New owner with a few questions for the veterans

[boxerpaul]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to say hello and also mention that you have a very nice board here.
I'm the proud owner of a black 2008 R1200R. This bike is really a joy to ride and it seems to handle everything with ease. I only have about 600 km on it so far and have enjoyed each one of those.
I do have a few questions though. This is my first modern bike so I don't know if some of these things are normal or not.

1) I hear a very very faint knocking sound when I'm coming to a stop with the front brake lever depressed, even slightly. It doesn't happen when I apply the rear brake only. Is this normal?

2) On startup, the bike will occasionally try to turn over but it hesitates before catching and the display will go black for a second, then the bike starts and then the gauges do the startup sweep right after it has started. I always wait for the startup sweep to be done before trying to start the bike, and if the above happens, it all takes place with my thumb never leaving the starter, i.e. I keep the starter depressed until the bike actually starts. Anyone have anything like that? It only happens maybe 1 out of 5 starts.

3) Is there any way for me to aim the headlight down slightly?

4) When stopped in neutral I find the bike won't go into first without releasing the clutch lever once or twice. My old Virago did this too, but less frequently. Any thoughts?

I'm going in for my first service in a few days and would like to know if any of these are issues that should be dealt with at that time.
Let me say again that I really love this bike. It's so sleek, yet so very classy and practical too. I think it's really the perfect all round bike. I have the side cases and love that they can each hold a full face helmet. Over all, very happy.

Thanks in advance for any insights you might have regarding the above questions.
Paul

[ShinySideUp]

Hi Paul and welcome to the board.

I'll take an attempt at some answers out of my experience so far with this great machine:

1) Since you said this was your first modern bike, could it be that the faint knocking your hearing are the holes in the rotor engaging the brake pads? If so, it's probably happening in the rear, but you just can't hear it because it's behind you. I'm not really aware of this sensation on my R1200R, but I hear it all the time on the disc brake on my mountain bike. Certainly, since we're talking about brakes, I encourage you to check it out with your dealer, since, in my experience, brakes are fairly important to my overall riding experience!

2) Can't help you here, other than to say, as I just wrote in the battery thread, my stock battery would sometimes falter in turning over the engine, but it always managed to start it. I haven't noticed the display's going black. But then, after the first week, I never looked at the display as I start the bike. I turn on the key and press the starter and it runs. That may not be the best practice, but I haven't noticed any harm from it. (After it's running, I DO check for any idiot lights and fault signals.)

3) The headlight shell is attached to the fairing bracket by a M8 x 20 torx head machine screw on each side. Loosen these a bit and move the headlight up or down. Tightening torque is specified by BMW at 8 Nm. They also specify using thread-locking compound on these fasteners. I didn't bother and the light has held its aim for 12K miles. Usual disclaimers apply.

Glad to hear you're enjoying the bike. It only gets better!

[TAG-Caver]

Hi Paul, for question #4, I experienced the same thing, but popping the clutch didn't always allow me to get out of neutral. I found that if I pull in the clutch and apply pressure on the shifter while moving the bike slightly it drops right into gear. Once the bike is warmed up the problem goes away.

Kevin

[mtl-R12R]

Item 2 has me wondering if your battery charge may be low. I would try leaving the bike on the charger overnight and seeing if the problem persists. The blackout while cranking and the guage sweep after startup sounds like the battery used so much power while cranking that the ECM is resetting itself and giving you those sysmtoms.

Howard

[boxerpaul]

Thanks very much for the replies so far. I will mention the front brake knocking sound to the service guys when I go in. I'm going to try the headlight adjustment today, it sounds easy enough.... right now I'm getting a good view of the tree tops at night, but not much of the road.
As for the battery being low, that makes sense. I guess I assumed that it being a new machine the battery would be in good shape right out of the box. I'll have to get myself a trickle charger. The optimate charger looks pretty good.

[lewellen]

Hi, boxerpaul,

Congrats! I have a silver '08 model.

My thoughts, for what they're worth...

