So you think keyless is great?

Following this thread as I have just upgraded my Gsa to one with keyless and tft only because I got a cracking deal

Top tip no. 318

Never wander off, leaving your keyless bike with the ignition on. It’ll flatten the battery.
 
I left the bike in 1st but hit the kill switch [I can't bear that crunch into 1st gear]
It is to prevent the crash inside the gearbox when selecting first gear from neutral. It also saves fuel (Tongue in cheek)!

So you shut the engine off at traffic lights and then start it in gear every time? To avoid the clunk? Really?


On the other hand: all my bikes are very old, so normal keys. But I borrowed a couple of keyless bikes: not a massive fan.
Couple of years ago, while in Spain we swapped bikes with my fried. I gave him my old GS, and I got his 1290Adv. Had a spirited ride and rode the bike with a massive smile under my helmet for a while, ignoring the yellow warning on the dash.
Also, distanced my friend quite a while. I realised what the warning was the first time I stopped the bike.

Aside from that it is extra "cognitive load" I don't really want.
 
Here's what happened this weekend:
I went to a neighboring town (25 miles from home) on Sunday morning on the bike ('17 RTLE).
After I finished there, I started my ride home. At about 1/2 a mile after my journey started, I noticed the Yellow Triangle and exclamation mark, and below it the key symbol with the question mark. I foolishly ignored it because this has happened before when the remote fob was in my pocket, masked (I believe by my phone), so I didn't give it a second thought.
Shortly after this, I stopped at some traffic lights, and as is (now) my custom, I left the bike in 1st but hit the kill switch [I can't bear that crunch into 1st gear] but with the ignition left on. Lights turned green, I hit the start button, dropped the clutch and off I went. Anyhow, about 3 miles later, I was way too hot, so stopped to take a layer off. Same procedure, 'kill' the engine in 1st gear. Ignition left on. I popped the clothes in the top box and then jumped on my bike. Hit the start button....nothing. Checked my side stand up, yep, it was. Still, nothing. Clicked the bike into neutral and tried again...nothing. So pushed the ignition 'off' button and then pushed again to turn it back on again...Oh, no! nothing at all. The bike was now totally shut down.
I went through all my clothing checking for the remote fob and all to no avail. I pushed the bike to a slightly safer location and then started my way back to my start location. EVENTUALLY I got back to where I had started my bike first time and started searching for the key. My lovely Son-in Law, turned up on his bike and he let me ride it (as I knew where I had been). We SLOWLY navigated back to where my bike was marooned with a hope of spotting the fob on the ground somewhere. Nada!
We then went back to my house and picked up the grey plastic emergency key and retrieved my bike. I retraced my route again, and still no sign of the fob.
Here's the thing. If the bike had shut down where it lost the key, I may well have found it. But to only stop once I tried to restart the beast seems crazy.

Here's the bottom line. I COULD have really been in the wilderness with no on to call on.
PLEASE CARRY YOUR SPARE EMERGENCY KEY SOMEWHERE THAT IS ON THE BIKE/HELMET ALL THE TIME.

If I had an ignition key, this COULD NOT happen.

Multistradas have a facility where you can enter a code to unlock/start them if you lose or have a problem with the electronic key.
 
What if the TFT is broken/unusable?

It depends -

If the TFT needs to supply data to the ZFE, & it has functions required for the bike to start and run, then yes that might be a problem.

However if it doesn't , I would hazard a guess it will start and run.

There will no doubt be a plethora of error messages going back and forth between the various modules
 
I assumed the TFT is what it would be used to input the PIN. But I could be wrong.
 
I've had several motorbikes over the years, since 1986: Left the key in place a whole day in London. Luckily nobody stole it. Left the key all morning somewhere in Holland. Nobody stole it. That wasn't that much of a surprise. Left the key several hours on the bike here in Mexico on several occasions. Surprisingly nobody stole it.

I learned to have the key attached to my belt with an elastic. Only thing that eliminated the risk of leaving the key in the lock on the motorbike.

The new keyless system on my current RT is ideal for me: Radio key thingy chained to my belt permanently. The extra grey plastic key is with my home keys, attached with another chain to the other side of my belt. Next to "0" chance of loosing either. They are deep under my riding gear for long rides.

I think it's a great system, but it is a good idea to store an extra battery for the electronic key on the bike and have the backup one with you also.
 
I've had several motorbikes over the years, since 1986: Left the key in place a whole day in London. Luckily nobody stole it. Left the key all morning somewhere in Holland. Nobody stole it. That wasn't that much of a surprise. Left the key several hours on the bike here in Mexico on several occasions. Surprisingly nobody stole it.

Not half as stupid as me. I left my bike for a whole week in the short-term car park at Terminal1, Heathrow Airport and nobody stole it!
 


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