"A health and wellbeing warning for BMW R1200 riders..." thread in "Motorbike Chat"
As some of you may know I have the privilege of riding other people's bikes for a living. Our entire fleet these days consists of ...

As some of you may know I have the privilege of riding other people's bikes for a living. Our entire fleet these days consists of BMWs, mostly R1200RTs with some older R1100 & 1150RTs plus the odd GS, R850R and K1200 thrown in for variety. Tonight I had the pleasure of riding a couple of month old R1200RT, with less than 4000 miles on the clock. I'm not a huge fan of the 1200s but this particular example seemed to be quite a good one, and had performed very well through the day. As the evening drew on I had an errand to run on the other side of London, and on my return myself and a colleague came back around the M25. I was cruising along at a steady speed in lane three with my colleague in formation behind me when I felt a partial seizure from the engine. I had just enough time for this to register when the engine seized and smoke erupted from the bike. Mercifully I was able to pull the clutch in rapidly enough to prevent a complete loss of control, but myself and my colleague were swamped with thick clouds of smoke. I was somehow able to coast across to the hard shoulder through two lanes of traffic and came to a halt where I discovered the bike was on fire. Needless to say I dumped the bike and had it off on my toes up the hard shoulder and up wind from the billowing smoke.

But, where this becomes of relevance is here. On being joined by a supervisor I discovered this is the latest of half a dozen such incidents that he was aware of, all involving our BMW R1200RTs. In previous cases the fault has been traced to oil starvation, despite the bikes containing sufficient oil in their sumps. It also appears that BMW themselves are aware of this, and this has also happened to privately owned bikes. So be aware, as forewarned is forearmed.

Well done on escaping.

I reckon I spotted the deliberate mistake (and it's 4 am here and I had a skinful *proud*)

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Love, peace and unity!

Doh, it's 3am here and I'm still warming up after standing by the side of the M25 in my summer weight kit waiting an hour and a half to be recovered...

Oil starvation + running motor = friction. I get that.

But what caught fire?

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http://www.therevcounter.com/touring...do-france.html

Probably the excrement as Foxy thought his back wheel was going to lock up at speed in lane 3

Good escape! But if forewarned is forearmed, what exactly can you do about it?

I can't believe he never owned a Super 5......

pics?

Forewarned is forearmed but what is the remedy?

we've taken delivery of these after the wobbling Pan was ditched 2 years ago...

If they are reportedly catching fire my lot will drop them like a hot potato.

Is there anything that safeguards against this occuring?

Just being aware it happens isn't going to stop it happening....and some of us may not be so lucky in getting off the bloody thing as quick as you did.

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You ain't seen me,right?

Thanks Foxy,

I was going to be looking at a 1200gs this weekend. I'll be asking more questions now...

Glad you're safe BTW.

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MC011

Glad you're ok Foxy!!

The old RTs used to have fire issues if they were left ticking over for long periods (30 mins plus I think) - the loom used to overheat and brew up - but it was due to the air-cooled engine not getting enough air and the whole block would generate enough heat to melt the insulation and cause sparks (I would assume).

Not sure how the same thing would be caused by a long run though!

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non quod, sed quomodo

If I'd been on a bike that was on fire I reckon I'd have pissed myself.

But it might have put the fire out . . .

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Argue with me: http://the-ride-info.blogspot.com/

I was once and didn't even know it, despite having a huge rooster tail of smoke behind me, all I noticed was a dodgy smell, until I stopped and was enveloped in smoke.
Poor obs - I know


Glad you escaped unharmed!

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If I ever get this boring shoot me:

Very few people realise that when a modern vehicle burns, you often get Hydroflouric acid vapour/aerosol produced. The modern elastomers (i.e. synthetic rubbers) used in hoses and belts produce it when burned.

FOr those that don't know, Hydroflouric acid is nasty nasty stuff. If you get it on bare skin, there's no immediate reaction. The molecules are small enough to penetrate flesh, but they don't react with the chemicals in skin/muscle etc. They do react with bone, which means they start corroding your skeleton away. You can't wash it off either, 'cause obviously water won't penetrate your flesh.

So when manufacturers advise you not to approach a burning vehicle (even a 'small' fire) they really really mean it.

Scary! Any pics of the melted BMW to keep us lot amused

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PB Round The World Guinea Pig Blog