What started out as a worldwide service campaign for the water-cooled BMW R1200GS models is turning into a massive global recall for the German motorcycle manufacturer, as now the United States has joined the United Kingdom in issuing a recall on the popular ADV machine.
Accordingly, BMW Motorrad USA has issued a “stop sale” to BMW dealers, as documents for a recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are being readied for release.
The recall sees BMW Motorrad dealers inspecting the fixed fork tube on R1200GS models produced between November 2013 and June 2017. If the inspected motorcycle has an excessively large gap between the fork pipe and the seal plug, then the fork cannot be repaired by the dealer, and must be replaced.
If no gap is present (or if the gap is of an acceptable distance), BMW dealers must still press in a sleeve on the fork, before returning the bike back to the owner. With over 150,000 motorcycles potentially affected worldwide, this recall will be a massive undertaking for BMW Motorrad.
As of right now, BMW Motorrad USA is telling American dealers that they can order only 10 bushings per week. So by our math, that means this recall could take up to 20 weeks to complete (assuming two bushings per bike, and every machine is affected), as BMW Motorrad has roughly 1,500 dealers worldwide.
Of course, BMW Motorrad will likely be able to ramp up its recall efforts as time goes on, and not all models produced will have an excessive fork gap.
These facts will hopefully shorten the amount of time it will take for its dealer network to inspect and repair all the water-cooled BMW R1200GS and R1200GS Adventure models on the road. Still, this news means that BMW is looking again at a major recall for one of its most popular machines.
Next, we expect to see an official announcement from NHTSA about this recall, but affected BMW owners should already be in touch with their local BMW Motorrad USA dealership.
Source: Bothan Spies
