Interesting Visit to My Dealer

[Pat H]

As posted in the tech forums I visited my dealer on Saturday for my F800s V8 Software update. (details of that are posted in that forum)
Having sent a number of FAXes to my dealer and Motorrad.UK I suspect word had got around about me.[err]

I was offered a "while I wait" update of the new software on Saturday having asked on Friday.

When I got in on Saturday the mechanic was very interested in how I was finding the bike.
When I mentioned the poor (for me) slow running smoothness he told me their was a modification in the pipe line for the clutch.
I suspect this is the front pulley cush drive so close enough I guess.
Had a chat with some of the service guys. All interested in my experiences and had an interesting talk about BMWs lack of response to feedback raised from riders. I seemed to get the impression that they felt, as dealers, feedback from them was valued low by BMW. So maybe direct feedback from riders to BMW head office is of some value?

Also interesting that the two service guys I spoke to ride Hondas. One a CBR like my last one and one a Fireblade (looked fantastic)

While waiting for my update I spoke to 3 potential buyers of F800s who were looking at the demo bikes (which I was pleased to see all had brown exhaust down pipes and engine fronts covered in muck!. Especially the STs that must be harder to access to clean)

I mentioned to them all to check out the forum. All three complained about the switch gear. I told them you do get used to it. But at least one of them was concerned that it compromised safety during the learning phase. I couldn't disagree with them.
So although the BMW switchgear maybe the best thing since sliced bread the fact that there are so many riders out there who have learned a different system must be hitting their sales.
They were all interested to talk to me about my experience and I was happy to let them know my impressions after the few thousand miles I've done.
So a good way to make sure your dealer keeps you happy is to hang around on a sunny Saturday and "help" any interested F800 buyers. As an owner they will be very interested in your real views as opposed to the sales guys views. Won't take long for the sales guys to twig that keeping you happy and pro the bike will help their sales. It's not like they can chuck you out or ban you. [eb]

The mechanic at the dealers was very good and added an extra washer to my throttle to stop it catching slightly. He showed me the computer during the update and was generally very cooperative. As I left the service manager asked me to let them know how the update effected the bike as BMW give them no clues as to what is different.

So all in all a very interesting morning at the dealers.
:D

[redbaron]

Well, while the gearbox/drive train is clunky, it does help to add interest while riding. A modern bike such as the 800 is a delight on the open road, but in the city there are no longer challenges such as anticipating what to do if I break down in peak hour or, if I have to brake suddenly and that car has jumped into my lane, is there any chance of the old drum brake actually pulling me up before I dive into the gap between the cars, etc
On the 800, the only way to pass the time of peak hour boredom is to guess exactly when the fan will come on or more often attempting to ride in in a smooth fashion befitting the blue and white badge...

However (and I am finally getting to the point, PatH), in a moment of weakness I shot off an email to BMW Australia bewailing the betrayal of the badge in the poor gearbox/drive train set up, and maybe they could commission a Japanese firm to design a fine gearbox just as they outsourced the excellent motor. I won't bore you further with details of my letter to them, but this is the reply I received today:

'Hi Michael,

We have recently received information from the factory in relation to
improvements in this area, they will be offered to customers to be
repaired under warranty. It will be approx 3 or 4 weeks before the parts
are available to carry out this work. Once the parts have arrived we
will be notifying customers to take their bikes in to their dealer for
repairs.

Kind Regards
______________________________________________

Clairisse Wassenberg
Customer Interaction Consultant

BMW Group Australia'

So, there is movement at the station and the word has got around...
Will BMW actually provide any details of what they intend to do?
Will I have to find a different diversion in future?
I will provide updates as soon as I hear further from Clairisse...

[Pat H]

I'm glad you sent a letter off. I realy think it makes a difference.
Riders are often quick to moan but slower to do anything about it.

The mention of the modifications are almost certainly the clutch friction washer (or lower friction washer) to help with gear selection from neutral.
And the front drive belt pulley cush drive addition.
The former item is of little help once the bike has done a few thousand miles as the gear change improves over that time. And it may even make the gear change more of a bash and cluck on a loose gearbox. So some may choose not to have that mod.

The latter mod of the cush drive is hoped will make an improvement in the absorbsion of shock currently being passed to the cogbox.
We won't know till it's rolled out.

At the end of the day I'd have to say (and have before :D)that I think BMW dropped the ball on the cogbox design. There was talk of variations of tolerances and how some bikes where unlucky enough to have a "loose" set of gears. But this all comes down to who spec'd those tolerances, lack of Quality control and why early signs of a problem weren't picked up and resolved.

For BMW to quote that during early testing they only rode the bike flat out and working hard so didn't notice problems with slow running says it all in my book.
Anyway the die is cast so let's see what the fixes bring.

I'd very much hope that BMW re-visit the whole cogbox specs and tighten it up at some point. making the F800s of the future a truely awsome bike. It's impossible to imagine that current owners would be offered a new cogbox (or by then even a gearbox).[cry]

We could be the early adopters who in many years to come proudly demonstrate how the early F800s had charcater unlike the new souless ones:D

[greyerbeard]

Funnily enough...I dropped into my dealer's in passing today, and no, they know nothing yet, and repeated their usual complaint that there's an almost complete lack of information from BMW on these sort of matters. In fact they (the dealer) always make the point that I'm more likely to get a response myself, than they are.

Redbaron, I exchanged emails with BMW UK in early January, and they assured me that the fix would be released 'by the end of the month'.

Still waiting...

[de100kb]

Redbaron: thanks! Useful information! And Pat I think there are two mechanical mods on their way somewhere down the pipeline from Bavaria: the first consists of the two changes as shown in the Motorrad article (but as I heard in an slightly different way as shown in the article) which will be available to all F800 owners who ask for them.

The second consists of a modification to the gearbox and is targeted at removing a lot of the noise it makes. The latter will only be available for owners of bike build before a certain date after which date all new bikes already have been build with the mod. My dealer confirmed this rumor.

[Pat H]

Hey isn't it just great that so little is known about what BMW are up to. At least even their dealers are in the dark!
Guess we won't know till we know and who knows when that will be.
Can't imagine anything will happen before the end of MArcha nd my money would be on end of April.

Maybe I'll send another e-mail to Motorrad.uk telling them I like the V8 software (and can they confirm what changes it included) and ask again about the mechanical mod(s)

It's worth it just to see if they have a different way of saying sod off and talk to our public facing dealer network.[bh]

I could ask Fiat if they have any customer relations training courses they could extend to BMW staff....