So I went down.....

curiousexplorer · May 15, 2015

on entering a roundabout, in 2nd gear, leaning into the corner, and a bit of throttle to have the bike pull around the corner.
Suddenly the engine just conked out, rear wheel locked up, and made a half circle of rubber on the street, and I was down. It happened in one second, no time to pull clutch lever at all.
No personal damage, and there was no other traffic, lucky!!! just a bent hand protector.
Picked up the bike, pushed it to side of the road, tried to start it, started immediately, as if nothing had happened.
Now, this puzzled me no end. I could not point to any cause of what happened here.
Rode home, about 40 kms, fingers on clutch lever (!) no problem.
Decided I did not want to wait till this happened again, could not be so lucky then!

Remembered all stories about stalling engines, a while ago. Main causes: loose battery cables, side stand switch, fuel controller failure.
Last year I bought a 2nd hand controller -the black one, mine was still aluminium color- and stashed it away behind the buddyseat.
So I now decided to take preventive measures, shorting the side stand switch, replacing the fuel controller, checked battery connections and condition of battery.

I made a test ride, and to my surprise the bike was pulling harder, and smoother. the new controller made a difference. It came from an F700 but I suspect it has the same innards as my old one.

My wife has the same f650gs as me, (both have over 30k on the clock, no problems so far! ) and I managed to find another controller, and replaced her old one too. Again, resulting in more pull.

Now, is there anyone with more suggestions/ measures to prevent a future stall ?? :rob

Much appreciated,

Hans

steve hughes · May 15, 2015

First thing, sorry to hear you have come off, also good to see no damage. There is a thread below about slow speed stalls , might be worth comparing the conditions

ymfb · May 20, 2015

Glad your OK.

I thought the stalling issues were with the 1200. I haven't experienced anything like your description in the 18,000 miles I have ridden my F800GS.

As a matter of interest what year is the bike ?

I can imagine though you are extremely tentative, as I would be.

Jaws100 · May 20, 2015

My suggestion is to fit one of these or similar (the single setting one) ........never had a stall since fitting it, throttle much smoother and more pulling power 25,000 km up since fitting it. 09 F800GS

http://wukaking.com/products/

curiousexplorer · May 27, 2015

So, an update.
Our bikes are '09s. And as Jaws100 suggested I did something to improve the lean fuelling, and fitted the Accellarator Module from Marck Vernackt. Worked out well.
Further measures to eek out as much potential out of that wonderful Rotax engine : K&N filter, Iridium plugs, Remus exhaust, kat removed. Finally the engine can do what it is supposed to do, I had it on the dyno and it gave 72HP at the rear wheel. Good. Fellow bikers cannot understand why I can just keep up with them.... hehe..
Last weekend we did a 1200km bike trip, 4 days in North-Belgium. Beautiful, but most importantly, no hiccups. I got full confidence in the bikes again. Running wonderfully.
BUT I am going to tinker a bit more, BMW thinks a fuel filter will last the lifetime of the bike. It doesn't. Every 20k a new one is in order. If the filter is clogged up the fuel pump has difficulty pushing the fuel through, hence overheats and fails. New filters already arrived, and I have a spare pump on order.
Switzerland is next, all major mountainpasses. Can't wait... :aidan