Bad day for my 2012 R1200GSA -- Need Shipping Advice

[Alanjnc]

I'm still stuck on "...I have 27,000 miles on a 2012....".
Wow!
I hope you enjoyed MT, I'm a native. Wish I could help but I'm in NC now.
Alan

[Sox Fan]

If BMW doesn't help you out, I would also say look into Keyboard.

I used them earlier this year and they did a fine job.

[bemiiten]

I've had good luck with Allied. http://www.alliedmotorcycleshipping.com/ I'd estimate around $650 to ship the bike and close to the same to fly home. Another alternative is to trade it in. Dose the dealer have one on the floor you like?

[Steve G.]

I'm really surprised BMW will not cover your flight and shipping. My guarantee documents specify complete coverage of machine and yourself back home.

Steve

[mjfields_228]

My trip out west was still absolutely amazing even though my bike met with some bad luck.

Here is a YouTube video I threw together sitting in my hotel room of part of my trip.

It starts in Southern Colorado (Million Dollar Highway) and ends up in Glacial Nat Park (Going to the Sun Highway) with a few places in between. I had to edit a lot out to get it to less than 8 minutes. Beartooth highway would have made a minute or so but it was raining and cold that morning which limits my in-flight video recording.

I hope everyone enjoys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ACvl-gVKY

[Jick Magger]

Originally Posted by mjfields_228

Thanks. I just checked their website and the are presently not servicing the Mountain time zone. And Sturgis is just barely still in the Mountain time zone

That is correct. They stopped some time ago. Here is the company you want to deal with. They will do a professional job and have excellent customer service IMHO. You can also get a quick quote on their website. https://service2.federalcos.com/mott...LCOMEPAGE.ASPX

Good Luck

[Robert_W]

When my GT blew chunks on me I had it shipped from Vegas to Montana. I remember looking at a lot of options at the time and for what ever reason Fed Ex Freight was the least expensive insured reliable transport I could find.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Been there. It sucks.

[mjfields_228]

I spoke to the service guy at Sturgis Motorsports this afternoon (9/21/12) and BMW has indicated the the replacement Cylinder is in production now and will completed sometime next week. Once it is complete comes the shipment to America and clearing customs. His best guess is 2 weeks from today the part will hit his store.

On the other front I sent an email to BMW Customer Service describing my situation of having to fly home and dealing with getting my bike from S.D. to Florida once it is fixed--specifically asking what assistance will be provided by BMW. I received a response today with the name and extension of the individual that is assigned to researching the matter and to expect to be contacted.

It was a totally strange experience for me to leave the bike there in Sturgis--albeit I did not have any choice.
Felt like knowingly leaving a baby strapped into its car seat on the roof of a car and taking off full throttle.

I plan on riding my Speed Triple all weekend--FAST--to get my mind off of this shit!

More to come.....

Matt in Cape C. Out............

[Motomochila]

Originally Posted by Steve G.

I'm really surprised BMW will not cover your flight and shipping. My guarantee documents specify complete coverage of machine and yourself back home.

Steve

Ditto! Mine too, but also comes with a beautiful blonde wearing liderhozen accompanying me home due to my bruised ego, plus a host of really good story lines to tell my Harley buddies in case they start in with the; "I told you so" comments. look closely, it's in the German language section on page 117.

[mjfields_228]

Here is the latest as of Friday 28-Sept-2012......

Spare cylinder is expected to make its way to Sturgis no earlier than Friday 05-Oct-2012.

Once repair is completed I will contract a shipping company to bring the beast back home to Florida.
At that time I will submit all receipts (airfare/hotel/cab/shipping) with evidence that the bike was indeed in Sturgis being repaired to the BMW Roadside Assistance Trip Interruption team. They will review everything and determine the amount which they intend on reimbursing me. My plan species $500 being the maximum amount. However, BMW Motorrad Customer service recommended that I submit everything (I am already at over $925 out of pocket) and they would see if there was anything that could be done to help out more. I am not counting on that.

I will deal with that mess in a week or two when the bike FINALLY gets repaired.

For me, the really bothersome underlying issue is as follow :

With no understanding of what the root cause of the original valve spring failure actually is, I can only speculate. Possibilities include; non-metallic inclusion in the valve spring material, sub-standard metal materials used in the valve springs manufacture or pre-existing damage to the valve spring (nick or gouge) from the factory. High cycle fatigue does not seem at all reasonable given the young age of the motor and the Boxer engine itself is pretty mellow in terms of the duty cycles that the valve spring experiences.

