BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Guys,

Had a most unpleasant experience and I want to get an idea of what I might be in for.

I was riding home and noticed the ABS warning light flashing as I approached a line of stopped vehicles at a set of lights. This is when I found what it's like to ride an ABS bike with no servo boost. I was swinging off the brake lever and standing on the rear brake and bike was barely slowing down. I managed to stop just short of running into the vehicle in front. I was tempted to pull over and change my pants.

There was no servo whine when actuating either the front or rear brake.

A few km down the road the warning light went off the brakes were restore to normal. This was massively scary and the concept of the ABS going on and off randomly is most disconcerting.

Questions:
1 - Is this a precursor to full ABS failure.
2 - How much does it cost to have the ABS pulled and replaced with "normal" brakes. (Does this require a shed load of new parts and crazy acre modifications)

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Sol

Have you checked your error codes? Sounds like ABS but my recollection was once it broke, it stayed broke, so maybe a sensor issue...had my ABS rebuild by a company in Montana, has worked perfect every since...best of luck...

Don't panic - although the experience of suddenly losing BMW Motorrad's ABS mid-ride is one that's not easily forgotten. Take a peek at the state of the slotted ring on the front wheel - that's the transmitter ring, and as it passes through the sensor-block mounted on the fork-leg, the air gap has to be right, with no crud in between bunging up the setting.

If the abs later came back to work properly, it's prolly a sensor upset or a problem with the ABS controller unit hidden under the tank right next to the inaccessible battery....

As to removal - which actually is no big deal; see many advises on these pages - think before you jump. An ABS-equipped bike is inherently much safer in an emergency-braking scenario than a bike without ABS. Even BMW Motorrad's clumsy, lardy, out-dated servo-assisted linked-brakes design.

So altho' the various systems on these vehicles can be troublesome, it's best to first-of-all try to get the problem sorted before abandoning the system.

Buena suerte...

AL - temporarily in the Divided Kingdom for the festive season; altho' there's not much Christmas warmth around among the touchy Brits - the Leavers and the Remainers - at the moment. A nation at war with itself.

The ABS system also looks for a strong voltage from the battery/charging system. A weak battery will give faults as well. I agree with sykospain in that do all you can to troubleshoot the system. Including an ABS service/flush. But if it still fails a removal is pretty easy and relatively straight forward. I removed mine about 4 years ago. It's a shame though that no one can seem to come up with a rebuilt pump.

I was reading the other day about a bike that was experiencing a rear failure code. the owner ended up taking the control module off and then apart. He found a bunch of old fluid/crud inside, cleaned it all out and claimed he was good to go after the cleaning. Certainly not a first step, but maybe worth a look after trying some of the other things and if you get that far into it.

I had my ABS unit serviced every year, flushing the entire system and especially the ABS module itself. 2 Years ago I experienced exactly the same as Soliton did. Coming up to a traffic light the ABS warning light came up as I applied the brakes and the brakes hardly responded. No matter how hard I tried. I was able to swerve between the lines of stopped vehicles at the trafficlights (otherwise I would have hit the cars) and came to a halt in the middle of the crossing. Scaring the sh*t out of not only myself but also everybody else.
Back in the workshop they checked everything (including batterypower), flushed the system and everything seemed to work again. No ABS warning light and a trusted whining when front or rear brake was applied. A week later the same thing happened again. I had the ABS module removed, steel brake lines installed and I'm done with that ABS system. I know ABS is safer, but if you cannot trust that system, pull it out.

+1 on this ^. My ABS pump has been removed and the non-ABS/non-servo brakes work great. Just no ABS (besides what's built into your skillset). If you can't trust it, that's a problem. Good luck!

Surprised to read this. The manual says something along the lines of brake efficiency will be 'reduced' in the event of abs failure, but doesn't say anything about total loss of braking! Yikes!!

I'd always thought that if the module failed completely then braking would feel similar to conventional brakes with a little more pressure required to compensate for the additional length of the hydraulic lines, but the experiences posted here sound much more serious than that.

