BMW K 1200S - test ride cancelled

Had a test ride arranged for today but received a call from the dealer to
say that the bike had been recalled as the camshafts have a problem.

I don't know if this was the individual machine locally or they have been
recalled in general. Either way it's a bit of a blow for a new model with
all the publicity thats gone with it.

I know it's no different to Kawasaki having front wheel problems or smoking
bandits etc,etc but you would think in todays world these things would be
very rare wouldn't you?

Mark

 

Mark says...

Not so rare with the new BMWs. They have been recalled for 3 things now.
Drive shafts snapping, steering dampers to be fitted and now this.

I'd say that's not very good for what is being touted as the epitome of
motorcycling.

 

Ballistic emerged from their own little world to say

They did the same with the R1200GS. Bugs in the fancy electronics and drive
shaft problems to name just 2 of the problems.

 

Ballistic says...

They should stick to doing what they do best, building cars for
pretentious sales reps and divorcees.

 

wessie says...

Rear wheels threatening to fall off is another R1200GS fault, from what
I hear.

 

Have BMW addressed the fuel injection issues on the K1200S that
were noted at the press launch?

I remember it being mentioned by the reviewer for Motorcycle Consumer
News that the 'fly-by-wire' fuel injection had some serious throttle
response problems. He said that every other rider at the event also
remarked on it. BMW's response was that it would be sorted out
before the bike went on sale to the public.

It seems to me that getting to market quickly is an advantage that is
mostly negated by having these sorts of embarassing issues come to
light, when they obviously could have been found with a bit more
pre-release testing.

 

Swapped the Golf for one yet?

 

SteveH says...

No, I'm getting a Passat TDi. Of all the sales reps I know, I think I'm
the least pretentious of the lot. I'm well known for my dislike of
shirts and ties in this trade. Most of my customers would show me the
door if I did a sales call wearing smart clothes.

 

Lozzo was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

And most UKRMers would probably point and laugh.

 

Do your company have particular views on appearance Loz?

When I was a sales rep for a paint co I used to have very short hair. It was
frowned upon by my boss, but tolerated. As a strategy it worked for me, as
most of my customers saw a regular procession of smarmy well oiled sales
reps who all looked the same. They all seemed to remember me as I was the
only "skinhead2 rep who called on them, it worked well for business (for me
anyway).

When I was promoted to regional sales manager my boss (an utterly
unspeakable **** of the worst water) insisted that I grow my hair, and like
a twat I did. I sort of lost my identity after that.

If your co are comfortable with what works for you, then they sound pretty
spot on.

--
Dan L (Oldbloke)
My bike 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr
M'boy's current bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X (Heavily fortified)
M'boys NEW bike 2003 Honda NSR125R
BOTAFOT #140, DIAABTCOD #26, BOMB#18 (slow)

 

Timo Geusch says...

Bear seemed to think I looked a bit funny when he saw me in a suit once.
I couldn't see what he was laughing at, as I'd spent 12 years going to
work in a suit prior to discovering ukrm.

 

Oldbloke says...

My boss is quite easy going regarding appearance. I have to wear smart
trousers/shoes, no jeans/trainers etc. As long as I'm promoting the
company by wearing one of our branded polo shirts they don't have a
problem with it. I do wear a shirt and tie on odd days, mainly when all
my polo shirts are in the wash. In this business appearance doesn't
matter as much as it would in other markets. The bike trade is primarily
run by bike enthusiasts turned businessmen, rather than hard and fast
business types, so it's a lot more relaxed.

I have my hair cut to a grade 3 all over and that wasn't an issue when I
attended a sales meeting on Wednesday. Some of the other reps have very
spiked up, gelled hair and that's not an issue either. Basically our MD
leaves it to us to decide what works best, but I'm quite sure he'd raise
the matter if we were dropping behind due to our appearance.

 

Heh, sensible policies for a happy sales force, sounds refreshingly
different.

We were expected to wear business suits, which was not really very parctical
when a lot of time was spent inspecting paint finishes on building sites or
industrial premises. When the company refused to allow dry cleaning as a
business expense I switched to wearing sports jacket and trousers, which,
again was looked down on by the boss [1].

[1] I haven't thought about that twat for quite a while, and now I can feel
the gorge rising. Aargh, I'm off to dremel or angle grind something to vent
my spleen.

--
Dan L (Oldbloke)
My bike 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr
M'boy's current bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X (Heavily fortified)
M'boys NEW bike 2003 Honda NSR125R
BOTAFOT #140, DIAABTCOD #26, BOMB#18 (slow)

 

Have you seen Bear in a suit? that looks *wrong*.

 

Ginge says...

I have seen him dressed like this, and though it was to be expected, it
was still wrong.

 

Rope wrote in message:

Didn't the two of you "bond".............

 

They probably got stuck on some issue.

 

Ben Blaney emerged from their own little world to say

Calling his boss <fx best Norvern accent> "eh poxy ****" </fx> didn't help

 

He always looked like one of those performing poodles that were made to
dress up and weren't really happy about it.

 

Vlad the Inhaler. was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

Hmm. Anyone got a JPG?