LuckyStriker
Bachelor Dog
Since day one I have complained to my dealer how inaccurate the gearbox was and how clunky it felt. Every time a mechanic rode my bike they came back saying that it felt fine, suggesting that is must be me who don?t know how to use the gears properly.
This morning I went to test ride the 12GSA. I was immediately struck by how much better the gearbox felt compared to my own GS. It surprised me because both bikes have the same gearboxes! The bike was a dream to ride and gearshifts took no special methods to make it work properly (which I had to learn on my GS to avoid embarrassing false-neutrals).
Well today, after I rode the GSA, I headed home to dream of my new bike already on it's way to me.
The trip home was bad. As bad luck would have it the gearbox suddenly began to give problems. I struggled to shift gears and a grinding noise began to appear. I was so close to home and felt I could make it with no damage to the transmission. I left the N1 taking the Old Oak turnoff and suddenly I found myself in permanent 6th gear. The grinding noise was suddenly gone and I shifted up and down the gears to see if the problem had miraculously gone away. The digital indicator showed all the gears from 1 to 6 as I paddled with my foot but the bike was well and truly stuck in 6th. I had to ride the last 10km or so in 6th. Getting going after stopping at traffic lights was fun? At least I still had a clutch?
On the Bottelary road bridge over the R300 highway the gears finally gave out altogether and everything was now stuck in neutral. There was nothing for it? I had to push the bastard bike home. For two kilometres I sweated alongside the road with one or two cars stopping to offer help (No bikes stopped, yet several rode past me).
The bike is now in my garage. I am once again bike-less.
I am guessing it is a problem with the clutch. Perhaps it has always been up to shit and has finally decided to seize up. BMW SA will no doubt send down a Roman Catholic Inquisitor to ?interview? me. If they tie me to the rack I might confess that I am having second thoughts about BMW?s reputation for making so called ?bullet-proof? bikes.
A few facts before you ask:
It has always had a faint smell of clutch (since the first day) but various dealers and workshops failed to notice it dispite my insistance.
Over the last two weeks said smell of clutch has gone away.
I still have 6 months left on my warranty.
I will phone the dealer on Monday to come fetch the bike. Once they had a peek inside I will be able to report to you what exactly went wrong.
I can only hope BMW will honour their warranty
This morning I went to test ride the 12GSA. I was immediately struck by how much better the gearbox felt compared to my own GS. It surprised me because both bikes have the same gearboxes! The bike was a dream to ride and gearshifts took no special methods to make it work properly (which I had to learn on my GS to avoid embarrassing false-neutrals).
Well today, after I rode the GSA, I headed home to dream of my new bike already on it's way to me.
The trip home was bad. As bad luck would have it the gearbox suddenly began to give problems. I struggled to shift gears and a grinding noise began to appear. I was so close to home and felt I could make it with no damage to the transmission. I left the N1 taking the Old Oak turnoff and suddenly I found myself in permanent 6th gear. The grinding noise was suddenly gone and I shifted up and down the gears to see if the problem had miraculously gone away. The digital indicator showed all the gears from 1 to 6 as I paddled with my foot but the bike was well and truly stuck in 6th. I had to ride the last 10km or so in 6th. Getting going after stopping at traffic lights was fun? At least I still had a clutch?
On the Bottelary road bridge over the R300 highway the gears finally gave out altogether and everything was now stuck in neutral. There was nothing for it? I had to push the bastard bike home. For two kilometres I sweated alongside the road with one or two cars stopping to offer help (No bikes stopped, yet several rode past me).
The bike is now in my garage. I am once again bike-less.
I am guessing it is a problem with the clutch. Perhaps it has always been up to shit and has finally decided to seize up. BMW SA will no doubt send down a Roman Catholic Inquisitor to ?interview? me. If they tie me to the rack I might confess that I am having second thoughts about BMW?s reputation for making so called ?bullet-proof? bikes.
A few facts before you ask:
It has always had a faint smell of clutch (since the first day) but various dealers and workshops failed to notice it dispite my insistance.
Over the last two weeks said smell of clutch has gone away.
I still have 6 months left on my warranty.
I will phone the dealer on Monday to come fetch the bike. Once they had a peek inside I will be able to report to you what exactly went wrong.
I can only hope BMW will honour their warranty
