Adventure Bike Rider Forum

I've been doing a lot of reading on ABS systems this morning. They seems to be designed not to interfere with the braking system if they fail.

So it raised the question in my mind.

What happened to the GS 1150 that was left with no brakes at all, after Euan and Charley had the frame welded and fried the ABS system?

I believe some 1150's had servo brakes and the servo's are known to be problematic, so maybe it was something to do with that :unsure: .
My 1200GS 'brake failure' warning (ABS) has been on for the last 4K miles with no loss in brake performance but I'm told the ABS will not function. It has been plugged in at a dealer and it is the ABS pump motor which is the problem (brushes stuck in holders-common issue), I will get around to it once the summer is over.

They probably left it where it was and got another one out of the van!


Did they fry the ABS, or was it the servo...(a servo...on a motorbike FFS!)

no they fuck the bike up with a welder for fun. had do some thing to make it interesting, or buy the camera man a shit bike!! wasnt staged at all. they could have just rung bmw for a new one??

Tonibe63 wrote:I believe some 1150's had servo brakes and the servo's are known to be problematic, so maybe it was something to do with that :unsure: .
My 1200GS 'brake failure' warning (ABS) has been on for the last 4K miles with no loss in brake performance but I'm told the ABS will not function. It has been plugged in at a dealer and it is the ABS pump motor which is the problem (brushes stuck in holders-common issue), I will get around to it once the summer is over.

But even without a servo, you still wouldn't have no braking power, you'd just have unassisted brakes, with a harder to pull lever. Charley was riding around that welders yard and what they were saying was there was no brakes at all.

Mate of mine has had the same ABS issues as you four times now on his K1200.

The very reason I bought my R1200GSA without ABS.
I did a lot of reading before buying the bike and the ABS problem usually came up.

For a long time i read the R1200GS ABS system couldn't be bypassed.

Then a few months back i read that a few guys have managed to bypass the system successfully.

Also there is a guy in the USA that can rebuild the unit.

They failed the rtfm test. Before carrying out any welding they should have disconnected the battery! Fried a circuit board.
If it is the same 'powered brakes' my R1200ST has with motors you can hear running any time the lever is used it would bring brakes down to manual and very low pressure, workable but not much use in an emergency. The system still has full operation, it is tested with ignition off on my mot, but like a car system it lacks real braking without major effort.

wwdph02 wrote:They failed the rtfm test. Before carrying out any welding they should have disconnected the battery! Fried a circuit board.

Understand they fried the electrics, but how would that affect fluid pressure in the brake lines? If all the electrics fail, no ABS, no Servo, squeezing the master cylinder should still move the pistons in the calipers?

Unless Charley was riding around and saying hard to pull brake lever = no brakes.

wwdph02 wrote:They failed the rtfm test. Before carrying out any welding they should have disconnected the battery! Fried a circuit board.
If it is the same 'powered brakes' my R1200ST has with motors you can hear running any time the lever is used it would bring brakes down to manual and very low pressure, workable but not much use in an emergency. The system still has full operation, it is tested with ignition off on my mot, but like a car system it lacks real braking without major effort.

They disconnected only one wire. They should have disconnected both terminals.

Worked on a lot of 1150gs with evo/servo, ABS systems, and boy when they go they go virtually no brakes at all. Pistons stick in the pump,and circuit board goes topside as well.
Most people just by-pass the system.
Al