Just trawling around the web and having a shufty at the DVLA site. Came across a link to the Vehicle Recalls Database http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/default.asp and went poking for BMW Motorcycles - R Series. Not too many - but they do involve gearboxes locking up, rear brakes failing , backfiring through the throttle bodies, engine cutting out....
I'm having a look at my VIN when I get home to see which ones may affect me!
Me-109 wrote:Not too many - but they do involve gearboxes locking up,...........
That was the best one Late 2002!! Trust me - you will not have one of those. It was so serious that the dealers were instructed to go and collect the bikes immediately ( not tomorrow or the day after - but NOW!!!) and definitely do NOT allow the customer to bring the bike in.
The fault was that on a particular batch of gearboxes there was a 25% chance of it selecting 5th and 6th at the same time. In other words it might lock up at speed
In all fairness, only a few had been delivered. Most of the affected bikes were still in the delivery system, and all were done very quickly. I think they were all changed by Nov 2002.
A colleague at work has just got his R1200GS back from Vines. The timing chain broke/jumped teeth during a high speed overtake on an A road leaving him with bits of valve hanging out the cylinder head and insufficient power to complete the overtaking manouevre! A hasty dab of the brakes and dropping back in behind the truck was required to avoid a head on with the oncoming car.