2012 R1200GS Rallye Edtion - 1000 Road Miles and Fork Seals are Leaking

FYI,

I completed 1000 road miles (this motorcycle has only been on legal roads) and I looked down at the forks to see a drop of oil right at the seal, then noticed both forks are wet in the travel area. Doh!

I searched this site and see this is not an uncommon problem for BMW over the years... :huh

I hope my dealer fixes this without a discussion. I'll report back after I contact them.

:eek1:eek1:eek1

Sure hate to hear that...I've had issues with my fork seals, but not when they were that new. I highly doubt you'll get any push-back getting it repaired under warranty, but it still sucks that they gotta put their greasy paws all over your beautiful new bike. It's a pretty straightforward repair though.

Thanks for the reply.

It's a great shop I got mine from, but I'm very concerned about a repair facility handling the cosmetic factor on something this new. i.e. removing the forks carefully so that they don't get marked up in the repair. Had it been 20k+ miles since, I'd feel a bit different. :eek1

So soon to have an issue

UM
Tough luck on the forks.


Thanks for sharing the issue about the forks on your new Rallye. I hope the dealer treats you well.

Congrats on your new bike just the same.

I just got my Rallye out of shipment Thursday. Tomorrow will be my first ride on the bike after shipping it to the states.

I will keep a close eye the forks as well now.

Crownvic

I got some issues too after offroading the bike looking wet at the traverse area of the right fork.. Wipe it down properly and it looks ok now. Will be monitoring it

A friend of mine has the same issue with his '09, had more than 1K on the bike, but not much more. The dealer was really good on fixing it and they were very careful not to mar anything up. You should be fine!!

My right fork seal started weeping after about 1,500 miles. The dealers is going to fix it this week. It hasn't gotten any worse, just enough to pool oil at the top.

Didn't realize this was an issue on 2012 models.

Going out to look right now...
...

Clean and dry, but will watch.

I had the same issue with my 09 GSA at 1000kms. It happend after hitting a large pothole and I thought the seal were bad. But I was told during the delivery the seals were packed with some kind of lubricant which was supposed to be clean during the PDI. Wiped them down and I'm at 5000kms now and the seals are dry.

2012rallye owner here as well. Mine appeared to leak, too. But I believe it was because they either had some sort of lube on them or too much fluid from the dealer. I monitored the situation carefully by wiping them off every week or so. I've gone 4000 miles so far and they stopped leaving fluid on my tubes. Before getting these rebuilt, I'd suggest riding more and wiping them down and monitor the fluid residue. They may stop leaking like mine did. Oh, I'm also 100% sure that I'm not out of fork oil incase you're thinking this is why I'm not leaking anymore. :)

I dried mine prior to the last two rides, about 125 miles each. Both times I had a pool of fluid at the fork seal. Not enough to run yet, but getting there. The left seal is perfect. I don't see much off road so crud in the seal doesn't resonate.

Just one of those things.

I have Dirt Skins fork covers on both of my bikes, so any leakage is unseen.

It's like an unseen danger. If I can't see it, it must not exist!

In all seriousness though, my forks have stayed very clean using those very cheap covers. I replaced fork seals on my RT at 90,000 miles. Got 21,000 miles on my new GS and no issues so far.

Hi, I'm not rushing to conclusions, though I will call the dealer tomorrow. The thought has crossed my mind that "everything is just breaking in" and it'll stop. When the weekend comes I'll take it for a few hundred miles again and see what's what, but the pendulum is swinging towards "problem" at the moment.

Makes sense to me, and one of the reasons I got the BMW. Why would you put upside down forks on a bike with a dirt purpose. Maybe I haven't looked at dirt bikes lately?, if they have upside down forks then I call lunacy!

Link please to the protectors.

I bought 2 pairs back in 2008, and they have fit both my R1100RT and my new R1200GSA. They were $23 per pair then.

www.dirtskins.com

Item Code: DSFRKSKN01-1

I would consider calling and confirming the part number since I bought mine so long ago. But they have held up well. It is a neoprene cover that velcros around the fork, so no disassembly required. They have never come loose or off on their own. I have zip ties on the bottom of the ones on the GSA, thought the ones on my 126,000 mile RT have never shifted or slid down without zip ties.

Suppose that this is the BMW Telelever version of Cosmoline?

hell, is take it to the dealer regardless of what anybody on this forum says. You paid $20 grand for the bike it should be flawless and if not, then the dealer should make it that way! Money doesn't grow on trees....at least not here in Seattle, but that may be because we don't get enough sun!

I called them first thing and they asked me to stop by so they could inspect. I also made a repair appointment for July 3rd. I suspect it won't just go away, and it'll get repaired if it doesn't. They agreed it should not leak.

I'm not entirely sure what to think now...

1100 miles my forks had fluid at the seal, wiped clean, and while not as bad still seems to be making the forks wet. July 3rd repair scheduled.

Now at 1500 miles my FD has a slightly wet film of grime along and inside of the hole coming from apparently the lip of the black ring.

I'm thinking I should I just wait for 6k service and see if it all works itself out. Seals don't normally dry up though once they start flowing...

Is this all normal for a brand new bike's first 1500 miles?

All good thoughts there. It's doubtful that much damage will occur if in first 6k with such minimal leakage. I'd imagine BMW will cover anything out of spec. for your new machine if there's oil leaking from seals at such an early mileage. What's your mileage now? It is, after all, a BMW. That is why we would ever consider a new machine.

WARRANTEE = peace of mind.