I know who owns that bike! Here is the trip report where that famous photo was taken. (scroll towards the end)Naaw, the drives are fine :crackup
End BMW bash...
I know a guy that has had the FD replaced 5 times on his 2005 GS. He rides alot and the bike had over 100,000 miles several months ago. I believe BMW fixed it every time under warranty but his was 3 years unlimited miles and that is about to expire if it hasn't already.
Hows this for rationalization. On the way home from WESTOC this summer, my riding guest had his EWS fail in the middle of Kansas. The closest BMW dealer was 275 miles away. They were also not able to get a replacement part for three days. A freaking key sensor on an adventure bike?!? What if it failed in the middle of Africa or South America? Thankfully we were able to get the EWS to sense the key by cooling the antenna with a bag of ice. Sometimes too much engineering is a bad thing.
You got that right. IMO BMW should have stopped with the 1100GS. The 1150 and 1200 are just more prone to very expensive repairs. I don't know how 1150's hold any resale value at all with the rash of final drive failures.
Your key had a bend in it. Yes, it's a flimsy key, agreed they could have done better but minutes to put a key in is pointing to a problem.
I agree this is bad. But I don't think the issue is too much engineering. In the case of the EWS, it is bad implementation. There is no plan B. Many have suggested that the EWS be NIP activated such that it could be turned off by the owner. This would settle the issue of being stranded. The other problem is poor quality control and arrogance. BMW should have acknowledged the problem earlier and cause a recall. Most parts are outsourced to lower costs and quality control is obviously not what it should be.
Umm, they have. The service bulletin that affects the small range of VINs has gone out to dealers and owners are having their bikes installed with updated and working EWS, whether theirs failed or not. I think they have got it covered.
