Yes, things do go wrong but the main issue is an eye watering £1800 just for the part???!!!!!! Mitigated by low mileage; still a young bike; a bike clearly well looked after; ridden and owned by a well-known motorcycle vlogger; and.... the dealer must’ve known who he was! TMF, with all his BMW vlogs, has probably helped to promote the brand and has surely elevated the lifestyle image of owning such a bike - it’s not like he’s done the brand any harm.
If this had happened to me, on a bike of this age and mileage, that’d been properly maintained and cared for, I’d be absolutely furious at finding out how much it was going to cost me for a new shock. £1800 is totally extortionate and wholly unrealistic. I would be even more annoyed if I got word from someone who knew about the problem, stating that I should’ve escalated it! Good god, is that really what has to be done in order to get a remedy?
In those circumstances I’d be very disappointed in the product for failing so soon, but wouldn’t be so arrogant to expect it to be fixed for nothing. Isn’t BMW supposed to be a brand proud of its reputation for being reliable and manufacturing high quality products? Customer: I like this bike but will the shock absorber pack up after 20k and 4 years? Dealer: That is highly unlikely sir, they are very reliable units, we see very few fail and that is usually after, more like 120k+. All hypothetical I know, but it’s what you’d expect to hear if you posed the question when buying a new one. So, my point is... ‘EXACTLY’ if it is a rare occurrence, as we all expect, why not help the owner out a little instead of making him jump through hoops of fire!
It’ll soon be March... ‘new bike season’. I love the BMW brand but stories like this really make me think seriously about continuing. Brand-new bikes are great, with their zero history and big fluffy comprehensive warranty = no worries ownership. My next point; isn’t engineering and manufacturing supposed to be getting better as the years roll by? Does the manufacturer not have the faith in their product to give it more than a 2 year warranty? These machines are portrayed as being ultra reliable? Add to that a very measly mileage limit? It’s obviously all about money, but an extra year of warranty would go a very long way in showing the customer that the manufacturer has faith in its product, and I believe would extend their customer base too.
Finally, I actually think that TMF’s vlog could be quite useful, in that, it could give those who really can’t get a good-will assisted fix from their dealer some hope in knowing that if their bike breaks, they can get a fix for a reasonable cost.
Very finally... I have a Rukka jacket which was out of warranty. The zip went manky. I took it into to a Rukka dealer who sent it off and said it’ll probably cost this much... a few weeks later the jacket was fixed; incredible how they removed the old zip which can only be described as being welded along the edge of the jacket, and put a brand new zip in with absolutely no visible signs of interference. Anyway, no questions of its age, or how many miles I’d done, or what has caused it, they made it as good as new for no cost! Guess I’ll be buying another Rukka when the time comes to replace it.
Time for bed, said Zebedee
