GS-Riders International

When I picked up my new GS from the dealer, the engine would shake and run poorly just as the clutch was beginning to engage. The dealer suggested this is not a serious problem and to ride the bike. As I put more time on the engine, things started to get smoother.

The initial service at 1000 km (600 M) had the heads re-torqued and valves reset. TBS is performed by the BMW maintenance computer. As I understand, there are stepper motors that control the amount of air being used by each throttle body at idle. The bike ran considerably smoother following this service.

One of my goals is to connect a manometer and test the synchronization of the throttle bodies across the entire range of throttle position. From reading other sites, this can be off sometimes.

My bike now has 6000 miles or 10,000 km, not bad for only having it 6 weeks. It is running very well now. The GS apparently needs some run in time. Since I just returned from a 3500 mile (5600 km) trip, I'll do the 10,000 km maintenance including changing the transmission and rear end lube.

The only problem I've experienced was with the rear shock absorber. My dealer's mechanic told me he set the suspension adjustments to the middle of the range. While riding in open country and high temperatures (104 degrees F), the shock quit dampening and started bouncing like a pogo stick. I increased the preload to almost max and set the rebound to one turn back from totally hard and that cured most of the problem. It was strange to ride normally then have everything go crazy without making any changes to the settings. The settings I used are what is called for in the owners manual. What was the dealer thinking? This only encourages me to replace the suspension with Wilbers or something else, as soon as my bank account heals a little more.

My fuel consumption has increased to better than 50 mpg running mid grade fuel. The engine uses no oil. The on board computer has gotten significantly more accurate than what it displayed initially. The fuel guage is somewhat a mystery still but not a problem, upon fillup the guage doesn't display full till about 15 or 20 minutes later. It displays all but the top little bar but later that will change indicating full. I reset one of the trip odometers at every fillup and depend upon that.

My fuel gauge has been 'flakey' since new. Recently I parked the bike on a slight incline, left it in 1st gear and entered a restuarant with friends. When we returned, my tank was indicating full although only 1/3 of the tank contains fuel. Since then, it has always indicated full.

I may try what Peter suggests, take the bike to the dealer when it is almost empty and hope they can fix something. My hesitation is that I have little confidence in my local dealer's service department.

My gas gauge quit working, apparently not so uncommon on newer
R12GS. It worked correctly initially then changed to always reading full. Several problems result from
this. The onboard computer calculates the remaining range based
upon the gas consumption calculations and the amount of available
fuel. With the gas gauge reading full, the computer reports I can
travel for an extended distance even though I know I'm running on empty.

I made an appointment with my dealer to have this looked at under the
warranty. The dealer had a replacement part, what they call the
fuel strip, in stock. The mechanic told me he needed to pull the
offending part from my machine and put it in front of a fan for a
couple hours. The fuel strip needs to be perfectly dry to calibrate.
Then he hooks it up to their diagnostic computer and attempts to
calibrate it. I asked what success he has had and his reply was,
"none so far."

Upon
retrieving my bike, everything works correctly. My original fuel strip
wouldn't calibrate and the new part was installed. The mechanic
made no promises, he informed me that BMW is working on a solution or
replacement part. Apparently the '04 and '05 GS machines use a
traditional float arm, then some bikes came with both the float and the
strip, sometime in early '06. All bikes newer than mid '06 use the
strip. I asked how it works and didn't get a clear answer.
The parts guy, suggested it measures varying capacitance, but what does he know.