• Welcome to the BMW R18 Forums. Member registration disables ads and allows you to post and share. Register Here.

Recall? On all models with Reverse

  • <i class="fa--xf fal fa-check "><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" role="img" aria-hidden="true" ><use href="/data/local/icons/light.svg?v=1768230793#check"></use></svg></i> Discussion starter Discussion starter Witsend
  • Start date Start date
One thing for sure is this will make a nice dent in your second hand price if you want too offload your R1800 , i will hang on too my model rather than get ludicrous silly offers in part exchange .
I regularly meet up with a mate for a pootle & some lunch then we go to a Harley dealer & enjoy their free coffee. He has an HD he bought from them so knows the guys there. My experience of HD’s goes back years when I helped rebuild a baby Sportster & later test rode an XR1200. Couldn’t get off the bikes quick enough. But years have gone by & my mate said to test ride a modern HD so I did, a Street Glide & it was great apart from the too noisy exhaust. I was on my R18 Classic so I asked the sales guy what I might get px. He couldn’t get a price off any of his contacts!
I’m very happy with my Classic. I’ve had it a couple of years & I’m in no hurry to change it & it seems the market for R18’s in the UK is virtually non existent. Just trawl the classifieds & you’ll find BMW dealers offering almost new R18’s ludicrously cheap. This recall isn’t going to help.
I will find having the reverser disabled massively inconvenient. I keep my Classic in a wheel chock stand a) to give more room in my garage & b) to mitigate the smoking left cylinder that people have had maybe because oil settles in the left cylinder when on the side stand. I’ve tried getting the bike out of the chock without the reverser & it’s impossible! So I think I’ll keep it away from my Motorrad dealer for as long as I can & pray they come up with a fix soon.
 
I agree totally with what you say , for a bit of a laugh i put my bike on we buy any bike 6500 mile and full service history , they offered me £6500 bearing in mind that,s without an inspection so you probably will not get £6000 , i,ll keep this bike and be very careful where i park , at present my reverse is no problem , seems there is a lot of unanswered questions about this problem , my dealership said they are not disabling the reverse module just repairing the seal too stop moisture ingress , i will keep the forum informed .
 
I went to the dealership the other day and the shop manager said the letter is on its way but in essence, the instructions they have from BMW is to disconnect the unit until a solution is found. One has the right to refuse and carry on as normal, however, if the unit were to fail before the solution was found, BMW may refuse to honour the warranty and definitely not being liable from any damage caused by a faulty unit. I rarely use my reverse gear as this is my first bike in almost 30 years that has reverse and therefore I park in a way that the reverse gear won’t be needed. Having said that, we paid for this extra which in the UK was around £900.00, so I will insist on having the unit replaced/repaired at BMW’s expense when the time comes. So far, I have not had any issues with the bike since I purchased it over a year ago and I have covered 6500+ miles.
 
Obviously, this situation is not great for the trade or resale value for current owners, but is a good situation for people in the market. I recently saw a 2022 R18 b with less than 3k miles for $12,000. You'd pay around $22k for a similar Road Glide. Getting a break on the buy in price takes some of the sting out of the excessive prices for parts and repairs down the road.
 
Hi, I enquired with BMW Motorrad about the reverse gear recall. There is one which is to do with the module and possible water ingress causing corrosion and loss of function. Apparently all they do is disconnect the 2 wires in the module to fulfil the 'recall' and you lose your reverse!!!!
There is no permenant 'fix' as yet which sucks, my dealership is 170 miles away in Bristol and I need to get it there at my own expense, so much for superior engineering. As I don't take mine out in the wet and we are not in a high humidity climate am thinking of ignorinf=g it as it isn't a safety issue.
 
Hi, I enquired with BMW Motorrad about the reverse gear recall. There is one which is to do with the module and possible water ingress causing corrosion and loss of function. Apparently all they do is disconnect the 2 wires in the module to fulfil the 'recall' and you lose your reverse!!!!
There is no permenant 'fix' as yet which sucks, my dealership is 170 miles away in Bristol and I need to get it there at my own expense, so much for superior engineering. As I don't take mine out in the wet and we are not in a high humidity climate am thinking of ignorinf=g it as it isn't a safety issue.
I think you make a great point, if you don't ride in the wet, and I would bet there are a significant number of members here who don't, it's probably not much of a failure risk.
 
I think you make a great point, if you don't ride in the wet, and I would bet there are a significant number of members here who don't, it's probably not much of a failure risk.
Agreed... My bike is a garage Queen.. however, four day long trips on the road always invites rain...

