Bad day

[Buz]

'Residual braking' is adequate to ride with...........................................

Thanks Fanum, good explanation, similar thing as running a car downhill without the engine and trying to stop

 

[Fanum]

Thanks Fanum, good explanation, similar thing as running a car downhill without the engine and trying to stop

Yes, almost exactly the same with some old vacuum assisted servos

Scary as fekk, but it can be dealt with......in fact, worth experiencing deliberately to get the 'feel' of it I reckon (in a safe and controlled way of course)

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

I was thinking of you and Hobo Tim today .. Met some semi pro bloke out and about today on a Beta Evo 300. He was very flash! (Rolling downhill stoppies and the like ... ).

Some of the younger guys are amazing

Now, I wish i'd stuck at through my 20's and 30's and done it more to be better now

Sometimes I can put in a good stylish ride, other times it goes to pieces

I need to work on the consistency

 

[Fanum]

Geezer's had a bad day, crashed his bike and narrowly missed mushing some kids up to paste down the road......but Johnny and Giles are flirting like teenagers

Get a room you two!!

 

[Shep]

My 04 1200, could default to residual brakes on a whim. Anything from hanguards fouling the levers on startup, a lump of mud on the rear brakelight switch, blown rear light bulb, rear light corrosion or just because it could.

It was a real pain, in the end i was so used to expecting the brakes to have an off day i just got used to it.

If your speedo stops working there's a fair chance the brakes have joined the club and gone on strike too

This all culminated in Bwm replacing the bike, but only after the front brake locked the wheel up for an instant just when the front brake microswich was operated, the lockup was only an instant but as i was just entering a roundabout in the wet, it certainly concentrated my thoughts for a while. Luckily i was just up the road from SPC and the fault was still current when i got the bike to the workshop.

Good luck

Shep

 

[Giles]

Geezer's had a bad day, crashed his bike and narrowly missed mushing some kids up to paste down the road......but Johnny and Giles are flirting like teenagers

Get a room you two!!

I was thinking of you too today Bill

I saw this big fat ginger bloke ......

Sorry Format - JB has very bad manners. I'll remind him next time I see him ...

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Geezer's had a bad day, crashed his bike and narrowly missed mushing some kids up to paste down the road......but Johnny and Giles are flirting like teenagers

Get a room you two!!

Ahh.............shutta uppa ya face

 

[Pukmeister]

I had an early 2004 model 1200, and although I never had any real issues with my brakes (apart from a fouled handguard/microswitch), I was happy to change the bike after five years of ownership for a newer model GSA with the non-servo ABS system. I never fancied experiencing what you have just had happen to you. Very glad to hear you are all okay (yourself and the bystanders).

I can imagine the press having a field day if kids got hurt due to a BMW servo bikes inability to stop.

 

[Nutty]

Sorry to hear that. Glad you're still in one piece, and that no one was hit.

 

[shugie]

There are well documented ways of bypassing the servo and ABS to return the bike to a more basic system of direct hydraulic brakes....a quick search here will turn it up for you.

But if the new MOT rules apply to bikes, then if the bike had ABS when it was built, it seems it will need to have it installed and working at MOT time. Of course, not all testers will check, and if there is no ABS button on the switchgear, they might assume it never was.

The difference between 'normal' (light finger pressure) and "residual' (lever bending) is huge, and I don't think BMW ever made it clear just how hard you need to pull to stop without the servo.

 

[Tobers]

I had servo failure on my 2004 1200GS. The rear brake light bulb holder had become corroded (after less than 12 months use!) and BMW in their unbelievable manner had determined that this problem should cause the servo pump to fail. Totally utterly crap design.

The result was that the brake lever required much more effort to pull and get any reaction from the bike.

What was even worse was that once I'd figured out the effort needed to get the piece of shit bike to stop, and rode off to the dealer to get it sorted, the servo decided to start operating again as I braked to turn left. The consequence of me yanking on the lever to get the thing to stop in non-servo mode, with the servo then cutting in, resulted in me stopping extremely quickly and missing getting rear-ended by the car following by about 6 inches.

I've got to say that the early servo design was totally and utterly shit.

I'm glad you aren't dead. You easily could be. Get onto a solicitor and sue the arse off BMW.

 

[Fanum]

But if the new MOT rules apply to bikes, then if the bike had ABS when it was built, it seems it will need to have it installed and working at MOT time. Of course, not all testers will check, and if there is no ABS button on the switchgear, they might assume it never was.

Unless the tester has access to a database that will tell them that the bike had ABS from new AND is a bit of a prick, I can't see it mattering.

What they are looking for are brakes that work....if an abs bypass has been done, it would be very unreasonable to fail the bike because the ABS isnt fitted, as long as it meets or exceeds the minumum braking resistance

They'd only find out anyway if they locked up the wheel when testing it, and the level for passing it is below that line.

Not something that would worry me if I'd taken my abs off.

 

[Format]

Unless the tester has access to a database that will tell them that the bike had ABS from new AND is a bit of a prick, I can't see it mattering.

What they are looking for are brakes that work....if an abs bypass has been done, it would be very unreasonable to fail the bike because the ABS isnt fitted, as long as it meets or exceeds the minumum braking resistance

They'd only find out anyway if they locked up the wheel when testing it, and the level for passing it is below that line.

Not something that would worry me if I'd taken my abs off.

