Curious case of a BMW super-brakes that didn't stop the bike
One of the top bikes on display at the NEC will be BMW Montauk, a beautiful 1200cc machine. Like the German manufacturer's other flagship models it features power braking. Unfortunately, as I and a colleague discovered, the system is flawed. When I tested the Montauk I crashed it into a fence. Kevin Ash, who writes for Motorcycle News, crashed another BMW with the same brakes into a wall. In both instances the power braking didn't respond.
BMW has gone to great lengths developing a system that is supposed to make stopping easier by providing power assistance from the engine. When you press on the brakes a servo system multiplies the pressure you apply. But in certain admittedly rare circumstances the system is slow to cut in and you are left with the sensation of having no brakes at all.
My close shave happened when I was riding the Montauk, a cruiser similar to the bike Pierce Brosnan rode in the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies near Bondi Beach, Australia, earlier this year. The only thing that stopped me going over a cliff into the Pacific was a wooden fence. Bond survived a 200ft leap but I would not have. Ash crashed a BMW under almost identical circumstances while testing a new model.
Jeremy Bowdler, editor of Two Wheels, Australia's bestselling motorcycling magazine, is also sceptical of the system. BMW does have a problem and I suspect it goes deeper than they'll admit, he said. After testing the Montauk, Bowdler claimed: What I see as the problem (with the brakes) is an intermittent fault I have experienced on several modern BMWs, not just the Montauk.
BMW's spokesman in the UK denied a fault. He also said there was always enough a residual braking back-up brakes that don't need power to stop the bike. At the same time the company has tacitly acknowledged the braking system could be improved. It has ,significantly strengthened the back-up brakes on its new R1200GS and K1200S. The company has also put a note in its owners manual emphasising that riders must go through a series of procedures after switching on the engine (involving releasing the brakes for long enough for the system to prime itself), especially when starting the bike on a gradient. But, as Ash pointed out, you shouldn't have to consult a manual to find out how to use brakes.
Motorcyclist Magazine, the popular American publication, went a step further, saying: servo-assisted system is, we believe, a prime example of misguided technology creating more problems than it solves, muddling the connection between rider and road . . . All semblance of feel and feedback are gone, with no gain to compensate. Motorcycles do not need power brakes, at least not these power brakes.
The Sunday Times 11/07/2004 ~ Nicholas Rufford
