Ammendment to the end date

I am planning on staying with some friends on the last night of the trip, at the weekend we met them and decided that this would be an excellent time to stay with them for the weekend. This means that the end of my ride will be postponed.  I will arrive near Middlesborough on 21 May, the following day my wife and some other friends will join us for the weekend and we will all leave on Sunday 24 May, the final riding day arriving at the Humber Bridge in the afternoon.

Oh no, the brakes are still playing up

Just returned from a disappointing ride.

All seemed well at first, but the first indication of trouble was when I stopped for a break. On restarting the bike the brake light continued to flash and the general failure light stayed on as before. I stopped and started the engine and all was well. This happened once more. Other than this the ride was uneventful and the brakes worked fine, however nearly home having ridden about 140 miles, the light started flashing out of the blue, stopping and starting the engine made no difference this time, it just carried on, again the servo seemed to be working, I could hear the pump, and the brake efficiency seemed fine.
 

I have spoken to the dealership and their next offer is replacing the servo pump etc for £1400 plus fitting. 

 

I now feel inclined to remove the servo and reconnect the brakes.

 

I have been in touch with a really helpful guy,  Dave, who runs http://www.dhmoto.net/ on which he has published a very useful summary of how to remove the servo on an 1150 GS and reconnect everything, you can find it here http://dhmoto.net/doc/Abs_Removal.pdf

 

All being well I shall be going down that route in the next couple of weeks and will post progress.

Brake issue update

As you might expect the journey to the dealer last Tuesday was a bit scary, not knowing what would happen to the brakes, but in a 13 mile trip on motorway and side roads, not a blink from the brake light.

The initial diagnostics threw up two errors 00431E Front wheel circuit and 00440 Pressure sensor rear wheel circuit.

The technicial had already spoken to me about a possible issue around a couple of little filters in the servo motor, so he cleaned them and then completely re bled the brake system.

Subsequent diagnostics showed no problem, so I drove home, and so far so good. I’m on my way out now to give it a good run, here's hoping.

One positive - no charge from the dealer.

Mystery brake problems

Oh dear, just before Christmas I had the R1150RT serviced, and as I drove away from the BMW main dealership, the brake warning light started flashing. Back to the dealer who put it on the diagnostics and could find no problem. This happened twice, advice was to fit a new battery, which I did and all seemed well. 

Fast forward to two days ago, first ride after the service. Into the Peak District only to find the brake warning light flashing after about 10 miles. Minor panic, but brakes appear to be working, so I stopped at the top of Holme Moss. On restarting the light was fine, so I continued, but the same thing happened twice more.

I am now sitting in the dealership looking enviously at new shiny metal. While my veteran is being probed and prodded to see what might be causing the light to flash. With the battery theory demolished we are now lookin at a filter on the servo pump and re bleeding the brakes. Fingers, and other things crossed.

Apparently the servo system is notoriously shaky on these bikes. Internet research has raised the possibility of removing the servo altogether and riding with a traditional braking system. If the worst happens this would be a better solution than £1500 for a new servo!

Another very good reason to tour Scotland

Where else would you find Whisky tasting on the station? Kyle of Lochalsh

Test post from my phone

I am planning to post from my iPhone while on the trip so I am testing its process now. It looks as if I can take photos or post them from the camera roll, but videos don't seem to work

Im looking forward to some more of this

Coming down the pass from Applecross towards Loch Kishorn last summer - Fantastic.