K1200S

[fjtwelve]

So after they fully charged the battery overnight it starts cold warm hot. So why when I do the same does this not work? And before you ask my battery charger does work, we just charged up the audo tt battery with it. The bearing had to be drifted out so it wasn't just my cack handed mechaniccing. And the abs light - looks like the pump is on the way out. And the new front tyre from Delticom alias mytyres is "delayed" because of Covid. Other than that it's been a grand day

[raesewell]

The dealer must have premium electricity and you Martin must be running 3 star electricity.

[Matt]

I've started adding 10% ethanol to my electricity supply to make sure I'm ready for Euro 6.

[Phmode]

So after they fully charged the battery overnight it starts cold warm hot. So why when I do the same does this not work?

It depends if they are using that grefat charger on a trolley cos that can blow a gazillion amps through a battery...no, really 

If your battery is taking the picturesque route to the recycling centre then maybe your charger can't bring it to full charge.

What charger are you using, just a transformer or an Optiwotsit?

[fjtwelve]

Bog standard charger for me, no trickling Optimised or otherwise

Anyway after nigh on 2 weeks, Delticom / mytyres / selectaname finally delivered my front tyre and Ocean put it on yesterday. And guess what the bike wouldn't start. So they now have what I've had off and on for 12 months. However what they don't have any more is James, and Richard the 20 years BMW car mechanic and nearly 2 weeks on BMW bikes mechanic is not sure where to look. I have suggested starter motor but ....
Anyway as I have the luxury of another bike to use and no essential journeys to work I've left it with them

[fjtwelve]

Having sorted out the garage and uncovered my spare but bent front wheel I sent it off to Motoliner in Maidstone yesterday. They phoned this morning, job done, will be back tomorrow. Not bas eh?
So soon I will have the option of matching wheels again, if I get the bike back. I suspect they are going to fit a new battery and say they've fixed it.

[fjtwelve]

So with a new battery it does start every day. So I'll just take that and get on with it.

The other news is that the abs pump is electrically goosed. New one is £1300 ish. So I can run it without  ABS until MOT is due. Should get to the 100k without too much effort. Question is what do I do then. Is there any point at all going secondhand, or if anyone does it, reconditioning it?

[raesewell]

There is a guy out there that used to refurbish them for about 150 quid he used to advertise on Ebay.
Have a poke around there are several places that recondition ABS units these days.

Edit: found a couple of places
https://controlunits.co.uk/bmw-k1200s-motorcycle-abs-dsc-pump-ecu/?gclid=CjwKCAjwmMX4BRAAEiwA-zM4JoNOpGZnzKQf9a0UZG35gFyLgXB0-rgpB7221d-_haYF0dOrhBzu_BoCNrkQAvD_BwE

https://www.ecutesting.com/product-catalogue/bmw/k1200/abs-pump-ecumodule-combined/amc108473-a/?gclid=CjwKCAjwmMX4BRAAEiwA-zM4JisHNnNg7R109gJx7G-6CnKBfC-xRr_SjW7gFW2vMflU2GsyWneV3BoCFN0QAvD_BwE

[Phmode]

We (I) came across a guy in the Roster and Wuss or Wester Ross or somewhere in that foreign country 'oop north from 'oop north.

This may be the same guy Rae speaks of.

He was happy to guarantee his work and did a week's turnaround from memory.

However, that is as far as my memory goes so not much use at all really...

[fjtwelve]

Flying trip to shropshire this week, 98000 on the completely non motorway without punctures trip back, somewhere on the good old A303. And my chicken strips are very much smaller as a result. She is shaking her head and chattering a bit when well cranked over, sometimes to the alarm of nearby tin box occupants and occasionally my sphincter, so I am wondering if the head bearing is on it's way again, or the shock is on the way out.  The vibration gets bad around 70 to 90 but lessens as you approach, er, terminal velocity ( rearrange the following numbers into a well known phrase or saying zero one six). Or maybe I was holding on a bit tighter.
You may think the A303 is a hell of a way off route but chasing the welsh borders then looping around east of Bristol overall it was only 16 miles longer than hogging the motorway.