1. This sounds like you have a front brake disk that's either slightly warped, or has either a "thick" or "thin" spot due to a machining glitch. (Floating rotors help, but don't eliminate, warp-induced thunking). If you have a good metal straight-edge ruler, you can take a stab at checking this on the bike. Is this more something you hear, or feel through the lever? Another possibility would be the ABS system oscillating - which it definitely shouldn't do. In any case, the brakes are arguably the most important part of a motorcycle, and they're doing something they shouldn't be; so I'd definitely bring this up with the dealer.

2. Never had that happen; but I was told to not hit the starter until the yellow warning light goes out - takes maybe 5 seconds after the dial sweeps conclude. Regardless, the display blacking out doesn't sound like normal behavior, and 1 out of 5 starts is actually pretty frequent. If it persists even after waiting for the bike to fully boot, I'd talk to the dealer about it, as this is the sort of thing that can lead you stranded if it indicates a progressive fault of some sort.

3. Yep; there's a Torx wrench in your toolkit that will fit these bolts, in fact. When I tried to do the opposite (raise it a little), it felt to me as though there were detents, that didn't let the headlight be aimed just where I wanted it; ymmv. I prefer to do this myself at night so I can see what I'm doing; it's partly an individual choice and preference as far as aim. Just don't forget to check the high-beam setting also.

4. I have this happen at least 1/2 the time when I'm starting to roll from a cold startup. I don't like it, but I'm getting used to it. I'd mention it, but wouldn't be surprised to get a "that's how they are" response.

Good roads,

- Lewellen

[boxerpaul]

New update.... the bike left me stranded when I stopped for gas today. I had just finished a 70km ride on a beautiful Sunday.
It did that same starting thing, but this time just never caught. It eventually just started clicking and then doing the gauge sweep. It actually flashed me the dreaded EWS thing in small print once, but this lasted only for a second and never showed up again.
I came back to the bike with jumper cables and a car and it started right up. Actually, I had never seen the bike start even close to as quickly which leads me to believe the battery was no good from the beginning.

Another question: On my old bike I just to leave the key in the ignition (in the off position of course) when parked at home. I've been doing that with the RR - is there a drain on the battery if I do this? I'm just trying to figure out if it was something I did to cause the battery to die. Could there be something else draining it?

The problem is the dealer is 250km away and I'm now nervous about stopping at all along the ride to my first servicing.
I will also make sure to mention the brakes because everyone seems to say that this should not be a source of noise.
Thanks,
Paul

[BigEasy]

Paul, You may want to check the battery terminals to make sure they are snug. Loose connections could lead to those type of symptoms, and connecting another juice source and firing right up adds to my suspicion that a lead may not be tight enough. Due to my work schedule there have been times since I have owned the bike that I have left for work for a week or so and not plugged in the charger and then being wind up being gone for over a month and the bike fired right up upon my return. That leads me to believe that the battery can handle extended periods without chargeing, so I think you either have a bad battery (not likely) or a loose lead(fairly likely). Regardless welcome to the cult

[deilenberger]

Another question: On my old bike I just to leave the key in the ignition (in the off position of course) when parked at home. I've been doing that with the RR - is there a drain on the battery if I do this? I'm just trying to figure out if it was something I did to cause the battery to die. Could there be something else draining it?

Nope. Mine has been parked in the garage that way most nights for over a year.. and never had the battery drain. Sounds like your battery is kaput..

The problem is the dealer is 250km away and I'm now nervous about stopping at all along the ride to my first servicing.
I will also make sure to mention the brakes because everyone seems to say that this should not be a source of noise.
Thanks,
Paul

Brakes are odd, and battery is dead. The battery probably explains the other odd behavior. While the bike is in for it's service - make sure the dealer changes your antenna ring to the PN ending in 247 (you can check if you have the new ring by looking at it - if you do - on the top, around the ring itself will be the word "IGNITION" - if you don't see that - it's the old ring.) You might call and make sure they have the new ring in stock before arriving.

