70 plate 1250GSA handlebar alignment on knobblies.

[leasky]

I acquired a 70 plate 1250GSA a couple of weeks ago from Vines of Guildford.

I took the bike for its first run last Tuesday and I immediately became aware that the handlebars were not “aligned” to the screens ie when the bars are straight, the clocks / screens are slightly off and simply do not align.

I spoke with Vines and they told me to book it into my local BMW dealer here in Aberdeen.

The bike was in today and the dealer has told me that the misalignment is due to the bike having off-Road / knobbly tyres and the situation will be rectified if I put on road tyres - they offered to do it for £495 .

Do I smell shite or is what I am being told about off-road tyres true?

I have ridden plenty of scramblers off-road but I have never ridden a GSA on tarmac with large knobblies; are they the cause of this or are they talking shite?

Colin.

 

[twizzle]

Sounds like a big pile o shite to me

My suspicion is on over zealous strapping down whilst in the van for delivery

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

I acquired a 70 plate 1250GSA a couple of weeks ago from Vines of Guildford.

I took the bike for its first run last Tuesday and I immediately became aware that the handlebars were not “aligned” to the screens ie when the bars are straight, the clocks / screens are slightly off and simply do not align.

I spoke with Vines and they told me to book it into my local BMW dealer here in Aberdeen.

The bike was in today and the dealer has told me that the misalignment is due to the bike having off-Road / knobbly tyres and the situation will be rectified if I put on road tyres - they offered to do it for £495 .

Do I smell shite or is what I am being told about off-road tyres true?

I have ridden plenty of scramblers off-road but I have never ridden a GSA on tarmac with large knobblies; are they the cause of this or are they talking shite?

Colin.

Loads of old tosh

 

[KBKLR]

That Shetland shite sensor of yours probably right

 

[Robbi]

Yep, as above.

 

[crumbles]

Your smell omiter is correct...

 

[Denz0]

I acquired a 70 plate 1250GSA a couple of weeks ago from Vines of Guildford.

I took the bike for its first run last Tuesday and I immediately became aware that the handlebars were not “aligned” to the screens ie when the bars are straight, the clocks / screens are slightly off and simply do not align.

I spoke with Vines and they told me to book it into my local BMW dealer here in Aberdeen.

The bike was in today and the dealer has told me that the misalignment is due to the bike having off-Road / knobbly tyres and the situation will be rectified if I put on road tyres - they offered to do it for £495 .

Do I smell shite or is what I am being told about off-road tyres true?

I have ridden plenty of scramblers off-road but I have never ridden a GSA on tarmac with large knobblies; are they the cause of this or are they talking shite?

Colin.

I would lose lower tripple clamp and pinch bolts on the forks and try to strengthen them .. maybe the wheel was knocked to the side and is held like that, and once you realise pinch bolts will streighten? Not guaranteed.
If something is bent, 3 points will never align

I would check the spindle first

Hope that helps
£500 tyre swop is more than guaranteed not to fix that .



Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

 

[leadfarmer]

Back in the garage with my bulshit detector……..

 

[Baked Bean]

 

[Carts]

Hi Colin

If it helps, you can do an experiment, and change you wheel out for mine R1250GS and see if it makes a difference? my place is in center of Toon. only a 10 min job

 

[leasky]

Gents, thank you all for the replies and kind offers. Luckily I have been able to talk directly with the Technician at John Clark today (nice guy called Kevin) and it transpires that the service desk there are havering shite and hadn’t even communicated the scope of work to him correctly. He (Kevin) has taken the bike back in this afternoon and will have a proper look at things tomorrow; it transpires he wasn’t even told about the bar mis-alignment.

It looks like a very synical attempt to sell me a set of tyres which have nothing to do with the issue in question.

I shall update as soon as I have any news.

Colin.

 

[twizzle]

Any news?

 

[leasky]

Any news?

No final outcome but the service dept of John Clark, Aberdeen have not covered themselves in glory thus far.

The Service person did not pass all the information to the tech and only stated that the TFT screen was misaligned. The tech reported back (correctly) that the screen was fine. The tech did not ride the bike as this was not required.

Prior to me being informed that the bike was “ready”, John Clark emailed Vines stating that the bike was “safe, faultless and fit for purpose”.

I was informed the bike was ready and went in to find the bars in the exact same condition and my above post covers me speaking with the tech.

It transpires that Denzo was bang on the money with his above post and this is what the tech has found to be the issue. The tech advised me to get the tyres changed (not at John Clark) prior to him aligning the clamps / forks. I subsequently booked the bike into the place I always use for my tiyres and they went and snapped the nut off the front spindle when removing the wheel on Friday.

I am supposed to be getting the bike back from them tomorrow and getting it back into John Clark for the tech to work his magic. I am hoping to have the bike back and able to go for a run by mid week.

Not an ideal start but I am hoping it will all be worth it.

 

[MotoRevive]

There are all sorts of reasons why your bars can be or just look misaligned. Something shifted in a drop, people messing around with the postions etc.

Measure the distance from the end of each side of the handlbars to the same fixed postition on the tank. A few mm difference is normal but you should be able to tell if something is really off.

If it's fitted with knobblies and you only notice this when riding, then there coud be some truth in what they're saying. It's not always correct to instantly call bullshit. A lot of knobbley tyres don't track exactly straight. But from what you're saying, it does seem unlikely.

 

[Bigcats]

I had something similar on my V Strom, was just the forks misaligned.

Very simple to fix...just loosen the fork braces, realign and then tighten.
This explains it.

https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/how-to-straighten-a-twisted-motorcycle-fork#:~:text=Loosening%20the%20front%2Dend%20hardware,giving%20your%20motorcycle%20chest%20compressions.

But very simple fix

 

[leasky]

Gents, thank you all again for the pointers and kind offers.

Got the bike back late this afternoon and happy to say that the misaligned forks have been corrected.

I will take her out for a couple of hours tomorrow but even the short ride back to the house today was enough to give me the assurance that she is now sorted.