Hello and welcome. My name is Carl, and this is "Just
The Way It Is". Today is episode 8 of a series all about the R 1250 GS. But this episode is just a
short one. It's just to clear up a little bit of misunderstanding, that's currently going around
the internet about a service notification, that BMW released just over a week ago about the
problem or a problem with the R 1250 GS. So just let me explain, what it is. So first of all:
don't panic, don't worry! The number, that you can see across the bottom of your screen now,
is the number, that you're going to look for in a moment on the internet, and you're going to need
to have your chassis number, to make sure and find out, whether your bike is one of the bikes, that
are affected. There are two main types of notification, that manufacturers issue for
our motorbikes. The first one is called a "recall". Now, a recall is a fairly urgent matter,
and you should take that very seriously and get your bike checked, get your chassis
number checked and get your bike returned to BMW. Now, this is NOT one of those things.
This is
called a "service notification". So this is just a notification to the dealerships, that's all
of the BMW dealerships, that, when this bike goes in for a service, there is some additional work,
that needs to be carried out. So what I'm going to explain in a moment, I'm going to show you,
what the actual problem is – because there's not a lot of information about this on the internet at
the moment – and explain, what you can do to check, whether your bike is affected. Now as far as I can
make out, and I've made several phone calls today, I've talked to my very friendly BMW dealer,
so I know, what the problem is.
And it looks like from around about January or February of this year,
2022, if you have a bike, that was manufactured in that period, it won't be affected, and it already
has the modification, that I'm going to talk about in a minute. The rest of us, me included, need
to return our bikes and have them modified. But don't panic, don't worry! It's not a big problem,
but let me just explain a bit more about it. So, let's look at this service notification from
BMW, and what does it really pertain to? So we're looking at the rear of the bike.
At this side
here, this is the drive assembly. And this is a sealed unit. This is full of oil. So this is
not, where the problem is. This section here, this is hollow. And within this section here,
there is the drive shaft, that connects to the output shaft from the gearbox.
So it goes from the gearbox to the drive assembly, but inside here, there is a shaft. But inside here,
this is hollow. Now this is, what turns out to be the problem. And BMW have decided,
that certainly from the bikes, that are being manufactured this year in 2022, I think you're
going to find, your bikes are fine.
You can check – I'm going to tell you, how to check online in a
moment – but you can just feel underneath here, and if you can feel a tiny valve, a rubber valve,
then your bike already has the modification. So, what is the problem? Well, BMW have decided, that
in some scenarios, some conditions, condensation can gain access into this hollow tube assembly.
So what they're going to do, when our bike's go in for a service or for some maintenance or repairs,
they're going to drill a small – I think it's 6 or an 8 mm hole in the bottom of this
hub assembly, and they're going to put a valve. Now, the valve is a rubber valve, and all it's there
to do, is let humidity or condensation or maybe a little bit of water, that's collected inside,
drain out, so that it doesn't cause any problems. So, the thing to do – wherever you are in the
world, and this applies to the UK, to those of you, that are in America, in Australia and Canada –
just go to your main internet browser (maybe it's google) and type in "BMW recall".
That will
bring up a website, where you can enter the chassis number of your bike, and that will tell you, whether
there is a service notification present on your motorcycle, and that it needs to be returned to BMW
for some work. Now, the thing is: do we need to worry about this? Now, I've put my chassis number in this
afternoon, and my bike is one of the bikes, that are affected. It doesn't have this drain hole and
this valve on the bottom, so it needs to be returned. But after chatting for quite some
time to the dealer, I don't think, there's any need to worry about it. I was quite concerned.
I'm due to go on quite a long tour of Norway within the next couple of days, and I was worried,
that I'd have to return the bike for some major work.
But that's not the case. Now, it seems, that
this will be done, this work will be carried out under normal conditions, when you take your bike
for a service, for some maintenance or some repairs. It's already on all the dealer network systems.
So you don't really need to do anything. So I think, we don't need to worry about it. The
the only thing, I would say is – I'm not a proper off-road rider.
And I think the vast majority
of you are probably not, too. But if you do take your bike into the river or into streams, where
there's water, and you do that on a regular basis, ring the BMW dealer, tell them, what type of riding
you do, explain to them, that you're going off-road, and you're going through streams and shallow
rivers, and they'll probably get you in quite quickly to carry out this modification. So I hope,
that helps, hope, that clears up some of the stuff, that's talked about on the internet. So let's
move on. The only twist to this whole process… when I called my dealer today, they said, even if I
wanted to have the work done, they couldn't do it, because the tooling, that BMW need to supply them,
to carry out the modification, isn't there. And from what I found out this afternoon, there are quite
a lot of dealers, that don't have the equipment to carry out the modification.
So hopefully,
the information I've given you tonight will just put you at ease, and you now understand, what
this current service notification is all about and whether it affects us with our GSs and
what you need to do and whether you need to be worried or not. – So what's coming up in the
next part of the series? Well, in episode 9 – those of you, that are eagle-eyed will have
spotted, there are several new accessories, that are fitted to the GS. So in the next episode, it's
all about accessories and finding a budget option, because accessories for our GSs can be very,
very expensive. So I fitted 17 new accessories. I made a list of the the top brands, that I would
like to fit, and I was shocked, when I found out, how much it would cost me, to buy all the parts, all
of the accessories, that I wanted to fit to my GS. So I set myself the task of reducing at least
50 % of the cost and still maintaining good quality parts, that I as a technician and
engineer, I find acceptable to fit to my own bike. So that episode is finished.
I'm just currently
doing the editing, and it should be up Thursday or Friday next week. So, as always: thank
you very much. My name is Carl. You've been watching "Just The Way It Is", and hopefully
I'll see you again soon for another episode :-).