Get The Sandwiches Ready GSA Rear Wheel Collapse - Part 3!

Thanks to reading this thread last night, I checked the spokes on my 3000 mile 2018 GSA this morning and guess what, at least 6 of the spokes on the rear wheel are loose. I will do a full inspection tonight but I have been less than impressed by the reaction of Bahnstormer Maidenhead so far. I contacted their service dept this morning to ask them to take the bike in to check the spokes. The service guy denied all knowledge of any kind of endemic issue with GSA wheel spokes and when I pointed out that there were plenty of disgruntled GSA owners on this forum complaining about loose spokes, he said that they never look at BMW forums because they were full of false information! He promised me an immediate call back and needless to say 5hrs later I'm still waiting for that call

So a couple of questions. Stupid question first. Actually how unsafe is it to ride the bike with a few loose spokes? Are we talking about a sudden wheel collapse or 'just' a deterioration in handling? The second question goes on from the first. I have never been 100% happy with the handling of the new bike compared to my previous 2016 GSA especially recently. I specified my new GSA with PR4 Trail tyres from new because I liked them so much on my previous GSA so the 2 bikes can be compared directly but my new GSA feels less planted than the old one in that it is more easily deflected by road imperfections such as raised road markings and cracks in the tarmac. The rear wheel seems to break traction more easily too. Until now I have put this down to just a different feel from the new Dynamic ESA suspension compared to the old ESA suspension but I'm starting to wonder now whether this is due to the rear wheel flexing because of the loose spokes. Am I reading too much into this loose spoke thing?

Lastly, I've bought other bikes from Bahnstormer Maidenhead in the past and I have never been entirely happy with their service. They just happen to be my closest dealer. Frankly I'm not sure I trust them to deal properly with this issue. I understand there is an outfit in Devon who will re-tension spoked wheels but thats a long way to go for me. Can anyone recommend a good independent in the SE?

Riding any bike with loose spokes is bloody dangerous. Especially something as heavy as a GSA

My advice would be to let BMW & Bahnstormers sort it for you. If you involve The Devon Wheel Company that's likely to be at your expense and gives BMW Motorrad a get out of jail free card

And mikef, ( never begin a sentence with and ) you’re under warranty. What does a spoked wheel cost now; must be £1,000? Your handling must be crap with a flexing wheel so don’t be too damning of tyres or the suspension . SPOKES SHOULD NOT BE LOOSE .

And so it begins

My wheels are grey and the spokes are definitely tingy.

My guess is only the black ones are death traps.

I've done nearly 12,000 miles on my Ting Tong and it hasnt killed me yet.

Somehow I doubt that if an OP gets killed and we seriously hope that never happens, he will make a ride report here.

Refuse her a British passport she will kill you then

Warlord said:

I've done nearly 12,000 miles on my Ting Tong and it hasnt killed me yet.

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Andrew 789 said:

Refuse her a British passport she will kill you then

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Zero hour contract with the agency. All good.

TING, TING!

2014 GSA LC, 12k miles.

All as tight as a gnats anus!

Andy B said:

2014 GSA LC, 12k miles.

All as tight as a gnats anus!

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But that is a 2014 bike, seems we are creeping more to end 2015...............

Lucky me!

Andy B said:

Lucky me!

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Do not tell others..............

My Rallye is 4 weeks old today.. 600 miles in and all the tings tong...I’ll keep an eye.

twizzle said:

My Rallye is 4 weeks old today.. 600 miles in and all the tings tong...I’ll keep an eye.

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Might need a tad more than that and a bit of a bumpy ride, to show its true colours.

It’s beyond my limited IT skills, but should a poll be commissioned to find out the extent of the problem of loose spokes affecting which wheel/year of bike?

I’ll start with a few poll options, please add more as necessary:
1) All Ting
2) Mainly Ting, some Tong
3) Mainly Ting, some Thunk
3) A lot of Thunk, some wobble
4) Spokes tightened but wheel not replaced by useless stealer
5) Wheel replaced by excellent dealer

Alan R

If there was any doubt the bolts come with loctite from the factory...

fredaroony said:

If there was any doubt the bolts come with loctite from the factory...

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Look a bit rusty Fred............

Are loose spokes/rims a widespread problem? I spoke to an owner of a new GS a few weeks ago and he told me that his rear wheel had been replaced due to this problem. After my bike had its first service I took it on a 2,200 mile trip and when I returned the rear wheel was very loose. It was so loose that I rang BMW Assist to have it recovered to the dealers and I'm not known for over reacting. New wheel ordered and it should be here by next week. I previously put nearly 20,000 miles on a new 2015 GSA without any problems at all. My mate checked his rear wheel and he also has loose spokes. He rang the dealers and they said they would order a new wheel just in case it needs to be replaced when he takes the bike in to be checked.

Spoke today with someone who used to have a business building motorcycle wheels and he could (before he packed it in) build the BMW cross spoke wheels (which he describes as an utter sh*t of a job and extremely complicated)

He did explain how it is done and how complex it is compared with normal wheels, however, the main point was that even with only 2 or 3 loose spokes they can quickly get out of true and randomly tightening spokes will only pull it out of true even more .

If the wheel is running with missing spoke grub screws or has half a dozen plus loose spokes it needs to be professionally rebuilt or replaced as there is a high likelyhood of failure