1200

  

For a bike that’s barely even touched North American soil, the new R 1200 GS certainly has already had its share of recalls. Though the first two are fairly minor. The first, reportedly affecting only 31 bikes, is for a transmission oil pressure issue. Apparently, if the oil pressure exceeds a certain threshold, the seal on the output shaft could fail causing a leak that could potentially bathe the rear tire in oil, an extremely unpleasant situation. Fortunately, no such instances have been reported. The second recall, this time on 33 bikes, involves the new GS’s Automatic Stability Control (ASC). This system allows the rider to select various riding modes, each with its own traction control and throttle response parameters. On the units recalled by BMW, when the rider selects the Enduro-Pro mode, the system will sometimes fail to reactivate and the ASC warning light won’t come on leaving the user oblivious to the actual riding mode. The third recall, however, seems a bit more serious . We don’t know how many bikes have been affected, but we do know that deliveries to customers have been put on hold. This latest issue centers on the front suspension, it seems that there’s a problem where the Telelever joins to the steering plate requiring some tooling to fix. This problem apparently causes the bike to handle stiffly at low to medium speeds and sloppily at higher velocities.