February 15, 2017 Final Drive!

Back to the dealer to check the rear axel!  

Isn't it pretty?  900 miles and there was a major crown bearing failure!  900 miles, must be some kind of record!  At this point I must admit that the dealer was great through all of this!  They only discovered this problem after the service manager had a mechanic sit on the bike while all measurements we taken to see if the wheel was up to snuff.  They then found that the wheel tilted toward the brake caliper when there was weight on the bike.  A whole rear assembly was ordered!
It did take 2 weeks to get the new final drive in to replace and the brake calipers and pads.......the whole rear end!  The problem with getting the part is there is no inventory because all drives are being build to put on current production that has been purchased so I have to wait my turn. Finally it was all together and I picked up my 900 mile old bike with the brand new rear drive assembly.  Time to plan a trip because the weather has been amazing.

January 18th, 2017 600 mile service

Another nice day to ride and I am due for my 600 mile service on the RT.  On the ride over to the dealer it gave me a chance to check the feel of the bike out for the odd feeling in the ride.  There was very little wind so it was a good time to take note.  It continues to feel like something is dragging in the back.  Not as much a surging but something holding me back.  So I explained this to the Service Manager Jon and they looked at it and found the the rear brake caliper was burned up.  Jon felt that something got wedged into the brake and caused this but that they were going to cover it under warranty since it was only 600 miles.  All good and the rest of the service was completed in a short time since it was just a oil change to begin with.  I returned home ready to plan a trip to the Coastal Carolina BMW Riders annual Oyster Roast at Carolina Beach!  Love Oysters!  This event had been planned a couple of weeks earlier but an ice storm had caused a delay!

Waiting for the bike

 Well I am feeling relieved the FD is here.  But wouldn't a new bike be better?  Loaded now and going to do an evening ride for 5 hrs.  93 now mid 80's after 8:00

Departure day has come and gone and we are still here!

Oswald waits patiently as the bike is away at the dealer getting a new Final Drive.  So we wait!

The part comes in at 10:30 am and takes 1 hour to mount.  It is possible that I am out of there by 12:30pm then back here to load up!

John and his no good very bad day!!

How quickly things change.  I was merrily loading the motorcycle when I bent down to pick up a bag and bam!

What you see here is a drip of oil from the final drive "FD" of a BMW motorcycle.  The weak link of the motorcycle.  Sometimes they last 150,000 miles but this one only lasted 30,000!  To make matters worse it failed a month ago and I had it fixed.  Then earlier this week it was leaking again and I took it back in to the independent repair shop.  So I picked up the phone and called the dealer and ordered a brand spanking new BMW Final Drive assembly! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.  To add insult to injury I was cooking a fairly simple dinner using Trader Joe's frozen brown rice and in the middle of trying to get the bike fixed............boom it blows up all over the microwave!
Not 10 minutes before the chaos started I finished booking all the hotels along the way up and around the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia. A word of warning....rooms are all booked up at Ingonish Beach! But I got one..  So now I have to juggle, something I have had to do during my working life.  I have had to cancel the Dinner in Youngstown, OH.  The bike will be repaired on Friday with a special order FD.  Now I am faced with what I didn't want to do.....the Northeast I-95 blast to Portland ME!  The ferry reservation is for Tuesday next week so I have to hustle.  It won't be the fun ride I was hoping for through the countryside of the NE.  It also means that I have to move the Ohio dinner to the other end of the trip and the date I will get there is a little dicy.  Probably early September, assuming everything holds together, me included!  I think I like this blogging thing.  I am feeling a bit more relaxed just sharing with whoever out there reads this stuff.  So now I have an additional day for GPS routing and maybe a better plan.  Let's face it, if Pattie had gotten to Halifax and I showed up to pick her up in a Uhaul, things could be worse!  I don't think either one of us would have enjoyed the Cabot Trail in a Uhaul!