Another BMW Final Drive Failure

[Bounce]

"Do a search"? I didn't do a search. I saw it posted right in the normal stream of stuff. IIRC it was originally posted on an ADV forum by the owner. There's no need to go looking for this stuff. It's too common since the string of IBR victories snatched from the hands of riders that started back in the 90s.

 

[SwollenRaccoon]

I'm sure KJ will be along shortly, to remind us how great BMW really is...

What you don't realize is how much money the man paid for that BMW. If you pay lots of money and it breaks its okay because... Wait! Now I remember why I love the FJR so much.

I have a bumper to bumper 3 year factory warranty that came w the bike (triple that of my FJR). I usually don't keep bikes beyond that anyway but so far it has been flawless to a T. With the money I spent, I will be the first to bitch and complain, trust me.

Wait a minute..........your BMW has bumpers? Sorry, but that must be a CAR, not a motorcycle. Wait, that might be a good idea.......Maybe I need bumpers on my FJR, to help protect me from all the f**king deer around here......

Shame on me; it's not even close to Friday yet. Cripes.

 

[beemerdons]

"Do a search"? I didn't do a search. I saw it posted right in the normal stream of stuff. IIRC it was originally posted on an ADV forum by the owner. There's no need to go looking for this stuff. It's too common since the string of IBR victories snatched from the hands of riders that started back in the 90s.

As a BMW MOA Friend of Rob Nye, I hear what you're saying Bounce! jes' sayin' and nuff said!

 

[MCRIDER007]

I'm sure KJ will be along shortly, to remind us how great BMW really is...

What you don't realize is how much money the man paid for that BMW. If you pay lots of money and it breaks its okay because... Wait! Now I remember why I love the FJR so much.

I have a bumper to bumper 3 year factory warranty that came w the bike (triple that of my FJR). I usually don't keep bikes beyond that anyway but so far it has been flawless to a T. With the money I spent, I will be the first to bitch and complain, trust me.

I would be curious how much your 3 year maintenance costs turn out to be. I've done 3 demo rides on the K1600 and loved it as a touring bike but the lack of a dealer within 150 miles was a deal breaker. Now I find out I am going to have a dealer only 40 miles away but after spending a couple of hours on the K1600 Forum it appears that dealer maintenance costs would be at least 10 cents a mile, quite a bit more than my FJR(s) which I have never found necessary to take to a dealer for maintenance.

 

[AlleyCat]

Speaking of BMW not owning up to the failures..... Yamaha is shirking its responsibilities as far as the top case failures goes. Way too many for just a bad batch. Love my FJR but my top case is loaded with cracks that show a poor design or bad materials. And Yamaha does nothing.....

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Now everyone needs to just lay off. We cannot offend beemerdons and TopSpeed1 by bashing BMWs on the FJR forum! It would just be wrong for the FJR folks to be negative on the FJR forum about BMW failures.

Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to say how much better the BMW is. And that it costs twice as much.

 

[HelzBelz]

If only BMW owners had Garauld on their side..

He could fashion up a permanent fix, before failure, of something beautiful and sturdy, that would look OEM.

Honeslty though, BMW's are great bikes, if you don't have a final drive failure.

Is that what the typical final drive failure is? I had only read generally about the final drive failures and had thought the final drive simply busted internally, I had no idea it was cheap metal just snapping the entire part?!??!?!

 

[ionbeam]

...Honeslty though, BMW's are great bikes, if you don't have a final drive failure.
Is that what the typical final drive failure is? I had only read generally about the final drive failures and had thought the final drive simply busted internally, I had no idea it was cheap metal just snapping the entire part?!??!?!

 

[rPGoatBoy]

Ouch!
Schadenfreude is an ugly thing.

It's also a German word, ironically enough.

 

[Twigg]

For me this is not about "knocking" BMW.

They are very fine bikes, and I'd give your right arm for a K1600GTL. Indeed, I nearly bought Jack Shoalmire's R1200RT. I know the current owner quite well, but someone offered me an '05 FJR for $3200, and I wasn't rude enough to turn it down ... Now I will do my level best to justify that guy's faith in me.

As some of you know, I do LD Riding. I have very little money, and certainly not enough to match my ambition, so I go the extra mile to make every $ count double. Triple is better, but harder to achieve.

So imagine I had bought Jack's bike ... I would be 2000 miles from home with little more than the gas money. I'm pretty sure the BMW would get me to my destination, in style and comfort ...

But if you were in that position, and were given the choice of the BMW or FJR to get you home, which would you sling your leg over?

