A newbie with doubts

[philmet]

Hi eveyone Philmet here. In a moment of madness I bought a new 1200 GS and took delivery on 22.4.09. Nice looking bike, very popular model and my friend loves his.

Went for a run to Spurn point last week with 100 miles on clock, got bogged down in sand!! and dropped it, probably at walking pace. First drop in years.

Picked my new pride and joy up to see a smashed head protector and oil pouring from the head. It now had 180 miles on the clock.

Could not see a crack in the head cover but it was grazed. Nursed bike home and with some help tipped it over - oil gushing out of spark plug hole. Called assistance and the bike was taken to Rainbow at Rotherham.

Clearly I need some crash bars or better still to learn not to drop it. Is this a common occurence and a weak area or does this bike have a fault? Something that is marketed as suitable for off roading needs to be fairly robust.

My enthusiasm for the bike needs rekindling. Someone tell me it will be alright.

Sorry to whinge on my first posting.

 

[chipsonfriday]

Hi, and welcome.

I have had my GS for three weeks and love it. Bought it second hand with just over 4000 miles on the clock.

Dropped it within two hours.

Fortunately it was on the sand on Weston beach and I had crash bars fitted. No damage - except to my pride (did someone see me!!!).

You must have hit some hard sand...

 

[philmet]

Hi Chipson friday

I managed a week without dropping it. It probably landed on a lump of Napoleonic sea defence. Hope to hear from Rainbow tomorrow with good news and a small bill!

Cheers

 

[Duchess]

Hi eveyone Philmet here. In a moment of madness I bought a new 1200 GS and took delivery on 22.4.09. Nice looking bike, very popular model and my friend loves his.

Went for a run to Spurn point last week with 100 miles on clock, got bogged down in sand!! and dropped it, probably at walking pace. First drop in years.

Picked my new pride and joy up to see a smashed head protector and oil pouring from the head. It now had 180 miles on the clock.

Could not see a crack in the head cover but it was grazed. Nursed bike home and with some help tipped it over - oil gushing out of spark plug hole. Called assistance and the bike was taken to Rainbow at Rotherham.

Clearly I need some crash bars or better still to learn not to drop it. Is this a common occurence and a weak area or does this bike have a fault? Something that is marketed as suitable for off roading needs to be fairly robust.

My enthusiasm for the bike needs rekindling. Someone tell me it will be alright.

Sorry to whinge on my first posting.

Sounds like alot of damage from just one drop ... but then you had no head protectors or crash bars to prevent any damage.

The rocker cover casings just arent that strong.

Hope you get it sorted soon, thats not good to have that happen to a brand new bike so soon. You must be gutted.

Welcome BTW, there's a wealth of knowledge to be had here for free and if you cant find it just shout.

I'll move your post over to the 1200 section of the forum .... I think you'll get a better response in there.

 

[philmet]

Thanks for that Duchess - how do I get to the 1200 forum? Sorry for being stupid.

 

[Mav]

As Duchess says, they're not the strongest. Although, I think you were also just very unlucky I've ridden my HP2 a fair bit off road, certainly dropped it plenty , and only needed to replace a rocker cover once.

So don't worry, keep riding it and don't be afraid to drop it. You might also want to consider adding some metal putty to the tool kit

Welcome to the site

 

[swissrob]

have a look for hepco becker or sw motech engine bars. Dont bother with the tank bars from hepco becker as they dont fit properly and a right pain in the arse to fit/remove...

 

[philmet]

Thanks for the welcome Mav. I will persist with the GS and perhaps consider some airbags as well as crashbars - once I get it run - in.

 

[philmet]

Cheers Swissrob - I've already been scanning various brands and I think the motech look favourite but would welcome any guidence.

 

[swissrob]

phil, i was exactly the same as u- paranoid about dropping the bike as its a tad on the heavy side..... until it happened! fit a set of engine bars, the bars will get a few scuff marks but so what. you will get used to it after some weeks and wont be so stressed. enjoy it as it a nice bike.

have a look at the mounting points for the bars - the newer design of the motech is better than the older version.

people that have the original BMW bars have found they bent out of shape really easily and ended up with head damage anyway!

i have the hepco engine bars so im biased!

