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Owner Comments
(Below)
Editor's Note:
This information came from webBikeWorlder "Alex" in
Germany. Thanks Alex!
UPDATE
From Alex - August 3, 2008
It's me, Alex from
Germany, again. I am glad to provide important
NEW information on the subject of defective hand
guards on BMW R1200GS models.
-
It is known that for
the BMW motorcycle models BMW R1200GS and BMW
R1200GS Adventure a "recall measure to eliminate
significant shortcomings with regard to road
safety" in accordance with Section 35, paragraph
2, No. 1 Road Traffic Act [StVG/German Law] was
initiated in the beginning of June 2008!
These measures included the distribution of a
long letter with warnings, a "supplement for the
user guide", "installation instructions for
stickers" and a "sticker for the right hand
guard" and a "sticker for the left hand guard."
The European Commission is warning about the
risk of injury on their website.
-
It is known that BMW
R1200GS and BMW R1200GS models have been
delivered since October 2007 (!) with completely
newly constructed hand guards.
The risk of locking front wheels during ride and
in addition various clutch and brake
malfunctions during ride no longer exists with
them. Quite simply for the reason that the
hand guards no longer touch any of the lever,
even if they may rotate.
Here is the photo of the new style hand guards:

-
It is known that the
"old" hand guards no longer can be ordered at
BMW dealers. This is the situation since
at least April 2008! And it's even not
possible to order any spare part for the "old"
design if you need one. So no dealer can
repair a BMW motorcycle whose "old" hand guards
are damaged.
NEWS: There
is now a special retrofit for the hand guards on BMW
R1200GS models produced between March 2004 and
October 2007 available. Part #: 71 607 705 265. The
price of the kit is in Germany about 110 EUR, which
corresponds to 170 USD. Photo below.
Note: This is a very
innovative form of a "recall". Because the
customers are paying the bill!

I am from Germany and
there seems to be the need of clarifying the issue
of the "BMW R 1200 GS Hand Guard Problem".
The German Federal Motor
Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, KBA)
informed the European Commission and the EU Member
States about an unsafe product from Germany. They
started an official investigation after a serious
accident with a BMW R1200GS Mod. 2004 near
Fulda/Germany on 13th January 2008 02:14 pm.
The
brakes were totally locked and the bike was equipped
with power assisted integral-abs brakes. The
European Commission published the safety warning of
the German Federal Motor Transport Authority on 11th
July 2008 in RAPEX.
RAPEX is the EU rapid
alert system for all dangerous consumer products. It
allows for the rapid exchange of information between
Member States and the Commission of measures taken
to prevent or restrict the marketing or use of
products posing a serious risk to the health and
safety of consumers. Both measures ordered by
national authorities and measures taken voluntarily
by producers and distributors are covered by RAPEX.
Ref. No.: 12 - 0738/08
http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/dyna/rapex/create_rapex.cfm?rx_id=192
NOTE:
.pdf file (in German) explaining the problem.
12
0738/08 |
Germany |
Category: Motor
vehicles
Product: Motorcycles
Brand: BMW
Type/number of model: Model R1200GS, type
R12
Description: Concerns motorcycles built
between December 2002 and October 2007.
Country of origin: Germany
No picture available
|
Injuries
The product poses a risk of injuries because
in the event of inappropriate handling, such
as pulling roughly, hitting objects while
manoeuvring, or if the motorcycle falls
over, the hand protector on the handlebar
controls can twist. It could then touch the
handbrake or clutch control causing brake or
clutch malfunction. In addition, if the
twisted hand protector lightly touches and
operates the handbrake control, the brake
linings may touch the brake disc and the
resulting heat generation would cause the
brake pressure to build up which could slow
down the front wheel, even so far as to
block it.
Three incidents reported.
|
Voluntary
corrective action taken by the manufacturer.
|
The official recall
campaign (= voluntary corrective action) is a letter
with a warning, a supplement to the manual and so
called "nanny stickers". These stickers have to be
put in the hand guards so everybody can see if
hand guards and protector are in the right place.
And
you see that the authorities do warn about
motorcycles produced between "December 2002 and
October 2007", which clearly indicates that they did
not only forget to mention the BMW R1200GS
Adventure, but also the BMW R1150GS and BMW R1150GS
Adventure.
Attached you will find
these "nanny stickers" for owners of the affected
bikes and a picture of the hand guards in question. Feel free to use and publish them!
By the way: BMW stopped
to distribute the hand guards. It's not possible to
buy them, you don't even get parts of them if you
need them!

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►Owner Comments
Comments? Send them to
Comments are ordered from most recent to oldest.
From "M.L.": "Spare parts are
still available in Canada, and I was told the
"upgrade" will be done at no charge.
I'm no expert, but are the hand guards the same on
the 1150 and 1200GS (and Adventure) models ?