I haven't read anything about removal but am assuming that if/when the time comes that removal is more involved than simply replacing brake lines? Guessing there's some wiring involved also-

Great instruction video on the removal of the ABS unit. He uses the original breaklines and reconnects them.
https://youtu.be/mLrn45PJD_c

I've got a document with a description in Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/s/x3dcisxdm66ff ... l.pdf?dl=0

I had the ABS unit removed and totally replaced the breaklines with new steel breaklines.
Front

Right side

Left side

Rear

and finally


Breaks are great. Why did they ever use electric power assisted breaks?

Thanks for that. I only skimmed through the video but did download and read your document. Seems more straightforward that I'd thought. Hopefully I'll never have the need to do this, but great to know that there's some procedures worked out in the even it becomes necessary.

Hmmmmm....

I took the bike to the dealer for a diagnostic. They advised me that the whole unit was shot and would need replacing.

I rode the bike home and did a couple of things and now it is working again.

1 - Pulled the relay and fuse and put them back.
2 - Removed my GS hand guards. This may seem odd but I noticed they were preventing the brake lever from return to the fully closed position. The brake was always slightly depressed, not even enough to fire the micro-switch but definitely not fully closed.

Anyhow it's working again.

I will keep an eye on everything and see if this is just a co-incidence or if either of these things may have helped. I hope it does, as getting the ABS repaired is not an option yet. Module Master doesn't yet do the job. I called and they are testing the process. Removing the ABS looks simple and I have an identical wreck that is not ABS so all the parts are available (no need for the copper bridge fitting of the switches) should I need to do it in the future.

Thanks guys.

Sol.

my rear servo went out. did the removal, drilled out the module and plugged it back in. zero rewiring.

the idea of ABS is great, and ABS has saved me on my F650 a few times.

the idea of ABS that can fail and leave you with about 10% braking capacity will eventually lead to serious injury or death.

glad to read that nobody on here had a mishap when it happened to them.

DAM

Much to my surprise, the UK MOT brake test on rollers was done without the engine running- so the servo/ABS were not working?. The brakes worked just fine and met the requirements for a bike of this weight. Any comments? I witnessed the test.

The ABS unit has reservoirs with sensors. These reservoirs supply the fluid from the ABS unit to the caliper. As your brakes wear the level needs to be topped off or the sensor will read the low level and you'll have the ABS failure problem. You need to remove the tank to get to them for refill.

gregor wrote:Much to my surprise, the UK MOT brake test on rollers was done without the engine running- so the servo/ABS were not working?. The brakes worked just fine and met the requirements for a bike of this weight. Any comments? I witnessed the test.

I've always suspected that the brake test weren't really up to 'real life' standards......

Test is done by real experts.

gregor wrote:Much to my surprise, the UK MOT brake test on rollers was done without the engine running- so the servo/ABS were not working?. The brakes worked just fine and met the requirements for a bike of this weight. Any comments? I witnessed the test.

The servo brakes don't need the motor running to function, they just need the key on.

We just picked up another r with the servo brakes and I am on the fence about them. I really like the idea of having ABS but absolutely hate the way it is set up. It would be one thing if the brakes were just a little harder to apply without working servos, but two separate circuits with no fail safe seems completely asinine.

I also find I like to slightly apply the front brake coming into turns (motor does 95% and use the brakes for the last 5%) and the amount I usually want is less than the minimum the servo assist will do.

Hi All,I've a 2004 Rockster. i removed the ABS 3 years ago after a mega scare in torrential rain. Dead easy, no rewiring required. Its' a Fantastic Rockster now.I have a question I hope you can answer. The speedo is from the rear wheel. Is the black cable to the front wheel sensor for servo initiation or ABS initiation? Can I now remove it?
Cheers,
Rooster

I've a 2004 R. Not a Rockster but I can't imagine there being a difference in how (or where) the ABS got it's info. Mine has a mechanical cable to the front wheel hub for speed. I did not remove either ABS sensor (front or rear) when I removed my ABS system several years ago. With no ABS pump existing I don't see where removing sensors would matter. Are you sure your speedometer gets is speed info from the rear wheel?

Haven't got a Rockster, but R1150R and had the ABS removed and the brake lines replaced with steel lines.
They removed all ABS related stuff, including sensors.
I reposted all pictures in my comment above, so they should be visible again. See picture of front leftside. No sensor.