention to if you see the axle shaft going around in an orbit,,voila you need whatever upgrades BMW can offer ,,

FYI,,,as of this posting BMW has not officially acknowledged any problem with their wheels or rear end,,,i have made some inroads in the usa vis a vis getting more and more dealers sending wheels to me for repair instead of steadily ordering replacement wheel assemblies that oft times are in worse shape than the customers,,,i can routinely true them +/- .010''/.25mm,,,

AND of course their is another anomaly in the BEHR x-laced rims,,,and that is in the area where the rim ends are butted together,,,why they have some moron hand grind the excess material off causing divots up to .055''/1.4mm deep when all they need to do is throw the rim in a lathe to achieve a perfect concentric bead are beyond me...perhaps it is because no one in the behr factory really gives a s---,,,OBTW i have the bmw bulletin addressing the excessive number of wheels being returned for warranty,,,and it states specifically that before return measure the wheel ,,''do not measure the 120 degree area opposite the valve stem ie 60 degrees to the left and right of the weld,,,..the rest should be less than .060''/1.5mm runout,,,well that leaves ALOT of room,,,OBTW theres a hugh difference in saying +/-.030''=.060''total run out and sayin .060'' runout which could leave you with a wheel that runs true for 240degrees and then blips out .060''

like i mentioned i aways use the +/- .010 as a better wheel truing technique

well enough said for today,,,you all are not alone,,keep up the quest for the QUALITY we demand,, expect and have PAID for from the Bavarians .

i regret that i don't visit this site often enough,,i have my hands full with all th enew product development for the beemers

like these new hubs:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=288592

i will answer any questions ya have in your vendor forum,,,or in advriders special thread they gave me for this sort of stuff,,ie ''ask woody about your wheels''

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145899


woody

ps,,several other forums automatically send me an e-mail whenever someone posts a question,,,but not this one,,,and thanks for the happy b-day message from you all

 

[Voyager61]

My bike goes in on Wednesday for a replacement 'flange' ...

 

[GSmonkey]

Had a new wheel put on the GSA today..........new one is as straight as a die.

 

[Voyager61]

I finally had a new rear brake disc fitted @ 6k service. This has smoothed out the sensation when braking.

I will also have a new rear wheel fitted (under warranty) since it is showing signs of corrosion around the hub mounting bolts.

 

[Highside]

Seen this thread a while back, then was told this last weekend that my rear wheel was buckled..... I replied that it wasn't......having read earlier posts on here.

My mate persisted and I decided to take a look, the wheel is moving side to side to some degree.

This got me thinking, replaced my rear tyre before heading off to Scotland. No issues when balanced?
Towards the end off my week away with a mere 1600 miles on the tyre, i noticed that the rear pads were down to metal,
No inclination of this spotted when changing the tyre, I rarely use the back brake and the bike has only 7500 miles on it, never had a bike use the rear pads in such a short time.

Possibly unrelated????? BUT when riding I get a mechanical 'bag of spanners' noise intermittently, worse on rougher road surfaces?????

If the wheel is out, surely this would show up on the wheel balancing machine??
If it's not the wheel, the the bearing???????
The final drive unit is on it's way out?????

problem is the bike was crashed at 635 miles and is Cat D, no warranty!!!!!
guess I need to get Southport Super bikes looking at it and be prepared to pay big bucks?

 

[Funners]

Seen this thread a while back, then was told this last weekend that my rear wheel was buckled..... I replied that it wasn't......having read earlier posts on here.

My mate persisted and I decided to take a look, the wheel is moving side to side to some degree.

This got me thinking, replaced my rear tyre before heading off to Scotland. No issues when balanced?
Towards the end off my week away with a mere 1600 miles on the tyre, i noticed that the rear pads were down to metal,
No inclination of this spotted when changing the tyre, I rarely use the back brake and the bike has only 7500 miles on it, never had a bike use the rear pads in such a short time.

Possibly unrelated????? BUT when riding I get a mechanical 'bag of spanners' noise intermittently, worse on rougher road surfaces?????

If the wheel is out, surely this would show up on the wheel balancing machine??
If it's not the wheel, the the bearing???????
The final drive unit is on it's way out?????

problem is the bike was crashed at 635 miles and is Cat D, no warranty!!!!!
guess I need to get Southport Super bikes looking at it and be prepared to pay big bucks?

mine turned out to be the rear hub unit (the wheel/disc carrier) not the final drive, once this had been replaced there is very little movement in mine at all, no longer have I got enough movement to rock the caliper side to side !
as a note tho.....I'm sure your brakes are linked front to rear..when you use your front you use some rear whether you want to or not !(mine is anyway !)

 

[Fudpucker]

Rear disc carrier replaced at 5800 miles. Warped. 07 GS. Dealer told me it was the second one he'd done......F

 

[Pukmeister]

I suspect the rear disk carriers may have inherent casting stresses within them which relieve over time and with heating/cooling from the disk. This could account for what is an otherwise decent bike when brand new becoming a wobbling machine through use. I have previously witnessed (and rectified by machining) some bad cases of aluminium alloy components and castings altering through stress relieving (though not BMW items).

My 2004 model 1200GS had had rear disk flutter/grab for ages, which I believed was through disk warping. Before I go to the expense and trouble of fitting a new disk, I think I'll remove the old one and check the carrier for distortion with a DTI at the disk mounting faces.