Rear brake niggles

[JerryP]

Had my (red) GS for just about a month now.
Fabulous bike, dropped it already (parking it on a very sloping pavement) Happily I fitted the HB bars that morning!

My only niggles are the fairly limited fuel range and an odd problem with the rear brake that I've not seen mentioned here before.
In traffic on a fairly steep hill, holding the bike with the rear brake only, probably with light pressure on the footbrake, but it was enough to hold the bike. All of a sudden, it rolled back a foot or so and then stopped again. I have noticed this a couple of times now.
I mentioned it at the 600 mile service and was told (Prestige - Bexleyheat) that they all do this! They said that they has seen this before on another BMW, though I didn't ask which one at the time.

Anyone else had this happen?

 

[Mouse]

At a guess it could be one of two things:

1 - The ABS cut in, but this seems unlikely if you were stationary.

2 - The servos lost pressure for an instant. Why this should happen I have no idea. There have been allegations of problems with the BMW servo assisted brakes but I've not seen any concrete evidence of a problem myself. But I am keeping an open mind. And practicing emergency stops with no servo assist

If this had happened to me, I wouldn't let the dealer fob me off with "oh they all do that". If you are concerned about this, I would persue the dealer for an answer.

 

[gazza]

Had my (red) GS for just about a month now.
Fabulous bike, dropped it already (parking it on a very sloping pavement) Happily I fitted the HB bars that morning!

My only niggles are the fairly limited fuel range

Jerry what sort of mileage do you see as a limited fuel range, I constantly run to 240 on a tank with fuel remaining.

 

[airborne]

Re: Re: Rear brake niggles

Jerry what sort of mileage do you see as a limited fuel range, I constantly run to 240 on a tank with fuel remaining.

Best I've had so far is about 180 miles

Mind you most of the time I'm charging around through London's streets so I don't really get the chance to let it cruise.

Just did a run down to Tunbridge Wells and back but it seems that running at 90-ish helps its thirst somewhat!

 

[GSmonkey]

I'm getting about 180 to a tank around London. Haven't done a tank on the open road yet, so cannot comment. Just done the fuel tank mod though, so hopefully will be getting 200+ round London now.

 

[ahutcheon]

Had my (red) GS for just about a month now.
Fabulous bike, dropped it already (parking it on a very sloping pavement) Happily I fitted the HB bars that morning!

My only niggles are the fairly limited fuel range and an odd problem with the rear brake that I've not seen mentioned here before.
In traffic on a fairly steep hill, holding the bike with the rear brake only, probably with light pressure on the footbrake, but it was enough to hold the bike. All of a sudden, it rolled back a foot or so and then stopped again. I have noticed this a couple of times now.
I mentioned it at the 600 mile service and was told (Prestige - Bexleyheat) that they all do this! They said that they has seen this before on another BMW, though I didn't ask which one at the time.

Anyone else had this happen?

My 1150 with the servo brakes does something like this. After a short time holding the bike stationary on the brake, it seems to release for an instant then reapply. Just enough to feel the bike start to move if on a hill - nothing like a foot of roll. I guess it's the servo switching to a power-save mode or something; would have freaked me the first time I felt it except that I'd been told about it in advance, in a "they all do that" context.

 

[nadeem]

My bike does the same - releases momentarily if I hold it with the rear brake...

 

[Bloggs]

I've noticed that it takes a fair amount of lever travel to switch the servo on. When holding the bike for a while with the rear brake only, I find that I sometimes inadvertently release the brake pressure to the point where the servo switches off - leaving me with little brake pressure and letting the bike roll back slowly.
Maybe this is what is happenning to you?

 

[JerryP]

Q>> Jerry what sort of mileage do you see as a limited fuel range, I constantly run to 240 on a tank with fuel remaining.

I've only done 700 odd miles and not actually checked the exact mileage from a full tank. I was just surprised how small the tank was for such a large bike. That said, I don't have much experience to compare it with though.

Q>> I've noticed that it takes a fair amount of lever travel to switch the servo on. When holding the bike for a while with the rear brake only, I find that I sometimes inadvertently release the brake pressure to the point where the servo switches off - leaving me with little brake pressure and letting the bike roll back slowly.
Maybe this is what is happening to you?

Almost certainly. I did mention that I thought I was only exerting light pressure. I have always used just the footbrake at lights etc. even though the temptation is to use the front brake, as that's what I have been taught. I will give way to temptation in future.