My 1600 GT (2017) registration started the fun and games, just as I arrived in France at the start of a four week jaunt. Sometimes the bike would fire up quite normally and sometimes the starter motor would just spin, without engaging with the starter ring. There was no pattern to it. Hot, cold, warm; it made no difference. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t. Not wishing to cancel my jaunt, I just lived with it. Its last refusal to engage was just as the barrier lifted to join the Chunnel train on my return.
Whilst I was away I simply took a video of the problem, then emailed it to BMW Battersea, along with a brief summary of the issue, booking the bike in for a date that suited me on my return.
I then rode the bike to Battersea, who cured it under the extended warranty I had bought. The parts replaced were the freewheel gear (the bit that stops the engine turning the starter motor, or it would spin at about 20,000 rpm) along with some other bits. Bike dropped off on Tuesday, collected back by me on Friday afternoon.
Job done, as easy as that.