[boxerpaul]

Thanks for the suggestion. I just went out to take a look and both terminals were screwed down pretty tight. I then tried starting the bike and it started well with no hesitation. This is after having done nothing more than riding it back home after jumping it (like 2 minute ride) and parking it. I'm not sure how to explain that, it doesn't make sense to me.

[boxerpaul]

Don, my ring says ignition on it, but I've heard others mention that some of their older ones say that as well. Is there another way to get at the actual part number? I suppose removing the headlight is the only way to see in there? I'm hoping the bike has the 247 part number... I've become paranoid after following the EWS threadfest over on ADVrider.

[00zero]

4) When stopped in neutral I find the bike won't go into first without releasing the clutch lever once or twice. My old Virago did this too, but less frequently. Any thoughts?

With the dry clutch, the gears stop moving rather quickly and is very hard to engage them when thy are standing.
The way I go about this is to put it in the gear as the clutch lever is approaching the hand grip, do not pull the clutch in and wait even a brief second.

[deilenberger]

Don, my ring says ignition on it, but I've heard others mention that some of their older ones say that as well. Is there another way to get at the actual part number? I suppose removing the headlight is the only way to see in there? I'm hoping the bike has the 247 part number... I've become paranoid after following the EWS threadfest over on ADVrider.

I don't think the PN is on the ring.. at least not on the new one I bought, but there is a production date on the new one I bought.. (I seem to recall 04/02/08 for mine)

[boxerpaul]

Hi guys,

I took the bike out again today. Started, somewhat weak, but made it. After 5 minutes, stopped, tried it, and it was a little weaker turning over but started. Took it for 40 minutes ride, came back home, switched off then after 1 minute tried restarting... then the same thing as yesterday happened. The bike turns over, doesn't catch, then just clicks.
Keep in mind the bike has 700 km on it. Could this be an alternator problem? Battery? The battery leads are screwed down tight. Any suggestions?
I'm taking it for servicing tomorrow but would like some opinions about possible causes before I show it to the service guys.
Thanks,
Paul

[ErikM]

I'd get the dealer to just warrenty a new battery, that's why there's a warrenty, I'd get the ring replaced too since that's also a warrenty item.

[NeilS]

While the bike is in for it's service - make sure the dealer changes your antenna ring to the PN ending in 247

Don, are you saying that the antenna ring is a warranty item even if it hasn't malfunctioned? Or if you can't reproduce the malfunction?

[Skippy]

Your battery needs to be charged fully and a trickle charger is the best way to keep the battery in good shape. I find that most batteries certainly if you have an alarm system won't last for more then 14days. The shifting thing is normal for a shaftdriven BMW, just aply pressure to the gear lever and ever slightly let out the clutch lever and it will pop right in(sometimes a bit noisy but this is also pretty normal stuff with the beemer). If you wanna charge the battery using the power outlet of the bike you need the special BMW charger because the canbus sytem switches the poweroutlet of in about 15 minutes and the optimate won't charge after that. That said I would buy the Optimate witch are pretty good and just put on the extra charging lead that is suplied with the optimate charger and it works just fine(also have this on my bike). Have fun with your new bike and get that charger ASAP so you will be sure your battery is full or not so you will know that if you keep having the same problems the battery is at leat fully scharged and something else must be happening.

Keep us posted on how everything goes and maybe post some pics of your new ride .

[famousperson]

My bike sat unused for over six weeks this winter and the battery held up just fine. Whether it sits for one day or two weeks it goes whrr whrr whrr and starts. You either have a bad battery or something is wrong with the charging system (in which I am including loose connections). I wouldn't know about the effect of an alarm system on the battery as I I don't have one.

I frequently have the problem of shifting into first gear from neutral. I often have to release the clutch and pull it in again to get it to go--if I am trying to shift while I am stopped, never while rolling. From all I have read on this forum, this is normal. Strange, but normal.

[lewellen]

I'd get the dealer to just warrenty a new battery, that's why there's a warrenty, I'd get the ring replaced too since that's also a warrenty item.

Re the battery, while it's in there, I'd also ask them to do a charging system test, and then a leakage current test.

Good roads,

- Lewellen