You are correct.
The 1st year the F650GS came out the mapping was so bad the dealers pulled them from loaner service because the were stalling at intersections etc.
My first experience with der Korp and their corporate attitude.
Steadfast denial of any "fuel mapping" issues in year one, when some had extensive surging and stalling problems.
The official statement?
"You're riding the bike wrong."
Seriously?!
Yes.
So for the second-year F650GS production model, the fuel injection was completely remapped, but it was merely "an improvement" to the bike, but not anything to do with any problem in the previous year.
Same thing again around 2005, when BMW revised the final drive on the new 1200s, and called it "maintenance free" for the life of the bike.
Turns out, it was a "translation error" from German to English (learned just the last month from a BMW insider) about draining and filling the gear oil, but once more der Korp consistently denied there was any issue, despite numerous catastrophic failures on the GS and the RT models.
@Shuey and
@jodog will attest some Iron Butt Rally participants literally packed a spare FD and carried them across this vast country, in the process of pursuing IB bonuses and and seeking Finisher status.
Other IBR veterans gave up on BMW completely, after a lifetime of fandom, and switched to the GoldWing or other marques.
Ultimately, to the best of my knowledge, an Iron Butt member and former BMW Master Mechanic Paul Glaves dove into the phenomenon and discovered the "big bearing" was improperly adjusted at the factory. Some FD failures were covered under warranty, and others were not, in an apparent random and arbitrary selection process.
All this, while not "widespread" per se, was common enough (or at least not unusual) to raise a commotion in the BMW rider and owner community, more than the initial FI mapping issues with the F650GS.
I read many, many emails on the long distance rider email list about this, while I did not have a shaft drive beemer at the time.
Now, of course, the BMW-branded Garmin Nav VI system is subject to more than a few screen "ghosting" issues, but apparently Garmin has been replacing them under warranty, some users now being on their SIXTH unit. In fairness, this seems to be more of a Garmin issue, but they are so far very decent about sending another unit to the user.
In essence, it's a BMW-branded Garmin Zumo 660 designed to work with their handlebar-mounted "wonder wheel" and more users are beginning to dump the Nav VI and just use a Garmin XT, without the convenience and cool factor of controlling it hands-free from the handlebar.
What a difference in corporate customer service - in my mind - as one will send a replacement unit for failed ones, while the other simply denies any fault exists, and even occasionally blames the user.
Note that, in fairness to BMW, I have not experienced either the 650 FI problem, nor have I ever owned a 1200GS with a final drive failure or a GPS problem. (Yet.)
) and found they haven't changed. I won't bother again. Taking the panels off, is a breeze. There's nothing hidden to break.