yoke play

just been washing the bike at work, as you do, and noticed that there was some excessive play in the handlebars and come to think of it the mirrors have been vibrating more than usual. at first i thought it may have been the nuts that secure the bars / risers to the yoke that were loose but the whole yoke is moving, (a couple of mil play in it) if you feel where the fork seals are you can also feel the play when you wobble the bars, surely this isn't normal is it?
i have taken the caps off that are at the top of the forks to reveal 2 nuts but are these anything to do with tightening the yoke, i have also seen a big nut under the yoke that looks like a nightmare to get to.

so i guess my question is this isnt normal is it and how do you tighten the yoke to stop excessive play?

many thanks in advance,

I had the same issue around 16000Km.....went to the dealer, they said initially that it was the bearing, so they changed the bearing, after 1000Km the yoke came back....so I went once again to the dealer to state the problem.....

They said that finally it was the upper plate assy, so they palced a request to BMW....after almost 2 months (bike reached 22000Km), plate unit and new bearing arrived......problem gone.

Have in mind that the yoke does not affect the safety (i was riding with the issue for more than 6500Km without problem)...it is just the feiling that something is playing out their.

Dealer said that it was a factory/tolerance issue inside the bearing bay of the upper plate....

thanks for the reply, also found this thread else where which sounds identical to my problem. looks like a trip out to test the warranty.

seek and you shall find!

Top yoke final answer.

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To answer my own problem with serious play in the handlebars, it turned out to be the Angular contact bearing in the top yoke that had failed due to water retention under the plastic cap. There was alot of rust around the bearing and it sounded pretty rough. Once replaced with new the problem was fixed. To replace the bearing was a simple and pretty straight forward job, should anyone have the same problem I would be happy to help. Peter.