As a result of this unknown failure mode I have lost all confidence in the bikes reliability in terms of the valve springs presently installed on the left side of the motor. If there is a material defect issue with those valve springs, it is only a matter of time before another one lets go. If another failure occurs and it is beyond the normal warranty period or I am in the middle of South America on a trip I will be in a predicament that I never thought would be possible given the normally high dependability of the BMW product.

Although BMW is completely rebuilding the top end of the right side of my engine, I will be seeking authorization to have the left side valve springs replaced--under warranty—even though there is no failure present at this time.


I just do not believe BMW will send my failed valve spring out to a lab for analysis and prove to me that this is truly an isolated case with just that valve spring being the only issue. I base this solely on my own intuition and nothing more.


Until I get "comfortable" that I do not have a materials related issue with the other springs I don't see myself being comfortable riding thousands of miles from home on the bike.


More to come (and hopefully good things)........

[slipknot]

Originally Posted by mjfields_228

Although BMW is completely rebuilding the top end of the right side of my engine, I will be seeking authorization to have the left side valve springs replaced--under warranty—even though there is no failure present at this time

Not a chance. One valve spring failure in thousands is not reason to condemn the other thousands. I've seen some bogus warranty claims honored by Honda but BMW will not, only what is necessary, only what is proven. And there is no evidence offered by you (not qualified) or the service center (no reason to even look into the other side) to get a positive response from BMW. I once saw a rare valve stem break and that did not make for a valid claim on the other 7 valves. IF there is a problem with all of the valves springs like the one failed in your motor, there will be motors all over the world doing the same. There is no evidence. You might bully the service center into pestering BMWNA for more but the only result will be a greatly annoyed service writer or service manager only too happy to see you forever gone. Stick with what is in the written contract of warranty and hopefully you can recover much of your other expenses and be thankful BMW actually offers anything there.

[Beemerlover]

Originally Posted by mjfields_228

I spoke to the service guy at Sturgis Motorsports this afternoon (9/21/12) and BMW has indicated the the replacement Cylinder is in production now and will completed sometime next week. Once it is complete comes the shipment to America and clearing customs. His best guess is 2 weeks from today the part will hit his store.

On the other front I sent an email to BMW Customer Service describing my situation of having to fly home and dealing with getting my bike from S.D. to Florida once it is fixed--specifically asking what assistance will be provided by BMW. I received a response today with the name and extension of the individual that is assigned to researching the matter and to expect to be contacted.

It was a totally strange experience for me to leave the bike there in Sturgis--albeit I did not have any choice.
Felt like knowingly leaving a baby strapped into its car seat on the roof of a car and taking off full throttle.

I plan on riding my Speed Triple all weekend--FAST--to get my mind off of this shit!

More to come.....

Matt in Cape C. Out............

Wow! So BMW apparently waits till somebody needs one to produce a replacement cylinder? That's a totally new approach to customer support! Also, it takes weeks to do it? Must be one helluva lotta work. I wonder if it's the same for other major replacement parts?

[scooteraug02]

Originally Posted by slipknot

And there is no evidence offered by you (not qualified) or the service center (no reason to even look into the other side) to get a positive response from BMW.

There is no evidence.

What will you say if he gets it home and the left side fails?

Maybe you can get better trip insurance, then just ride it like nothing ever happened.

[mjfields_228]

I spent 30 minutes on the phone speaking to the service person at Sturgis Motorsports today after I posted the info above.

Based on his 9 years in the service of BMWs and reading countless service bulletins, he tells me that he has never seen a valve spring failure. While probably never knowing the exact root cause for this failure it reasonable to accept the notion that this incident is indeed isolated to this one valve spring only. Now that this one issue has been documented (and may be studied later on by BMW due to the large dollar value for the warranty repair) in the event something were to go wrong on the left side at a later date that fell beyond the warranty period, my service guy tells me that BMW would not turn a blind eye to the issue.

Personally I feel no reason to disbelieve him about this at this time.

That all being said, I feel much better that I finally spoke to him at length about my concern. Our two prior conversations were very limited to schedules and part availability. I guess it does not help having the bike being broken down over 2000 miles away with keeping my emotions and rationalization in check!

As for the cylinder head being unavailable (I was told it was the cylinder earlier, in error) there would normally would be one somewhere in the production system but this time--luck not being on my side--it was not.

So, now my immediate goal is to get the bike back to Florida (once it is repaired) so I can continue on my overall goal to hit 250000 on this engine without any other major rework!

[adventurecycle]

Best of luck! I'm currently at 132,000 on my 2002 1150GS. Never had any issues, and just did the NC to Prudhoe Bay and back.