2011 G650GS front fork failure

[Moosly]

Another report of a front fork fail - this time on a new g650gs.. As the happy and proud owner of one of these it's very worrying.

Check out the thread at adv rider http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=700385 and go check your bike!

Hopefully BMW/Showa are already aware and this turns out to be a freak failure.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Another report of a front fork fail - this time on a new g650gs.. As the happy and proud owner of one of these it's very worrying.

Check out the thread at adv rider http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=700385 and go check your bike!

Hopefully BMW/Showa are already aware and this turns out to be a freak failure.

I think you'll find that has happened a few times previously on F650GS's back in the early years 2001-2003

 

[Moosly]

I think you'll find that has happened a few times previously on F650GS's

True - but I believe they revised the casting and strengthened it after the first lot of these failures.

Worrying to see this on a new bike.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Your link doesn't work..................here it is

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=700385&page=1

Scary pics, bike was 95 miles old and the rider Antiquewidow (a grandmother) hit nothing, front just tucked under

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Lots of F650GS info here http://www.advrider.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=16235621

I did a search and found this;

Crash in Destruction Bay

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371650

It is easy check which forks you have courtesy of the composite pic from squarewheels. The only known failures are the old style

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7633376&postcount=92

The forks on the left are the old type, the forks on the right are the new type. Both have the same BMW Part No.

The interesting part is we are not sure when the new type were introduced into production. Initially it was thought June 2003 but we now know of one machine built December 2002 with the newer style strengthened fork legs.

Thanks to the posts here we seem to have narrowed the changeover to Oct 2002.

You can check the production date of any BMW by decoding the VIN and there is a handy web site available to do so.

http://www.bmw-z1.com/VIN/VINdecode-e.cgi

It would be of assistance if people could post the results into this thread to narrow the production range of the machines with the earlier casting. Only post the production date and which type of casting the machine has

It would also be prudent for owners of machines with old style castings to refer any concerns they may have to BMW to satisfy themselves of the safety of these castings.

 

[Greger]

My 2001 650 has the old style forks and they look just like the new G650 forks that have failed.

A guess would be that the new 650 is using the original 650 design not the latest revisions.

Not to sure I like the look of my forks half as much as I did half an hour ago before reading this thread!!

 

[Jona]

Scary shit!!!

Have the latest 2011 UK spec ones got the old style Forks? If so you would'nt get me within a mile of one those!

 

[Jona]

My 2001 650 has the old style forks and they look just like the new G650 forks that have failed.

A guess would be that the new 650 is using the original 650 design not the latest revisions.

Not to sure I like the look of my forks half as much as I did half an hour ago before reading this thread!!

I'd be sticking some others on mate just to stop my ass twitching

If anyone is intersted - Early forks are on the left

I grabbed this off ADV Rider

 

[Greger]

I'd be sticking some others on mate just to stop my ass twitching

If anyone is intersted - Early forks are on the left

I grabbed this off ADV Rider

You're not wrong there!! twitch twitch...

 

[Farmer Palmer]

That is some scary shit.....! I'm away out to check Mrs P's forks right now! No wonder the bike only cost £5k if they're using up all the old shit lying around the place eh?

Very, very disappointing BMW and this is old news, shouldn't be happening on a 2011 bike!

FP.

 

[Jona]

Hopefully it was a million to one shot, and is just plain bad luck

Surely BMW wouldn't allow proven faulty parts to be manufactured again

 

[VAL. H.]

If you look very closely, you'll see the new fork is a kind of halfway house between the old 2000-03 and the 04-70 forks.

Obviously the cost cutting has not paid off


Val.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

If you look very closely, you'll see the new fork is a kind of halfway house between the old 2000-03 and the 04-07 forks.

Obviously the cost cutting has not paid off


Val.

+1 I thought that

 

[Farmer Palmer]

Yeah, when I looked at our forks they didn't seem to be one thing or the other.

It's amazing how a wee thread like this one can knock the shine off owning a nice new shiny BMW.....!

FP.

 

[VAL. H.]

Yeah, when I looked at our forks they didn't seem to be one thing or the other.

It's amazing how a wee thread like this one can knock the shine off owning a nice new shiny BMW.....!

FP.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's likely that this is a very rare thing, as it was with the early 650gs.

We had an 01 650gs and a 99 Dakar. Both ridden off road with no sign of cracking or any other fork damage


Val.

 

[Farmer Palmer]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's likely that this is a very rare thing, as it was with the early 650gs.

We had an 01 650gs and a 99 Dakar. Both ridden off road with no sign of cracking or any other fork damage


Val.

I suppose there are already a lot of new 2011 G650GS's out there and a few of them will be used and abused.

If there was a major defect I guess it would have shown up on a lot more than a 'gently ridden' grannies bike. I hope her bruises mend quicky though and if I were her i'd make sure i bought this weeks lottery ticket.

FP.

 

[harry]

Have to say this has taken the shine off picking my new G650 up tomorrow

 

[Greger]

Have to say this has taken the shine off picking my new G650 up tomorrow

Likewise my 2001 sat in the garage!!

I wonder if anyone knows just how rare the original fault was?

 

[Moosly]

Definitely got me spooked... Hopefully a one off but it should NEVER happen. Wonder if BMW will do/say anything ever? Probably not. Basically if I can't trust the bike it's going to get shopped in.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Have to say this has taken the shine off picking my new G650 up tomorrow

Tell us if you make it back ok