Servo troubles

2005 R1200GS 37K miles, I hit the starter button a little to quickly yesterday and have since suffered some strange occurrences with the brakes on my 1200gs. Lights flashing informing me I have brake failure, but all seemed Ok, 10 mins down the road , no servo assist.Arrived at destination, and while it was still pleasant outside investigated the problem, found that when applying rear brae the servo whined for a while until I applied the front brake and it stopped. managed to get home using what little braking was available along with the gearbox doing most of the slowing down. So, I sit here about to drag the bitch out of the garage firstly to clean it off and secondly to have a better look around it , just to see if I have cocked something up, starting with the front brake lever and hand guard, then the rear brake switch, which I accidentally kicked the plastic cover off before setting off for my run out. Been quoted £250 + vat to remove it all from the bike, but am a little concerned about that due to Ins Company etc. So, anyone out there had this done and would you mind reporting your observations good or otherwise? Realistically, the bikes in nice condition and has had a rebuilt engine by Mikeyboy in 2016 some 4,000 miles ago, a new Wilbers sh0ck on the front only fitted Sat 7th Dec at a cost of £400+ so am in a quandry as to how to proceed. When its cleaned its being sorned until I have some guidance from the wise and knowing of this Parish!

The first thing I'd do is check the adjustment and operation of the front and rear brake switches as a thou or so of wear on the front brake lever where it operates the microswitch can give the appearance of the lever being stuck on. Remember that the switches are normally closed and break a circuit when operated. Next thing is to connect a GS-911 and display real-time braking system data. When I last had problems with this model it turned out to be a chafed wiring harness rubbing on the battery carrier faking the rear brake pedal being pressed all the time although pressure errors in the rear wheel circuit seems to be the normal source of problems. Bleeding all four brake circuits (see Nick V's thread somewhere in this section) and cleaning out the filters can't do any harm and might just get things sensible again.

My bike was servoectomised when i bought it.


06 plate - It was optional at that time , so you bike may or may not have had it


if it is the servo unit that has died, you have 3 options

Replace at mothership prices & labour rates £1200 i believe

Refurbish by one of the firms mentioned on here , not sure of price but i believe round about £300-400

Servoectomise - as you say £250

many have had it done, its a fairly common occurance

I recently servoectomised an RT for a mate, to be honest it was not that difficult, the only materials needed was brake fluid and a small U bend brake pipe available from Motorworks. Took about 5 hours but 3 of those was removing and replacing fairing panels etc so would be a lot quicker on a GS. There are a few guides on here on how to do it with some good photos too.

Regarding braking, I thought is was better afterwards but obviously you will have lost the ABS but in reality we have all survived riding bikes before ABS came along.

Choice is yours really, if you are happy to live without ABS then I would remove or have someone remove it for you, as mentioned replacing or repairing is big money.