2011 bmw g 650 gs fork failure

[antiquewidow]

Ok, first down - fork failure with 95 miles on bike. I was heading on a straight way going 20-30 mph roughly; had to take a left hand turn approx 40' up the road when I went down... (Beginning rider so needless to say going 40mph right now is more than fast enough for me.) When I finally came to a stop I stood up - made sure all body parts were workin - Yup... fully intact.. thank goodness for protective clothing and full face helmet. Body damage -no broken bones or fractures......right ankle - quite swollen n sprained from heel to toe, left n right elbows an wrists road rash, left knee huge road rash, right knee slight road abrasions, right rib - major sore n bruising, nose very sore n was bloody. shoulder ,upper back ,neck & throat area swollen & tender. Pretty ridiculous that bmw hasnt been forced to recall this issue since it has been known for quite sometime..I bought this bike since it is an enduro meant for off on road use and I travel alot of country roads, but if heading on a straight a way on asphalt going this slow caused fork failure - OMG i just shiver at the thought.....

[ragtoplvr]

Report it to the NSHTA be sure to include Vin and the fact an accident occurred.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm

If a few people report accidents, like only 3 or 4, and a few others report failures, they will normally take action, well unless BMW owns enough congressmen

Hop it is fixed and you have no lasting injury.

Rod

[antiquewidow]

oh i already have that number - cant do it online since they dont have my model... but that is my first call in the am.....thanks

[lemieuxmc]

Did you check out the thread on this topic? I can't remember the thread title.

[craiger527]

Can you describe in detail what happened to the forks? Just not clear when you say they failed. I am concerned about this because the forks on my 10 R1200GS have been leaking and sticking. It is in the shop right now and they have replaced the fork seals but they don't know why it is sticking. I have been fearing that they might fail and then reading your post really concerns me.

[muddbutt]

Originally Posted by antiquewidow

Ok, first down - fork failure with 95 miles on bike. I was heading on a straight way roughly going 20-30 mph roughly; had to take a left hand turn approx 40' up the road when I went down... (Beginning rider so needless to say going 40mph right now is more than fast enough for me.) When I finally came to a stop I stood up - made sure all body parts were workin - Yup... fully intact.. thank goodness for protective clothing and full face helmet. Body damage -no broken bones or fractures......right ankle - quite swollen n sprained from heel to toe, left n right elbows an wrists road rash, left knee huge road rash, right knee slight road abrasions, right rib - major sore n bruising, nose very sore n was bloody.. Pretty ridiculous that bmw hasnt been forced to recall this issue since it has been known for quite sometime..I bought this bike since it is an enduro meant for off on road use and I travel alot of country roads, but if heading on a straight a way on asphalt going this slow caused fork failure - OMG i just shiver at the thought.....

pics? There was a known problem with some circa 2000-2003 GS forks. I haven't heard of any problems since then. BMW did a quiet change of the axle connecting points- the beefed them up quite a bit. A few riders had very well documented crashes where the front tires came off.

[antonac]

thank goodness for protective clothing and full face helmet.

Body damage -no broken bones or fractures......right ankle - quite swollen n sprained from heel to toe, left n right elbows an wrists road rash, left knee huge road rash, right knee slight road abrasions, right rib - major sore n bruising, nose very sore n was bloody.

Something here's not adding up... how'd you end up with a bloody nose and rash, with proper gear, on a low-speed dump?

Also, are you sure you didn't touch that front brake?

[hardwaregrrl]

Originally Posted by antonac

Something here's not adding up... how'd you end up with a bloody nose and rash, with proper gear, on a low-speed dump?
?

20-30 mph is a low speed dump?

[antonac]

Originally Posted by hardwaregrrl

20-30 mph is a low speed dump?

I misread the original post - had it in my mind that he went down in the turn itself and not approaching it. Carry on

[henrymartin]

I have an 09 model and had zero issues at about 5k miles. Took it to some extremes as well, and those who know me know that I speak the truth. Zero fork issues.

There was a problem with the older forks, but since 03? they redesigned them and I have not heard anything about fork failure. We need pics and details (when you are up to it).

Heal fast!

[antiquewidow]

ok, First of all - let me clarify myself.. I had armor clothing on except for jeans which is why my left knee has a larger area of road rash.

Nose bleed mild one - but I am a bleeder so this doesnt surprise me.

I am aware of the earlier issues with the F650 etc with the fork failures by searching online but saw nothing on my bike model, so I started this thread to see if there were any other bmw owners with a similar occurence etc.

My front fork shows no sign of impact. I do know how to emer stop with my bike using both brakes as I learned in my Basic safety rider course. My bike is equipped with ABS brakes and if they work like a car ABS I didnt feel any pulsating or any sign of them being used etc.
Yes this was a very low speed dump - but I still feel & look like I got run over by a mac truck.....
I bought this bike due to the fact it is a off on road and can handle the country roads. I am just totally amazed at how such a low speed incident can cause a fork to snap in half. I would be totally petrified to be dirt bike riding on the jumps and landing if something like this happens on a straight away.

[cardoctor1]

wow. not much metal holding the axle to the fork

[antiquewidow]

Yeah, its awful and very alarming that this happened with only 95 miles on my bike.... I am horrified that such a thing would happen. Thank goodness I wasnt going very fast.

[WayneC1]

Sorry to hear of the fall

Can you give a better description of the events as the machine went down ?

I assume you would have rolled off the throttle/braked ? getting ready to take the LHS
turn ?. Did the machine hit a gutter or anything else when sliding away ?

Any details you can provide would be helpful in understanding it

[antiquewidow]

Sorry to not be very informational as it all happened way to fast.

I did not hit a pothole or get jared as the road was smooth, i saw no dead animal so I didnt hit anything.. My bike shows no sign of anything as far as impact like hair, etc (only the damage on the bike from sliding down the road). i was atleast 40 feet before the turn i was going to take, so i was in no way trying to navigate the LH turn; I wasnt even close enough to start descending my speed since I was already going slow. No guard rails around, I didnt hit any ditches, the edge of the road (shoulder) and the asphalt were slightly different in height but not enough where it should of thrown my bike around. I was just going straight down the road and bammm next thing i knew I was down. I do know the bike and I did not slide down the road very far before we stopped..