 

[Bounce]

Here's another one from someone else that spoke up when the fractured photo above popped up.

A 3-year warranty would be better if it wasn't capped by a 36k mile limit.

Youch! And another! Different model. Final drive failures aren't new to the brand.

https://www.davidebsmith.org/cycle/driveshaft.html

 

[rushes]

Buy More Warranty...

 

[Auburn]

Buy More Warranty...

Buy a different brand...

 

[eatpasta]

2009 BMW RT with 60k miles on it. Owner Emelio Vazquez reported it broke in half while sitting at a stop light.
Oopsy.

Holy crap - that happened while he was sittng still?!

I put nearly 90K on my 1150GS and beat the living **** out of it off road quite a bit. There were a lot of flat, wide open, 100 mph afternoons trying to keep up with KTM950's.... thank god they used to build them stronger

 

[Redfish Hunter]

I keep seeing you guys post Buy More Warranty. While that is really funny to most of you, I can assure you it is not a laughing matter.

As the Very Pissed Off note payer of a 2011 BMW 328i which Mrs. Redfish loves, let me tell you something. You cannot Buy Enough Warranty. Or at least I did not. The damned car is about 1000 miles out of the factory warranty and is back in the shop. Again. I never would have thought that a "premium automobile", "Ultimate Driving Machine" would be so prone to mechanical failure.

Mrs. Redfish may love the damned BMW but I hate it. I hate it and hate anybody that does not hate it. (Except Her) I cannot wait to trade the POS in on something else. Of course, she wants another BMW... I just don't understand it.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Here's another one from someone else that spoke up when the fractured photo above popped up.

A 3-year warranty would be better if it wasn't capped by a 36k mile limit.

Youch! And another! Different model. Final drive failures aren't new to the brand.

https://www.davidebsmith.org/cycle/driveshaft.html

Shame on you for Searching for these relatively minor, insignificant problems! Of course, if they had opted for the Clearly Superior and Much More Expensive K1600, none of this would have happened.

 

[Brodie]

Is this a 'Data Point' ?

Brodie

 

[Chiefblueman]

I keep seeing you guys post Buy More Warranty. While that is really funny to most of you, I can assure you it is not a laughing matter.
As the Very Pissed Off note payer of a 2011 BMW 328i which Mrs. Redfish loves, let me tell you something. You cannot Buy Enough Warranty. Or at least I did not. The damned car is about 1000 miles out of the factory warranty and is back in the shop. Again. I never would have thought that a "premium automobile", "Ultimate Driving Machine" would be so prone to mechanical failure.

Mrs. Redfish may love the damned BMW but I hate it. I hate it and hate anybody that does not hate it. (Except Her) I cannot wait to trade the POS in on something else. Of course, she wants another BMW... I just don't understand it.

My wife and I are proud owners of a BMW 335i, same basic car as the 328i. We love it. That said, this vehicle has been in the shop more than all the cars I've owned put together and I've owned 35 or so cars. The aftermarket warranty has saved my ass. This car has convinced me I can't afford to fall in love with a BMW motorcycle.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Oh, don't get me wrong, the little BMW is truly wonderful to drive. It rides, handles, and stops like few other vehicles can. It looks fantastic and Mrs. Redfish looks fantastic driving it.

However... As my co-workers teased me this morning, "That BMW is a really great car. Unless you want to get from Point A to Point B consistently."

Yeah, I was proud of it. I was proud to put my wife in something so nice, so safe and so reliable to drive to work. Pride goeth before the fall...

 

[steveaikens]

2009 BMW RT with 60k miles on it. Owner Emelio Vazquez reported it broke in half while sitting at a stop light.
Oopsy.

Holy crap - that happened while he was sittng still?!

I put nearly 90K on my 1150GS and beat the living **** out of it off road quite a bit. There were a lot of flat, wide open, 100 mph afternoons trying to keep up with KTM950's.... thank god they used to build them stronger

The only way this happened when he was sitting still was for him to have basically dropped the clutch.

This IS NOT a final drive failure. It's a failure of the rear U-Joint. The rust colored dust indicates the drive shaft splines were dry and probably stopped sliding back and forth. That puts additional stress on the U-Joint and MAY have been the cause of the failure. The silver mark seen on the inner broken part indicate the U-Joint broke and contacted the housing front the inside. I've seen this before on other bikes.

However, as much fun as it is to simply call this a final drive failure, that is not what it is, nor is the photo in post #35.