Well believe it or not, on Saturday I helped the guy do the MOT test, I held the buttons to test the brakes and he did it whilst the bike was not running, this was all done when the bike and Servo was turned off.

 

[Format]

Did forget to add.........my fookin elbow is killing me now and the rest of my body that has an old muscle, found a few lumps in my back that I did not feel yesterday.

I have had really bad pains under my right rib cage and all the way down to my right hand side stomach, any GS doctors know what that might be?

 

[ihandyman247]

Oh man
I am so sorry to here about your experience , I hope that you are ok!

Sounds to me like your battery was week and didn't had much power to activate the ABS but your bike it should have been able to stoop even if the ABS was cut out , I remember when I move the bike from place to place writhe the engine off the breacks work's perfectly fine .
I wish you all the best

Took the bike out for a ride and on my side of the road two kids on bikes and a car incoming, pulled on the brakes and there was hardly anything there, pulled harder and still not stopping.

So the kids and the car getting closer I had no choice but to ditch it into the hedge, bike slows and then I get flipped over when it went into some branches. I roll onto the road just missing the kids.

The bike is stood upright in the branches and luckily the car driver stops and he helps me get the bike out. Left hand mirror smashed and has been ripped off the stem, left side cylinder protector smashed, dent in downpipes and a bruised back and swollen elbow but apart from that I think I got away with it lightly.

I start the bike and the brakes still don't work, got on the bike and limped it into a village and then the ABS starts

Anyone ever had the ABS fail? The bike is 2004 and got 30k. Bike was only MOT'd yesterday and passed with flying colours.

 

[Fanum]

Well believe it or not, on Saturday I helped the guy do the MOT test, I held the buttons to test the brakes and he did it whilst the bike was not running, this was all done when the bike and Servo was turned off.

I do believe it, completely.

With no servo and the engine off, all you've got is the sealed hydraulic system, which (it seems from what you just said and what my experience of 'residual braking' under control tells me as well as the reports of others) is enough to score highly enough on whatever scale they measure braking performance on

As I said earlier, the problem isn't the residual brake power, that is adequate, but only if you are expecting it......the problem is the massive difference between servo feel and servo-less feel, and that effect happening in the split second that you actually need it, when you're about to mow down some kids or have to choose the hedge instead

 

[Spike]

Did forget to add.........my fookin elbow is killing me now and the rest of my body that has an old muscle, found a few lumps in my back that I did not feel yesterday.

I have had really bad pains under my right rib cage and all the way down to my right hand side stomach, any GS doctors know what that might be?

Trip to the hospital might be in order, could be a multitude of things from a fractured/broken rib to just very badly bruised muscles.

still better to get it checked out though in opinion.


spike

 

[Format]

I do believe it, completely.

With no servo and the engine off, all you've got is the sealed hydraulic system, which (it seems from what you just said and what my experience of 'residual braking' under control tells me as well as the reports of others) is enough to score highly enough on whatever scale they measure braking performance on

As I said earlier, the problem isn't the residual brake power, that is adequate, but only if you are expecting it......the problem is the massive difference between servo feel and servo-less feel, and that effect happening in the split second that you actually need it, when you're about to mow down some kids or have to choose the hedge instead

Your right mate, the difference is huge when you don't expect it! Hence the off roading lol.

Been to the docs today and they are sending me to hospital for tests, WTF do I do now? sell the bike knowing that there maybe some damage somewhere, kick the fook out of the guy that sold me it, write to BMW about the NDA (near death experience)?

I am now really pished off, I bought the GS cos BMW don't break, so I thought, so now I have a big bill to get it straight, a bike I don't want because I cannot trust it and a really pished off confidence about BMW full stop.

The bike has to go...end of...

Now I have got the rant over and feel better, this has only been the unsafe thing about the bike, it has always been an awesome machine until now, it has really looked after me riding wise, not mechanical at all because that has been troublsome, but has always put up with what I gave it.

I have panniers and top box, all in very good condition....so another BM or a Triumph adventure????

What you think you guys with the newer R1200GS?

Thank you for all your input guys.

 

[Engineer]

Your right mate, the difference is huge when you don't expect it! Hence the off roading lol.

Been to the docs today and they are sending me to hospital for tests, WTF do I do now? sell the bike knowing that there maybe some damage somewhere, kick the fook out of the guy that sold me it, write to BMW about the NDA (near death experience)?

I am now really pished off, I bought the GS cos BMW don't break, so I thought, so now I have a big bill to get it straight, a bike I don't want because I cannot trust it and a really pished off confidence about BMW full stop.

The bike has to go...end of...

Now I have got the rant over and feel better, this has only been the unsafe thing about the bike, it has always been an awesome machine until now, it has really looked after me riding wise, not mechanical at all because that has been troublsome, but has always put up with what I gave it.

I have panniers and top box, all in very good condition....so another BM or a Triumph adventure????

What you think you guys with the newer R1200GS?

Thank you for all your input guys.

I have the 2010 1200GS with just normal non-abs brakes and they are very powerful with great feel, no complex technology to go wrong - IMHO simple is best.

 

[APE]

If you don't trust it but want another GS get a later model without the servo. I never liked that system so stuck to non-servo non-ABS until they changed it to a conventional setup. You don't have to stick to non-ABS as the current ABS bikes don't have the servo