Fork Stanchion recall?

[malcopopolo]

Whinging - yes. Overrreacting - yes. My head isn't in the sand, and nor do I believe corporate bullshit. Nor the bullshit you write either. I am a realist and take a sensible and pragmatic position based on credible risk management. You just spout ridiculous and provocative drivel.

the response was not to you but engineer.
so take a pragmatic view and read responses correctly

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[XPilot]

the response was not to you but engineer.
so take a pragmatic view and read responses correctly

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

I do realise your reply was to Engineer's comments. But the limit of your intelligent replies to me is kiss my donkey !

 

[Nutty]

Raining ?

I bet they've used 'your' allocated parts on somebody else's bike then

Nah, they're sat there ready to go on my bike later in the month.

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Nah, they're sat there ready to go on my bike later in the month.

If somebody needs them tomorrow as their need is greater than yours immediately - then the dealer will fit them & reorder more for you
That's how dealers work and you know it

 

[JerseyNeil]

I'm sure with the amount of bikes that Nutty buys, the dealer will have had them silver plated and in a velvet box with his name on..........

 

[Nutty]

If somebody needs them tomorrow as their need is greater than yours immediately - then the dealer will fit them & reorder more for you
That's how dealers work and you know it

As long as they have the relevant parts in stock when my bike goes in, that's fine by me

 

[westride]

I had an early 2013 model that had to be 'dimpled crimped' at the dealer before I could pick it up - BMW flew technicians over from Germany to do the work because they found that during testing the forks could work lose. I did more than 27,000 miles on that bike before I bought my current 2015 bike with the larger crimps, I have done over 26,000 miles on this bike and a quick check of the forks show that all is well. The problem has only occurred on bikes that have had a hard time, I know how my bike has been treated and a quick check reveals all is OK - I have no worries as so few bikes have been affected and I am old enough, wise enough and been riding bikes long enough to make my own judgement.

Anyone who rides a motorcycle needs to get to know their machine and have a bit of common sense otherwise they should give it up.

If you bike isn't affected then stop whinging and go ride the thing instead of commenting on something you know nothing about.

I do know what I'm talking about, I have also taken advice from design engineers and stress engineering experts! This is not about opinions, it's very much about a serous design fault! The benefits of sites like this should always be about helping each other! I haven't replied to your comments to in anyway challenge your comments. I am merely giving you the benefit of the time and effort I have made because of my genuine concern! I want to "stress " I have no interest in having any kind of ill feelings towards anyone on this site. I have no space in my life for negativity!

 

[Engineer]

I do know what I'm talking about, I have also taken advice from design engineers and stress engineering experts! This is not about opinions, it's very much about a serous design fault! The benefits of sites like this should always be about helping each other! I haven't replied to your comments to in anyway challenge your comments. I am merely giving you the benefit of the time and effort I have made because of my genuine concern! I want to "stress " I have no interest in having any kind of ill feelings towards anyone on this site. I have no space in my life for negativity!

There are loads of 'experts' about, but unless they they make their living from motorcycle chassis design then I'd be cautious of their advice. The fact is that 10s of thousands of GSes have been sold since 2013 and very few have had problems and those that have have been heavily used off road, so the chances of a 'normal' user having us issues is very small indeed and vanishing small if they check their forks for any abnormality before they ride - if you don't have the confidence to check it yourself then don't ride until you can get the dealer to check it - simples

 

[Deleted account 190920002]

Westride i wholeheartly agree with your comments, we don't want to pull out every mistake BM has made in handling this rather unfortunate episode. But the fact is the potential for accidents if the stanchion tube fails is real. Perhaps BM should have taken more care to engineer a safety margin for these parts to cope with off-road use. Because after all the bike is a heavy one and depending on surfaces it's ridden the shock loads can vary tremendously. I designed some equipment in the fish processing industry and yes I made mistakes in assuming operators would use the machinery as I would ( but some of them didn't) and it was no fault to them I may add, but mine!

 

[Devil]

I have just ordered a new 2018 GSA, is this a mistake?.

 

[XPilot]

I think it's highly unlikely they didn't design in a safety margin; they're not amateurs and have been doing this for a long time. The fact that there have been a statistically minuscule number of complete failures given the number of bikes sold, and the wide range of use they are subjected to, bears testament to an essentially safe design. Obviously it's not perfect but nor is it the catastrophe waiting to happen that it is being painted to be.

 

[Pukmeister]

The first time I looked down at my forks whilst riding over bumps (hexhead) I was very surprised at the amount of articulation of the forks around the upper yoke as the telelever flexed upards. I've only ridden an lc gs once on smooth tarmac, but if they have increased upper fork flexion compared to a hexhead then i am not surprised about possible failures if the going gets tough.

 

[Deleted account 190920002]

XPilot you've made a valid point my friend but, ( could be a big but) if you are the rider whose fork/stanchion fails then it could be a problem and all right if the chances of failure are as you say minuscule but that will be small comfort if you're seriously hurt.

 

[Fagin]

I have a 2016 GS Triple Black which is one of the bikes affected by the fork issue.
Does anyone in the UK know if BMW has issued the recall here as yet please?

Cheers

Fagin

 

[Nutty]

I have just ordered a new 2018 GSA, is this a mistake?.

No. Next question.

 

[westride]

There are loads of 'experts' about, but unless they they make their living from motorcycle chassis design then I'd be cautious of their advice. The fact is that 10s of thousands of GSes have been sold since 2013 and very few have had problems and those that have have been heavily used off road, so the chances of a 'normal' user having us issues is very small indeed and vanishing small if they check their forks for any abnormality before they ride - if you don't have the confidence to check it yourself then don't ride until you can get the dealer to check it - simples

My last comment on this subject on here! Credit is given to you, as you admit a suitably qualified stress & design engineer within our beloved industry would be qualified to inform me! I don't think I need to say anything else! Checking my bike before each ride is something that is very easy for me! Checking my bike after " unusual momentary high stress " is impossible. I would have to stop the bike as this is taking place! That's simply impossible!

 

[XPilot]

XPilot you've made a valid point my friend but, ( could be a big but) if you are the rider whose fork/stanchion fails then it could be a problem and all right if the chances of failure are as you say minuscule but that will be small comfort if you're seriously hurt.

True, but I still maintain that simply taking to the road is much, much more of a risk than the forks collapsing.

 

[Deleted account 190920002]

XPilot you're sure right on that comment. Let's hope BM will quickly resolve these shortcomings with their suspension units then folk will be able to have peace of mind riding their bikes. I know that not having confidence in your bike isn't a good thing for them (BM that is) or us riders.

 

[Engineer]

As I rode to work this morning I did an experiment - I placed my finger tips (carefully) between the fork stanchion tops and the underside of the triple clamp, I did this several times on smooth roads and bumpy roads - there was no discernible angular movement between the two - so the geometry of the telelever and the wishbone ball joint must be such that there is zero or almost zero movement at the point where the stanchions connect with the triple clamp.

This how I would expect the design to be.

 

[fred_jb]

As I rode to work this morning I did an experiment - I placed my finger tips (carefully) between the fork stanchion tops and the underside of the triple clamp, I did this several times on smooth roads and bumpy roads - there was no discernible angular movement between the two - so the geometry of the telelever and the wishbone ball joint must be such that there is zero or almost zero movement at the point where the stanchions connect with the triple clamp.

This how I would expect the design to be.

I doubt you would be able to get enough suspension movement while riding one handed to be able to feel any movement. Maybe shoving some bluetack in there and seeing how much it deforms would give a better impression (literally!) ?

Fred