 

[Palerider]

We've all dropped em at some point or other....fortunately I did it with someone else's....

Good job I was on the BMW off road course eh? WHAT a mess!!!

Dropping it isn't the problem anyway....it's picking the bar steward thing back up again!!!

P

 

[OldCroc]

Phil
I cant see how to pm you. I see you are in Retford and nursing. Is that the hospital with the fence around it?
OldCroc

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Phil
I cant see how to pm you. I see you are in Retford and nursing. Is that the hospital with the fence around it?
OldCroc

Oldcroc

Phil has to be a paid up member of the site to access the pm facility. A great way to spend £12

 

[OldCroc]

Oldcroc

Phil has to be a paid up member of the site to access the pm facility. A great way to spend £12

Phil - pay up!

 

[Duchess]

Thanks for that Duchess - how do I get to the 1200 forum? Sorry for being stupid.

Dont worry you're in it already, I've moved your thread over.

Here's a quick link to the rest of it .... enjoy

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=92


You'll find your way around soon enough

oh and a quick link to the subscription bit, I see you've gained a friend already

http://www.ukgser.com/subscriptions.htm

 

[ityjoe1959]

Philmet with Doubts!!!

Can't understand why everyone is being so sympathetic to this man.

Just got back from atrip to Morocco with him, whist he still had his Fazer1000.

He dropped it on the ferry from Algaceras to Cueto, he hit a metal stanchion and then got stuck between a rubbish bin and a tree near Zafra

But I love him to bits

And here he is

 

[Sgt Bilco]

So he has previous eh?

 

[Monsieur]

Went for a run to Spurn point last week

Sorry to hear about you dropping the bike.
As an aside, how far can you actually ride down to spurn point without getting your feet wet?

 

[mrsroynie]

We've all dropped em at some point or other....fortunately I did it with someone else's....

Good job I was on the BMW off road course eh? WHAT a mess!!!

Dropping it isn't the problem anyway....it's picking the bar steward thing back up again!!!

P

Welcome Phil, and sorry to hear about your mishap. If you are new to the whole GS thing, why not take up Palerider's suggestion of BMW's Off-Road Skills course? Roynie and I just got back from a thoroughly enjoyable, if rather wet, weekend in Wales. We did their Level 1 course on 26/27th April, followed by their new Adventure Maintenance course on 28th - a great confidence-builder for anyone who might be nervous about working on their own bike. We picked up some good tips about what is useful and not-so useful to carry in a toolkit - and, yes, two-part epoxy is now part of ours.

The Off-Road Skills course was great. At the start of the course, I would have said there was quite a variety in riding skills and confidence. But by the end of the second day, they had us all doing stuff we wouldn't have believed possible on the first morning. Perhaps the most significant factor is that you are riding BMW's bikes and are positively encouraged not to try and save the machine if you come off, "Just throw it away. Jump clear. If you break it, we'll get you another one." The experience was worth every penny.

 

[The Burpster]

tee hee....

Welcome Phil.....

You need to grow longer legs mate......

I'll bet Bob has done nowt but slag you off since you got it.....

Why on earth he STILL takes every opportunity to have a go at me about mine I will never understand.

Anyhoo, it'll get sorted pretty quick, I'm sure and whilst they LOOK like they should be ace off road, unless you are 6'4'' AND you're build then forget it....

Enjoy it where they excel..... leaving jap bike owners wondering how the flook an old fart on a boxer twin can go so quick.....

As for bars, I'm not entirely convinced they are such a good idea for man of your (uuurrrrhmmmp) manic tendancies..... .

I just put the plastic BMW headcovers on to protect it when falling over. A big off will bend the crashbars into the engine and could cause more damage... (IMO, and alos I'm not terribly keen on where they mount to the engine as you will be trasnfering a lot of the energy of the fall into the bar mounting bolts) thats why I didnt bother after I did my leg a couple of years ago.



Bob..... (yes that one!)