If you and your bike aren't getting caught in the rain, you're simply not riding enough...
 
I agree totally with what you say , for a bit of a laugh i put my bike on we buy any bike 6500 mile and full service history , they offered me £6500 bearing in mind that,s without an inspection so you probably will not get £6000 , i,ll keep this bike and be very careful where i park , at present my reverse is no problem , seems there is a lot of unanswered questions about this problem , my dealership said they are not disabling the reverse module just repairing the seal too stop moisture ingress , i will keep the forum informed .
That's interesting, as every other reply including my nearest dealership in Bristol (Dick Lovett Motorrad) talks about disabling the reverse unit until a proper fix is found!!! The other irritating issue is that I have to get the bike there at my own expense.
 
Agreed... My bike is a garage Queen.. however, four day long trips on the road always invites rain...

If you and your bike aren't getting caught in the rain, you're simply not riding enough...
I have a Z1000 Classic to ride if there is a chance of the wet stuff!!!
 

Attachments

  • Kawasaki Z1-1.webp
    Kawasaki Z1-1.webp
    177.4 KB · Views: 6
I regularly meet up with a mate for a pootle & some lunch then we go to a Harley dealer & enjoy their free coffee. He has an HD he bought from them so knows the guys there. My experience of HD’s goes back years when I helped rebuild a baby Sportster & later test rode an XR1200. Couldn’t get off the bikes quick enough. But years have gone by & my mate said to test ride a modern HD so I did, a Street Glide & it was great apart from the too noisy exhaust. I was on my R18 Classic so I asked the sales guy what I might get px. He couldn’t get a price off any of his contacts!
I’m very happy with my Classic. I’ve had it a couple of years & I’m in no hurry to change it & it seems the market for R18’s in the UK is virtually non existent. Just trawl the classifieds & you’ll find BMW dealers offering almost new R18’s ludicrously cheap. This recall isn’t going to help.
I will find having the reverser disabled massively inconvenient. I keep my Classic in a wheel chock stand a) to give more room in my garage & b) to mitigate the smoking left cylinder that people have had maybe because oil settles in the left cylinder when on the side stand. I’ve tried getting the bike out of the chock without the reverser & it’s impossible! So I think I’ll keep it away from my Motorrad dealer for as long as I can & pray they come up with a fix soon.
Have had loads of Harleys in the past but really fancied the R18 and bought a 2022 Ltd Edition Classic which I love, but appalled that someone as Engineering Savvy as BMW have allowed this to happen in their design of what was a bloody expensive bike!!! Update the forum if you get a proper fix to it, as will I.
 
Agreed... My bike is a garage Queen.. however, four day long trips on the road always invites rain...

If you and your bike aren't getting caught in the rain, you're simply not riding enough...
I have gotten caught in the rain on some road trips, and I accept that for what it is. Riding in the rain isn't my favorite type of riding. If I plan a couple of hours of riding and it rains, I'll reschedule.
 
Well it will be interesting to see if our UK dealers offer any compensation , i very much doubt it , but i will keep the forum informed .
I've been advised the compensation is 4% of the value you paid for your bike and is only available to be used on Genuine BMW accessories for the R18. No mention of free servicing etc.. To claim the compensation you need to prove when you purchased the bike and the price you paid for it..
 
I have put in my VIN into the BMW website. No recall on my bike yet. Anyone in the US has a recall on their bike?
 
Below is directly from the BMW dealership near me; it applies to my Model B and my First Edition:


SITUATION: After quality inspection, BMW Motorrad has found that due to insufficient sealing of the reverser control unit, moisture can leak into the control unit. This can lead to corrosion of electrical contacts inside the control unit over time and under certain warm-humid (all year round) climatic conditions. This corrosion can result in a failure of the reverser function. In rare cases, high resistance creating high amperage can occur between the corroded contacts, resulting in overheating of the components that could develop into thermal damage to the control unit.

1728636529876.webp
 
Last edited:
I find it a little hard to believe that BMW would hand out $1,000 in money for accessories to currnet owners. I could see them doing that as a sales incentive for new bikes. Has anyone who is an existing owner received compensation?
 
I find it a little hard to believe that BMW would hand out $1,000 in money for accessories to currnet owners. I could see them doing that as a sales incentive for new bikes. Has anyone who is an existing owner received compensation?
I would guess that $1k per owner is cheaper than a class action lawsuit. Not to mention the damage these recalls are doing to their investment trying to get a piece of Harley Davidson's market share.
 
Back
Top