Failed Final Drive

Hi, I need a hand here (laptop will not print a full stop and will use a - instead) - On my 1200 GSA, I had the brake caliper fall off into the back wheel; locking the back wheel; damage estimated at R106 000 - Although the bike is not even a year old, Continental BMW PE say it is an insurance problem and have made no mention of it possibly being a warrantee issue - Another BMW dealer who did not want to get involved seemed to think that the circumstances represented a cut-and-dry factory warrantee case and recommended me to contact the BMW "technical" person Martin Ross - do you have his e-mail and do you have any sugestions on how to approach this issue -

I have always had excellant service from Continental and am now considering the best way of dealing with this issue

Your comments or sugestions will be appreciated

Bradley Manthe (0822021814)

Bradley,

My opinion is before you involve JHB in this go and meet with the BMW Dealer Principle. Give him the facts and your feelings and see what they are prepared to do before going up the ladder.

I guess that if it is a warranty issue BMW HO pay and not the dealer so they should not be out of pocket for the repair. However if the problem caused an accident there may be insurance issues or if you did something to the brake caliper at some stage.

One of our regular contributors to this Forum is John Hamman from Hamman Motorrad in CT maybe he could give you better advice on what route to follow without having to take sides.

Hope this helps.

BradM maybe post some pictures please... I'm trying to picture what you explain but I can't... I can't imagine a brake caliper coming off causing a R106 000 worth of damage? i could be wrong... please post some pics...

I have a 09 GSA, I ride the bike hard. I have put 21 000km on this bike now and form my experience the best bike I could have bought.. 

http://www.bikepics.com/members/pantsula/09r1200gsadv/ 

Good luck! I hope you get resolve... i would still like to see some pictures please...

I dont have the quote in front of me , but from memory the most expensive parts to be replaced were:

brake caliper:          R   5 000

disc :                       R   2 700

Spokes:                   R11 000

Final drive:              R16 000

Exhaust Man plate:R 11 500

2 x eng guards       R   5 000

2 x Alim panniers: R 10 000 - Thats R 50 000 already -----

A lot of scratches and superficial damage - but the bike was spotless and must be restored to its original condition! or what

Thanks Geof for your advice (note, I am now pasteing a full stop!). Unfortunately I am in EL and Continental is in PE and does not allow for a face-to-face sit down with the dealer principle.

John was busy, but I will certainly try him again. I, in the meantime spoke to one of the mechanics at Hammans and they assured me that there is absolutely no reason to loosen those bolts either to replace pads or during tyre replacement. I had a back tyre replaced at KTM Africa in EL under my stern supervision and they certainly did not even look at the brakes, let alone touch them!

Now to come back to the issue of a part falling of the bike, resulting in damage to the bike ... from the above explanation we must now conclude that nobody loosened the bolts and that they took 23 700 km to loosen on their own(and this was not spotted at the 20 000 km service interval)!

As there was no 3rd party invoved, technically it was not an accident and if I was not in the wrong , surely that would remove my insurance policy from liability and lead us back to the initial argument namely shouldn't it be covered by the factory warrantee -------- we'll see what the insurance assesor has to say on Monday!  

Keep us posted........................something is not right!!!!

A lot of things are not right, Geof :

Parts should not fall off a R200 000 bike!

One dissapointed girlfriend

One well planned and needed holiday abandoned (EL-Rhodes-Clarens-Lesotho-Sani Pass-EL)

Bookings cancelled or deposit lost

Damage to my previously unscratched pride n joy - possibly never be the same again

And probably the worst is the waiting, not having a bike, and fealing that somehow through no fault of mine, BMW and my insurance co can juggle, while I suffer ! 

Good luck Brad.