Has BMW been bad to you? Did you buy a New BMW lemon? Have you spent too long at the service shop, dealing with "technicians" who think you're an idiot? Did the electrics start failing? Did your beautiful New BMW start stalling? What about that transmission? Did BMW tell you it was your imagination? Did your sub-frame crack? Did they promise they'd call you soon to arrange something?

Don't worry you're not the only one who bought a BMTroubleU, but now you can tell the world your real "BMW Experience" by simply emailing your story and images to rayone2.3456 AT blogger.com you need to replace ' AT ' with an '@' cos I get too much spam (privacy statement)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

What if the bolts came loose?

I stopped riding the bike for a couple of weeks out of fear of the consequences if the bolts came loose with such significant steering play... I was reluctant to return the bike as the technicians hadn't proven themselves very capable. So I continued riding the bike and inspecting the bolts after every ride.
Now that the steering was straight, the leaning became more obvious. 
I did some research and asked questions in forums, gaining valuable information about BMW's history with misalignment and wheel offsets. I also got a message from a UK based BMW technician who informed me that there shouldn't be the amount of play I described in the steering links and that I should get them inspected ASAP.

I also contacted Jon Pearson from Superbike magazine, and he felt the most likely cause was that the bike had been dropped.

I spent weeks trying to find a way to resolve the leaning. I asked Scott Norman if it was possible the engine was installed in the frame slightly off centre.
I purchased panniers for the bike (at great expense) so I could add weights to either side of the bike to determine what weight would make the bike ride straight. 4-7Kg on the right made the bike ride straight. The problem was that the bike would then veer to the right.

Wednesday 27 January 2010: I dropped the bike off at Fraser's to have the wheel offset measured and the steering bolts replaced... they called me up and said they need to order the bolts.

Wednesday 10 February 2010: I dropped the bike off again at Fraser's to have the wheel offset measured and the steering bolts replaced. They replaced the bolts leaving the steering less straight than I had made it before but no where near as misaligned as originally (I guess they did the possible). They also said the wheels where perfectly aligned and there was no issues with leaning. And the steering links were fine. I asked how much offset there was, the reply was quote "There is no offset; 3.5 on either side".