R1300 GSA ASA Surging issues!

[flyman]

Hi all, I have a R1300 GSA ASA April 2026 Just completed 6940Miles and 1st service.
I have noticed from the beginning of owning the bike that at a fixed throttle/steady RPM (in any mode, Drive or manual) The bike does Surg/Hunt/Lurch, worse at high end speeds while being ridden, quite annoying on motorways which I try to avoid or on long Spanish straights, it was reported to BMW and has been remapped twice but problem still the issue exists, BMW have been great and the bike is due to go bike after my trip to France in a couple of weeks time.
I was wandering has anyone experienced similar problems please?

 

[Martin GSA UK]

May 2026, 1300GSA, 3,000 miles, no surging issues, even on cruise control. In your own garage, where do you start on fault diagnosis on these beasts! Perhaps worth checking the battery terminals and earth strap(s?) are tight. Other than that, you're doing the right thing to hand it back to get it sorted out.

 

[botus]

its a "feature" BWM have brought meeting Euro5+ emission stds - any constant throttle causes this unpleasant surging "they all do it"

there is a later map that makes little to no difference - the issue stems from years of getting away with using archaic engine management principles - because ricado see wins in each gear being able to have its own map - as you can easily pass noise and emission regs if second gear has a pile of junk fiddles in there - and as you only use for a short period...

I nearly fell off my chair when I realised they don't run wideband CAT sensors and tech that has a chance...

I guess the only hope would be all the incompetent old fools that have enough to buy these - need to keep dropping the bikes on the floor at the dealerships and then raise a worldwide class action suit that gets a real modern ECU a MAP and MAF sensor that actually has a chance to understand the air mass the bike is using - alongside CAT sensors my car was using in 2006 !!!

 

[BusterDan]

Would you achieve the same behaviour on a bike with a clutch?... so I mean riding along then momentarily pull the clutch lever in and let it go again, effectively disengaging the drive chain from the gearbox?

If so then I would say there is a good chance the actuator seals are leaking in the ASA system. It's a known issue although tends to be more evident when first pulling away from stationary (a problem that my bike had). But I wonder if it could also happen at high speeds too.

This is my bike.... it was a 2025 model

 

[botus]

its exclusively meeting Euro5+ that causes it - its nothing whatsoever to do with the gearbox the bike has or the way it changes gear

whilst the targets are no different from Euro5 all the 2023 onward GS' had - its nasty tweaks to keep the tail pipe emission landing Euro5+ values till 21,748 miles (35k km) that brings the surging - if you can't feel it - its your riding style masking it - its there on every single one of them - and its unacceptable (hence why they already have an engine map update trying to stop owners complaining)

 

[RichardD]

Botus, you are a dangerous fool. Dangerous because some poor unsuspecting reader may actually take notice or believe the absolute drivel you post on here.

 

[Doris]

its exclusively meeting Euro5+ that causes it - its nothing whatsoever to do with the gearbox the bike has or the way it changes gear

whilst the targets are no different from Euro5 all the 2023 onward GS' had - its nasty tweaks to keep the tail pipe emission landing Euro5+ values till 21,748 miles (35k km) that brings the surging - if you can't feel it - its your riding style masking it - its there on every single one of them - and its unacceptable (hence why they already have an engine map update trying to stop owners complaining)

Cock.

 

[botus]

for the rude halfwits - it did not say its a feature of the pre-euro5+ bike's they run OK (vastly better and quite usable) - 2023 to 2025 GS' just have a mild cough now and then you can pretty much ignore - all > 01 Sept 2025 build bike's (MY2026) get the surging on a light constant throttle setting just as the OP states

 

[grantmac]

Botus, you are a dangerous fool. Dangerous because some poor unsuspecting reader may actually take notice or believe the absolute drivel you post on here.

What’s he posted now…. I have him on ignore as I can’t put up with the nonsensical rubbish from a machine like poster that can’t put words down in text properly let alone the content……

 

[HGS]

You should take him off ignore.....fucking hilarious

But seriously.......i can hear Boycie's voice

 

[RichardD]

What’s he posted now…. I have him on ignore as I can’t put up with the nonsensical rubbish from a machine like poster that can’t put words down in text properly let alone the content……

More of the same. Not worth reading.

 

[Rasher]

Funny old world, early FI was a bit crude and gave jerky throttle response and poor low rev / low throttle running, by the time they perfect it governments around the world have brought in regs that make it impossible to reliably combust fuel at low revs / low throttle openings.

My 1290 KTM is a 2018 MY, the same base bike was sold until 2020, which is when Euro-5 came on, I am not sure if mine was Euro-5 compliant, or KTM made a small change from the 19 > 20 Model years?

Anyway, it ran OK and was pretty fuel efficient, was not particularly jerky and did not really surge, but was a bit off if trying to hold a steady 20mph, and at low speed / low gear the off to on throttle transition had a mild snatch....

...A remap later and it now crawls at 20 mph very happily, the off to on throttle snatch not only gone, but it highlights it was probably worse than I thought as the difference is very obvious once it has gone, it pulls way harder on small throttle openings and feels much "fitter" all around, and the biggest change was the improvement in smoothness at all revs, it would be pretty vibey and "luggy" at 60 in top before and now it is much smoother, I think it may even be running a bit cooler with less heat being thrown out at my legs.

The price of this is a 5%-10% drop in mpg, I did wonder if I could get the 5th and top gear maps leaned out a bit in cruising rev range to help with long sections of cruising in a high gear, but perhaps for the difference in the real world it would not be worth it if I lost the smoothness...

...Which was demonstrated when I took a 1390 evo for a test - the first thing I noticed was a lot of vibration through the footpegs, not sure if it is just the same as what I used to get, or if the 1390 on Euro 5+ is genuinely more vibey than my older bike (and it has bigger pistons / more power)

May go and try a 1300GS out of interest, mate has one and loves it, and two other vertically challenged mates have the 1300RT

 

[Martin GSA UK]

The only fuelling glitch I notice on the 1300 is very initial throttle response, pulling away from standing. It is better than my previous 1250GS, which required a short pause, to allow the engine to catch up with the throttle, before easing the clutch out. The 1300 doesn't need that, but there is a fractional moment when I wonder if I've misjudged it. On a hill start I am more careful to make sure it's with me, before taking off.

 

[flyman]

May 2026, 1300GSA, 3,000 miles, no surging issues, even on cruise control. In your own garage, where do you start on fault diagnosis on these beasts! Perhaps worth checking the battery terminals and earth strap(s?) are tight. Other than that, you're doing the right thing to hand it back to get it sorted out.

Cheers Martin, I do not do my own diagnostics checks I let the dealer do all that.

 

[flyman]

its a "feature" BWM have brought meeting Euro5+ emission stds - any constant throttle causes this unpleasant surging "they all do it"

there is a later map that makes little to no difference - the issue stems from years of getting away with using archaic engine management principles - because ricado see wins in each gear being able to have its own map - as you can easily pass noise and emission regs if second gear has a pile of junk fiddles in there - and as you only use for a short period...

I nearly fell off my chair when I realised they don't run wideband CAT sensors and tech that has a chance...

I guess the only hope would be all the incompetent old fools that have enough to buy these - need to keep dropping the bikes on the floor at the dealerships and then raise a worldwide class action suit that gets a real modern ECU a MAP and MAF sensor that actually has a chance to understand the air mass the bike is using - alongside CAT sensors my car was using in 2006 !!!

Thank you for your reply, so a design engine fault on behalf of BMW R1300 GSA?