Fork Twist ? Loose?

Magwych · Jan 15, 2017

Just trying to understand something here...
The handling was fine before the rear shock was replaced, but is now not?
Someone earlier suggested going back to basics. If the handling has been odd since the rear shock was replaced it may pay to check the settings?
Too much or too little preload can have an adverse effect. I haven't read your other thread so have no idea what state your shock was in before it was swapped. Could it be that you had adjusted damping or preload to compensate for the faults? Repeating those settings on a new one could be odd?

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crotchrocket · Jan 16, 2017

Thanks guys, the bike is OK. I still maintain the replacement rear shock is much stiffer than the original one and that the issue of it randomly going rock hard was persisting until Vines reset it...again. Whether this shock is correct and the previous one i had was too soft, because it was on its way out is un-clear, but medium preload on this shock, feels like maximum on the last one, but i dont like to run the bike in the lowest setting, so i have got used to it.

The bike was handling so badly at times i thought it was the steering or front end, but believe it was the shock doing one of its random stiff modes (now sorted).

So, i'm not 100% happy with it, but have accepted how it is and enjoy every ride still. I haven't ever had the chance to test a standard suspension model (without electrics), i suspect it would be perfect!!

crotchrocket · Jan 16, 2017

Groceryrun said:
crotchrocket:

No idea if your motorcycle is in order or not , but maybe you would be interested in these 3 threads :

http://advrider.com/index.php?threa...t-first-day-of-ride-150-mille-of-use.1185036/
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/upper-stanchion-crimping-failure.1184877/
http://advrider.com/index.php?threa...-1200gs-stanchion-separation-problem.1193566/

Thanks for those links, i have previously checked that crimped joint and its fine on mine. Definitely seems to be a weak link though.

Groceryrun · Jan 16, 2017

Good to know that you checked the crimps.

bodge it · Jan 16, 2017

We have recently returned from a trip in November 2016 to Durban South Africa where we hired 9 BMW GS 201615/16 models. We rode 80% off road for two weeks.

One of our team had a catastrophic crash when his front forks failed, one fork lead came apart at the top. Photos attached. He was badly bashed up and his kit ruined, he could easily have been killed.

The bike was replaced by the BMW dealer

Later other bikes developed the same problem and we were told not to ride one bike by the BMW dealers because it was so bad and the bike I was riding also developed the same problem, the fork leg was coming apart ( about a 1mm gap at one edge), I was told by the dealer to ride it carefully (we sent them photos via our phones as we were in Lesotho at the time)

We have been onto BMW for the past 3 months trying to highlight this problem and ask for answers to why it happened, but have had no response form them at all, despite repeated emails. We wrote to them in order to highlight the problem to prevent it from happening to anyone else.

They have not even asked if the rider who crashed was OK, it appears that we have been totally blanked by BMW.

The developing gap cannot be seen unless the rubber protector at the top of the forks is pulled down

Deleted account 181015003 · Jan 16, 2017

bodge it said:
We have recently returned from a trip in November 2016 to Durban South Africa where we hired 9 BMW GS 201615/16 models. We rode 80% off road for two weeks.

One of our team had a catastrophic crash when his front forks failed, one fork lead came apart at the top. Photos attached. He was badly bashed up and his kit ruined, he could easily have been killed.

The bike was replaced by the BMW dealer

Later other bikes developed the same problem and we were told not to ride one bike by the BMW dealers because it was so bad and the bike I was riding also developed the same problem, the fork leg was coming apart ( about a 1mm gap at one edge), I was told by the dealer to ride it carefully (we sent them photos via our phones as we were in Lesotho at the time)

We have been onto BMW for the past 3 months trying to highlight this problem and ask for answers to why it happened, but have had no response form them at all, despite repeated emails. We wrote to them in order to highlight the problem to prevent it from happening to anyone else.

They have not even asked if the rider who crashed was OK, it appears that we have been totally blanked by BMW.

The developing gap cannot be seen unless the rubber protector at the top of the forks is pulled down

Shocking build quality I have seen better on cheap Chinese tat.

The top of the forks a push fit? :nenau

Unstoppable :augie

crotchrocket · Jan 16, 2017

Jesus, thats scary!

snaponphil · Jan 16, 2017

bodge it said:
We have recently returned from a trip in November 2016 to Durban South Africa where we hired 9 BMW GS 201615/16 models. We rode 80% off road for two weeks.

One of our team had a catastrophic crash when his front forks failed, one fork lead came apart at the top. Photos attached. He was badly bashed up and his kit ruined, he could easily have been killed.