The new battery has apparently cured the non starting issue so theres a flying visit to the Canning Motorbike World due to return the motobatt
I have contacted the abs repair man in Cullumpton who say he can fix the unit and will give a 5 year guarantee for about £250. I have had a look at the service manual and think I can remove the pump, but dont think I can do the reinstall. Mechanically reassembling and  bleeding the system is possible but reading around I think there will need to be some reprogramming of the electronics involved.

[chriscanning]

Keep it for a rainy day mate,talking of batteries currently in a state of shock  ,the VW van needs a new battery £250  ,it appears cars with this stop start lark need keying in....,disbelieving phone around their.....

[fjtwelve]

Coffee time reading 

So an update on the stats for you after 80,000 miles (I bought it with 18,000 miles on for those who have forgotten). I'm missing 406 miles from the records, which i have tracked down to a period in 2016 , but as i recently shredded the hundreds/thousands of receipts I kept for expenses when i was at work i think I'm not going to find those miles anywhere. So give or take 0.5% here's the numbers:

Fuel used 8400.73 litres (most ever put in 20.82 litres) in 456 tankfulls
Average price for petrol £1.32 per litre (most ever paid £1.70 - or the Euro equivalent in Holland) and almost all of it premium grade
Total spent on fuel £11,179.13
Average 14.02p a mile for fuel
Average mpg 43.05, computer says 46.05 so 7% optimistic. Have noticed that this is dropping off around 3mpg over the last 12 months, not sure why
Average speed 53.82mph (so 1481 hours and 16 mins in the saddle...)
Costs other than fuel £20,002.36 excluding buying it (akra can, remap, soft bag, tank bag and harness, paddock stands, bike cover, tyres, servicing, speeding fines, tax, MOT, insurance, European recovery insurance, rainsuits, boots, gloves, helmet, visors)
So total running cost 39.11p a mile

I vaguely remember Rae asking in the distant past what components had failed and when, rather than just the costs. The list of carnage excluding standard servicing is as follows:
24503 New steering head bearing, and rear wheel carrier (recall)
30630 New front wheel bearing
35172 Front brake pads, loom for front shock
47256 Rear brake pads, rear bevel seal, rear TPS
49656 New wheels after bending the front on the A39/around Somerset
55502 New front brake pads
60240 New radiator, LHS switchgear (twice as first replacement was faulty)
63731 New rear disc and brake pads
66004 New front discs and brake pads
72941 new secondary air pipe, shaft drive inc UJ
77706 New ball joints, rear brake pads
77790 New ignition switch
77844 New throttle assembly
78000 approx new crank position sensor
83903 New front ABS sensor
85845 new clutch, new front brake pads
88935 new coil packs
92262 new front TPS
96138 new rear brake pads
97349 new front wheel bearing, front brake pads, battery

Looking at this filtered list for the first time (I have a rather large spreadsheet) most bits have worn out rather than broken. The front end seems to get a battering. Still doesn't burn any oil though...

Tyres lasted like this:
PR3 pair           10980
PR3 pair           11338
PR3 rear            6365 (puncture)
PR3 front           9338
PR3 front           7623
PR4GT rear       10598
Roadtec 01 pair  5522
Angel GT pair     6259
PR3 front           8646
PR3 rear          14843 (admittedly worn smooth)
PR3 front         12233
PR5 rear          12235
PR5 front           7414

[richtea]

Fabulous detail! Well done for gathering it all for us, FJ. Much appreciated.

[Phmode]

Amazing Martin. I realise that this is what makes project managers tick but even so...

Some of those figures are very scary.

Your comment about most things wearing out rather than breaking is very interesting and speaks volumes. My 12 lost its ball-joints at 18,000 and again at 18,800 miles and the front ESA shock loom was broken when I bought it at 18,000 miles! You got great mileage out of your versions of those.

My radiator went at about 22,000 miles...

Years ago, Vines said that the K didn't like being stood still, that it fared better if it was always moving. I think your figures tend to support that.

[richtea]

I see why you didn't stick with Angels - the Mich PRs lasted a very (VERY!) long time.
These were mainly motorway miles, I guess, with the average MPG being lower than the MPH?