If it’s anything like coding a new virgin fob for a 1600 ‘keyless’ bike, it’s a DIY job, which takes under a minute. I did mine in 60 seconds in the car park of BMW in Battersea. It did not involve any laptops or anything technical like that. From memory, the process was as simple as:
Start the bike, using your existing keyless fob and leave in running
Place the existing keyless fob out of range. About eight to 10 feet away, I guess
Place the new virgin fob where the remote sensor is ie. where you’d place the little plastic ‘spare’ key you get with the bike to start the bike. The senor is by the front of the fuel filler cap
Leave it for 30 seconds
Turn the bike off at the ignition
Turn the bike on and press start..... away you go!
Note, which is not in the instructions: Do NOT forget to pick up your original fob from wherever you put it, eight to 10 feet away, before you ride off. If you do, when you realise your forgetful chump’ish error, you’ll be going back again to find it or you’ll be buying another fob.... and doing it all again. You’ll also then spend the rest of your life in paranoid fear that some bad man (definitely Eastern European) will find your original fob, track you down and steal your baby from its stable whilst you sleep. They won’t of course but fear and imagination are a terrible thing; they stalk the pages of this forum.
I think that was the process. If it wasn’t, it was something no more complicated than that, all achieved in the car park. The instructions on how to do it were either in the owner’s handbook or came on a slip of paper with the new virgin fob, I forget which. Whichever it was, the minute it took me included the time it took reading the instructions twice.
The process is very similar for the 1200, except the sensor is under the rear wheel arch or somewhere like that.
If I were BMW, I’d charge you for half an hour to carry out the same bit of 60 seconds voodoo.
Stress: This is to code the fob for a virgin ‘keyless’ 1600. The process for coding a ‘keyed’ 1600’s fob might be different, I have no idea as I never did it on my ‘keyed’ 1600. I guess (always dangerous) that it might be the same. You’ll find out, I’m sure. Similarly, I don’t know if the same simple process re-codes a fob that has already been coded to another bike. Again, I guess it might. You’ll find out or ask your dealership, they’ll know..... or they might say: “That’s an hour’s job, mate” (which it might or might not be).... again, you’ll find out. It’s free to ask.