Dropped Bike - now no brake assist

[chickenlegs]

If it wasn't bad enough that I stupidly forgot to flick out the side stand this morning (mind, miles away) and consequently dropped the bike on its left hand side - starting it up to go home from work later, I noticed no brake assist and the brake failure warning light constantly flashing.
I tried a few things:
1. switching the bike off, waiting a few moments and starting up again - warning light still flashing
2. hitting the ABS button - this appears to do nothing

The brakes are really unresponsive and a little spongy, as you'd imagine, and I am a little baffled as to how to cure this issue.

I have not had a chance to check any fluid reservoirs as it's too dark. The speedo is working fine and all other warning lights are off. The brake lights are also fine.

Any advice would be welcome.
Chris

 

[Wapping]

When you picked the bike up, make sure you did not somehow move the front brake handguard to foul the brake lever. Make sure the lever moves in and out smoothly and that you can 'flick' it forward.

 

[chickenlegs]

no brake assist

I ( and one helper!) picked up the bike on the clutch side as it fell on its left hand side. I have adjusted the guard on the lhs and the clutch level is moving in and out without any trouble. The rhs was unaffected by the drop.
I thought that maybe we had damaged the ABS button on the left handlebar when picking up the bike, but can't see how we would have done.

 

[immigrant]

Check if your brake light is on when the ignition is on but prior to starting the bike. Might give some clue as to where the issue is. Probably the usual microswitch story in either the foot pedal or the lever.

 

[finn]

Try disconneting the battery for 10 mins hopefully it will reset itself

 

[jogo]

Could it be that you lost brake fluid when the bike was down? What ABS system do you have? If it is the servosystem there are brake fluid reservoires (one for front, one for rear) in the ABS unit under the gas tank. Those are closed by plugs with overflow hoses connected to them.
Just a thought...

 

[Bones]

Check if your brake light is on when the ignition is on but prior to starting the bike. Might give some clue as to where the issue is. Probably the usual microswitch story in either the foot pedal or the lever.

I fixed this probelm on my bike yesterday. I had to 'repair' the microswitch. What a fecking useless design that is. I had to fix the indicator microswitch recently too and I now realise that some aspects of the GS were redesigned for the sake of it. Years of dealing with robust, easy to understand and fix switches on numerous bikes and BMW for some reason thought it would be a good idea to have a fragile, complicated, difficult (or expensive) to repair system instead.

 

[Dazlove]

No Brakes

Hi

Not sure how these things work on the 1200..........

My 1150 was vandalised a couple of years ago, basically kicked over in a car park.

After being picked up (the bike that is!) I noticed front brake very spongy.

It turned out that the shock of hitting the ground had caused the front brake master cylinder banjo bolt to just loosen and was causing a leak in the system.

regards

Dazlove

 

[chickenlegs]

Problem solved

A huge thank you to everyone who provided very valuable help and advice. I am pretty sure that I have tracked down the problem to the foot brake micro switch. The little flappy contact on the switch had hopped over the small bolt that is connected to the foot brake lever and wasn't making contact at all. This must have been jolted over when the bike went over - hardly a very roughty toughty design!
I guess that the diagnosis that the bike does from start up would have detected this issue, but I can't quite see why the brake assist system would then be completely shut off.
Anyway, very relieved to have the braking system back after a slightly terrifying journey home from work with hardly any braking power!
Thanks again for your help.
Chris