Stupid stupid BMW controls

[nleader]

Ahh, but there's the difficulty, as you open the throttle, you rotate your wrist DOWN, moving your thumb FURTHER AWAY from the cancel button. Better to have it on the left, where your left thumb is stuck firmly in position.

Well cancel the indicator when you shut the throttle to change into the next gear, then! It's not that hard.

I like the controls on my GS although I often ride other bikes for work that use Jap-style switches, too. I can change between them without any problems. For me, the B*W arrangement works really well in the winter with thick warm gloves on when other arrangements are not so easy due to the smaller switch sizes.

I would agree regarding the headlight 'flash' capability, though. Except I never give a headlight flash when riding, so it's a bit academic.

Norman

 

[GSmonkey]

Never had a single problem with conventional controls no matter how thick the gloves. They are simple and quick to use with the hand doing the least amount of work.

BMW have got it wrong.

Doesn't put me off what is a fantastic bike though

 

[Cone Bolt]

My heart bleeds for you lot if all you can worry about is if you hit the horn by mistake

My bloody horn hasn't worked since the day I collected the bike. No matter what they try it only works once then PHUT! Seems Mr BMW is involved now and the bike might need a new BRAIN.


C****T it's only a HORN

 

[Fanum]

I reckon if you're moaning about not being able to operate the BWM indicators properly, you must be some sort of spatially challenged wally with evident learning difficulties.

If you can't do something as easy and obvious as that, how on earth do you manage with something that is properly counter-intuitive like counter-steering huh??

Stay off the bloody roads FFS and give the rest of us a chance...or change them and stop whining and whinging like a load of old fishwives

 

[JayGee]

I reckon if you're moaning about not being able to operate the BWM indicators properly, you must be some sort of spatially challenged wally with evident learning difficulties.

If you can't do something as easy and obvious as that, how on earth do you manage with something that is properly counter-intuitive like counter-steering huh??

Stay off the bloody roads FFS and give the rest of us a chance...or change them and stop whining and whinging like a load of old fishwives

And this is from the forum moderator, nice to see the BMW BOF image being upheld!
But the indicator swithch is still CRAP, don't know about the horn cos every time I press it there must be a pizza delivery moped passing at the speed of light!
Oh, and no problem here with fishy wives!

 

[Fanum]

But the indicator swithch is still CRAP,

A bad workman.......

don't know about the horn cos every time I press it there must be a pizza delivery moped

Granted....the horn's pretty crap.

BOF???

 

[GSmonkey]

A bad workman.......

nah, just shite tools.

I do like the starter button though

 

[JayGee]

A bad workman.......





Granted....the horn's pretty crap.

BOF???

BOF=Boring Old Fart, no offence intended
At least we agree on the horn.
Let's not get carried away, it's only the f-ing indicators the bike is great. Just a pity BMW can't see it's they who have the indicators wrong, not the rest of the world.
Mind you the finish is a bit crap as well, well compared to my last Honda and even to my Ducati.
Just because it's BMW don't make it good

 

[Kropotkin]

Well cancel the indicator when you shut the throttle to change into the next gear, then! It's not that hard.

I only really have trouble in busy urban traffic, where you've got heavy traffic and lots and lots of turns to negotiate. So you're doing lots of accelerating, braking, turning, going right then left in quick succession, all the while trying to avoid being murdered by some stupid tosser in an SUV talking into his phone, or some silly cow disciplining her children, instead of watching the road. Or both at the same time.

I have no problems with the horn, except I never use it, so I forget where it is. Oh, and the headlight flasher is a bit crap, and difficult to get to.

And Fanum, when the only thing people can find to really bicker about is the switchgear, then it's a sign that the rest of the bike is pretty sorted, no?

 

[bigbike2004]

indicator.....horn..whoops...acelerate...cant reach cxl switch...he has a point. why did bmw have to be so different?

 

[ELIMINATOR]

I have a GS1150 indicators took some getting used to but seems easier with time. My other bike is a 400 Honda CB1 4 cylinder, [mind you there is no ABS TO GO WRONG]. But the indicators on this seem hard work to go back to. Also when I ride the Honda it seems like a two stroke, and makes me look like a learner.

 

[Gas'd Off]

Had my 1150 for 7 months and forced myself to get used to it, but I still didn`t like the setup so I`ve changed it. Swapped Horn/left and cancel/right. Much better! another thread about those daft switches including an article from BIKE magazine that I posted on the subject.

 

[JayGee]

Had my 1150 for 7 months and forced myself to get used to it, but I still didn`t like the setup so I`ve changed it. Swapped Horn/left and cancel/right. Much better! another thread about those daft switches including an article from BIKE magazine that I posted on the subject.

Now THAT would be a worthwhile mod but not sure how it could be done on the CAN (CANNOT) system. Anyone any ideas?

 

[Mouse]

I imagine it would be easy to change the switches round.

The much discussed CAN bus seems to be a much misunderstood - the controls themselves are not connected to the bus, they are conventional switches with a multi core cable that is connected to a control unit. The control unit (or whatever you want to call it) sends data down the bus.

Therefore swapping the wires from the two switches should be all that's required.

I think I'll try this myself soon, I'll report back.