The bike was replaced by the BMW dealer

Later other bikes developed the same problem and we were told not to ride one bike by the BMW dealers because it was so bad and the bike I was riding also developed the same problem, the fork leg was coming apart ( about a 1mm gap at one edge), I was told by the dealer to ride it carefully (we sent them photos via our phones as we were in Lesotho at the time)

We have been onto BMW for the past 3 months trying to highlight this problem and ask for answers to why it happened, but have had no response form them at all, despite repeated emails. We wrote to them in order to highlight the problem to prevent it from happening to anyone else.

They have not even asked if the rider who crashed was OK, it appears that we have been totally blanked by BMW.

The developing gap cannot be seen unless the rubber protector at the top of the forks is pulled down

I for one will be checking under the rubber before riding mine again..
looks very dangerous.
I would think Bmw won't reply to you for fear of pending claims..

bodge it · Jan 16, 2017

snaponphil said:
I for one will be checking under the rubber before riding mine again..
looks very dangerous.
I would think Bmw won't reply to you for fear of pending claims..

I did check my 2014 GS when I got back and it was fine, I ride mine mainly on road. I think its the continued off road pounding that it doesn't like.

zoltan · Jan 16, 2017

bodge it said:
They have not even asked if the rider who crashed was OK, it appears that we have been totally blanked by BMW.

I suspect they keep shtum because they expect a lawsuit from your injured compadre? Shocking affair...

Deleted account 181015003 · Jan 16, 2017

bodge it said:
I did check my 2014 GS when I got back and it was fine, I ride mine mainly on road. I think its the continued off road pounding that it doesn't like.

Fit for purpose? here is the promo video plenty of off road riding

bodge it · Jan 16, 2017

Deleted account 181015003 said:
Fit for purpose? here is the promo video plenty of off road riding

Maybe we got a bad batch but this would be our promo

Rockred · Jan 17, 2017

How many off road miles ( more or less ) had the bikes done ?. Let's hope it's just a bad batch of bikes,
and not a general design fault It's not good ,that BMW are ignoring your emails though.

ChazzyB · Jan 17, 2017

How different is the current front telelever construction to those gone before? (I don't know...) That joint at the top of the fork tube is unstressed; it has to take almost no load - in the normal course of events. Did the joint fail and cause the crash or did it fail as a result of the crash?

crotchrocket · Jan 17, 2017

The bottom yoke (if its called that in this situation) has a ball joint onto the front wishbone, so in theory that crimped joint at the top of the stanchion deals with any horizontal load, so braking, and sideways twist off roading etc and obviously the forks aren't vertical either so all vertical load will be transferred onto it too wont it?

ChazzyB · Jan 17, 2017

All vertical movement and loading gets taken by the shock, via the lower yoke. As far as I can see, the *normal* action of the suspension should result in no more load on the upper fork tubes and yoke than that from the friction of the oil seals. However, I can see that hitting an immovable object at speed might cause problems, assuming the stanchions are weaker than the sliders. If the front wheel is pushed straight back towards the bike, I can the sliders turn backwards with the ball joint as the pivot. That might cause the tubes at the top to get pulled off the yoke?

Why aren't I doing some work?

crotchrocket · Jan 17, 2017

this might help?

Deleted account 181015003 · Jan 17, 2017

ChazzyB said:
How different is the current front telelever construction to those gone before? (I don't know...) That joint at the top of the fork tube is unstressed; it has to take almost no load - in the normal course of events. Did the joint fail and cause the crash or did it fail as a result of the crash?

I think the original poster stated other bikes in the group were showing signs of failing as well as the one that crashed

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bodge it · Jan 17, 2017

Rockred said:
How many off road miles ( more or less ) had the bikes done ?. Let's hope it's just a bad batch of bikes,
and not a general design fault It's not good ,that BMW are ignoring your emails though.

They were very low mileage bikes and we did about 1,500miles off road.

We waited for BMW to reply before posting any of these details , but they seem reluctant to make any comment.

But since seeing this post and the links to posts on Adventure Rider it is obvious that we were not the only ones that have had this problem.

bodge it · Jan 17, 2017

ChazzyB said:
How different is the current front telelever construction to those gone before? (I don't know...) That joint at the top of the fork tube is unstressed; it has to take almost no load - in the normal course of events. Did the joint fail and cause the crash or did it fail as a result of the crash?

It was the failure of the top joint that caused the crash. It happened on a almost flat dirt road, the bike hit a small cluster of rocks about 2inches high. We believe that the fork was on its way out and this final little bump dislocated it. Two days later we checked the other bikes and found one with the same problem developing it had a 4 mm gap at the top with oil leaking out. The bike I was riding was also developing the same fault and had about a 1mm gap at the same point.

The bike in question had not been dropped or crashed previous to this incident.

Fork Twist ? Loose?

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