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Snakebit (Long Thread)


Rinkydink

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Wife and I up early, drove 2 hours east to Memphis dealer to pick up our new ‘17 RT. Salesman gets bike serviced and is showing me all the features etc. Goes to start bike and it struggles to start. He informs me they had a bad batch of Exide batteries and puts a new one in. He fires her up shows me all the bells and whistles and we finish the deal and I'm on my way. Fifteen miles out I get a yellow warning light which turns to red so I pull over at a Shell station and kill the motor to look at manual. Try to start it and it's a no go. I call dealer and he sends tech with another battery and trailer. Third battery installed and she fires right up and idles for 5-7 minutes and everything looks good. I embark again homeward bound, 3 miles later the yellow warning light comes back on and I pull over again and call dealer.

Meanwhile bike starts fine so I toggle through menu and battery voltage display shows 11.5 volts. When I rev the motor the volts don't increase. Ok, we have a no charge problem. Tech arrives and we trailer back to dealer. Ends up being a factory defective voltage regulator. Dealer absconds one from a new GS and fixes my problem. Ok, so far so good. It's now 4:00 pm and I have a 150 mile jaunt to get home. Rain is looming. I head out on I-40 west, rain arrives after 30 miles but I am well dressed and all is well.

Yellow warning light comes on again. I toggle menu and show 14.2 volts. WTF? Then, my low tire display comes on. Yellow warning becomes red. I toggle menu and the rear tire shows 28 psi with no town in sight. I ride 7 miles to next exit and pull up to your basic pay to pump air compressor. It requires credit card only. I swipe Visa and lo and behold it works. 48 psi and I'm off again. Monitoring display and tire is slowly but definitely losing air. I take next big town exit and air up again. It's now dark and rain is pouring down. I don't know how many of you have traveled I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis but the semis are thick and heavy and they block both lanes at 65mph. Normally not a problem but I am watching my tire steadily deflate and need to make some time. I end up stopping 5 times for air and luckily every pay to pump compressor actually worked and I made it home by 6:45.

 

I am worn out but thanks to my Darian jacket I am high and dry. I didn't look to see if I picked up a nail as I am back at work tomorrow. 175 miles on bike and my Metzeler Z8 may be toast. Oh well, I prefer Pilot Road 4s anyway. 😜 my wife was very happy to see me safe and sound.

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Sorry to see you had such a problem.

 

I would be on them for a new battery from different stock or a written warranty from the dealer not the manufacturer.

 

I would also relate the tire issue and would see if I could get some help from the dealer even if it has a nail as it seemed it was slow and you have no idea where it was picked up at. It may just be a bead issue and need broken loose and then reset the bead. I think the dealer will compensate you for issues on a new bike. I know I would try for a new tire and battery.

 

All in all happy you are home safe.

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175 miles on bike and my Metzeler Z8 may be toast. Oh well, I prefer Pilot Road 4s anyway. 😜 my wife was very happy to see me safe and sound.

 

So very sorry to hear your miserable experience.

Why should your tyres be 'toast'. Thge pressures were low, but you were still riding steady.

Anyhow, whether they are or they are not, don't be so quick to jump to PR4's.

My 1150 is superb with the PR4's, my Wethead however isn't. They track badly along/over road seams and join strips. The only time it did that on my 1150 was when the tyres were worn out.

Also, lots of good reports on the Metzelers.

 

Whatever your choices, I hope your experiences with the bike are only good ones after that crappy start.

 

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AndyS, first and foremost I love BMW and will always own one and this bike is the bomb....period. I have never had problems with Z8s per se except they never really lasted very long for me in the past. When they go they seem to go quickly. (DAMHIK Colorado trip😳) Checked back tire this am and she is flat as a pancake. I'm just glad it was a slow leak and I wasn't stranded on I-40.

 

I always look at the glass half full. I have a wonderful, beautiful new bike that I love. I got a killer deal and the experience ended up being a good one. It builds character they say. Any other time I would've had my plug kit and 12v compressor. Of course I haven't had time to inspect tire to look for nail etc. Only problem....dealer is 150 miles away.

 

Did I say this bike is the bomb?

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You haven't told us why the tire lost air. I've had valve stems leak and leaks from the bead of the tire. My bike came with Z8 too, they are very good tires IMHO but with one major problem I couldn't tell how much tire life I had left so I won't buy them again but they did preform well in dry and wet.

 

To better luck with you new ride and Congratulations!

 

Jay

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WOW what a nasty way to begin ownership of a new bike. But you have the right attitude and lord knows by now you have bonded with the bike.

 

Good luck and many happy event free miles!

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WOW what a nasty way to begin ownership of a new bike. But you have the right attitude and lord knows by now you have bonded with the bike.

 

Good luck and many happy event free miles!

 

No kidding!! Hopefully you got at least five years of bad luck out of the way on your short trip home.

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I got home from work and it is a nail...dead center. Has anybody ran a Pilot Road 4GT on rear with a Metzeler Z8 on front? I prefer the PRs. 160 miles and need a new tire already...sigh.

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I got home from work and it is a nail...dead center. Has anybody ran a Pilot Road 4GT on rear with a Metzeler Z8 on front? I prefer the PRs. 160 miles and need a new tire already...sigh.

I put new rubber on mine a few months ago and picked up a nail on the way home from the shop. It also was a slow leak and I didn't realize it until I was a day into a 3000 mile trip. It got steadily worse over the trip and the last day I was doing the same thing you did, stopping every hour for air. Not fun. And your was added to the charging issues. You have my sympathy.

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It's now dark and rain is pouring down. I don't know how many of you have traveled I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis but the semis are thick and heavy and they block both lanes at 65mph.

 

I was on that section of I-40 last fall on my way home from a cross country trip. The truck traffic was unbelievable. There were so many of them I had a hard time staying out of their blind spots. Had a couple of them try to kill me. Heavy cross winds too. Can't imagine making that run in the pouring rain with a tire going flat. Hopefully that's all the bad luck for a while. I had a Metzeler Z8 on the front and a Metzeler Roadtec 01 on the rear without problems. Tread patterns were quite different.

 

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LittleBriar, it was an experience for sure. I have ridden that stretch multiple times in the past. I had planned on taking Hwy 70 which parallels I-40 so I could keep from droning at a constant rpm on my new motor. I got a lot of accelerating/decelerating in before the inflation problem. Rain is predicted for the next 15 days in my area so I will just have to wait.

 

I will say there were quite a few truckers “coasting” in the fast lane blocking me stuck behind another truck ahead of me in the slow lane. Once they saw me they let off the gas to give me plenty of room to cut in front of them in the fast lane. They didn't know about my tire problem but took pity on me riding in the rain. This happened at least 10 times. I gave them a quick thank you wave and motored on.

 

I think I'm going to try the PR4GT on the rear. I have them on my two other (soon to be for sale!!!!) boxers and love them.

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Michelin's very latest is the Road 5 which they say is improved over the PR4. I'd say either the R5 or PR4GT would be fine even with the Metz front.

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My new PR4 GT has arrived. Having never changed a tire with tire pressure monitoring, are there any special precautions I need to take?

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If you are using a manual changer there is no issue other than keeping the bead breaker away from the sensor. I snapped the stem off of a sensor with my hydraulic changer when I got in a hurry and didn't realize the bead was stuck under the sensor. Dumb move but BMW sells the stem separately. Think you would realize there was an issue with a manual changer.

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