Took the Raven in for a pre trip checkout and service last week. Sharon followed because I was going to leave the outfit at the shop and pick it up later.
I left the house and got about a couple miles away and the bike started slowing down, I downshifted to a lower gear and gave it a little more gas and the bike just stopped and the engine died. I had no idea what was going on.
Luckily I was able to just about to get off the road, turned on my emergency flashers, and put the bike in neutral to push it further off the road, but couldn't budge it.
Sharon drove around behind me and asked me what was wrong and what she could do. While we were talking the bike started rolling down the hill. The brakes had released!! I told Sharon to follow me with her emergency flashers and we were off to the Abby (the shop I take my bike to)
I limped the bike about 12 miles to the shop and explained what happened to Mike the owner/mechanic.
On my own I went ahead and checked a couple of BMW forums, and then checked BMW Service specifications. Which states the the brake fluid should be completely changed over every two years. Most of the people that I asked mentioned 2 years but never had it done.
My bike is a 2009 1200 GS that I had bought new, and it is 5 yrs old. Mike told me that the fluid was clear but it was gelatinous and it plugged port that is located in the master cylinder, it's about the size of a small needle hole, that allows the fluid to to return to the disk brakes. So you squeeze the front brake two, maybe three times and there is no way for the fluid to bleed off so the pressure is kept on the disks and brake rotors and the motorcycle stops, in my case killed the engine, and I wasn't able to move the bike until the pressure bled off. Mike drained both systems front and rear and flushed the system. I'm glad it didn't happen while I was on the road.
I left the house and got about a couple miles away and the bike started slowing down, I downshifted to a lower gear and gave it a little more gas and the bike just stopped and the engine died. I had no idea what was going on.
Luckily I was able to just about to get off the road, turned on my emergency flashers, and put the bike in neutral to push it further off the road, but couldn't budge it.
Sharon drove around behind me and asked me what was wrong and what she could do. While we were talking the bike started rolling down the hill. The brakes had released!! I told Sharon to follow me with her emergency flashers and we were off to the Abby (the shop I take my bike to)
I limped the bike about 12 miles to the shop and explained what happened to Mike the owner/mechanic.
On my own I went ahead and checked a couple of BMW forums, and then checked BMW Service specifications. Which states the the brake fluid should be completely changed over every two years. Most of the people that I asked mentioned 2 years but never had it done.
My bike is a 2009 1200 GS that I had bought new, and it is 5 yrs old. Mike told me that the fluid was clear but it was gelatinous and it plugged port that is located in the master cylinder, it's about the size of a small needle hole, that allows the fluid to to return to the disk brakes. So you squeeze the front brake two, maybe three times and there is no way for the fluid to bleed off so the pressure is kept on the disks and brake rotors and the motorcycle stops, in my case killed the engine, and I wasn't able to move the bike until the pressure bled off. Mike drained both systems front and rear and flushed the system. I'm glad it didn't happen while I was on the road.
Our friend Julie came up for a short visit from New Mexico we hadn't seen her in sixteen years
We picked them up on the June 12, 2014 at 6:00 in the morning in Whittier
Drove thru the tunnel here is a link
The weather was wet and cloudy went to Seward, Hope (pie and coffee)
and finally to Talkeetna
They left Sunday after a great bar-b-q with our Alaska family
Link 1
Link 2
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| Talkeetna Roadhouse with a Big Doggie |
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| By the Susitna River in Talkeetna Saturday we also had some visitors that are in the process of an around the world tour that started out in Australia |
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| Vesna, Sharon, Klemen |
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| Vesna, Pam, Julie, Klemen Vesna and Klemen are new friends of ours through Bostjan |
Glad the issue wasn't complicated Bob, I try and flush the brake circuits every year in November....its an easy task, especially if you replace the stock brake bleeders with speed bleeders, then it becomes a quick and easy one man job.
ReplyDeleteI thought that ABS complicates the brake fluid replacement. But glad it got fixed. We both enjoyed visiting.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure Richard, how that works with ABS but I will be finding out. Enjoyed visiting with you and Bridgett. See you when we both get back
ReplyDelete