wcarter
Dec 16th, 2005, 11:28 pm
I'll chime in about my most recent experience with my local dealer. Just in case you thought Bob Menton was making it all up.
I had begun to experience difficulty in downshifting. It began with first, then downshifts to second and sometimes third were "sticky". I thought perhaps it was my shift linkage going South. Great.
It was time for new tires, so when I brought the bike in, I asked Matt Sage, the Service Manager, to check my shifting problem. Matt inspected the linkage and pronounced it sound. He took the time to explain how a loosening shifter would feel. When the technician got my bike, he immediately suggested a possible cause: My clutch lever was set to position one; he moved it back out to position four and explained how BMW had changed the adjustment settings later on (my bike is an early '99), since the old position one did not always disengage the clutch fully. After installing the tire, he test drove the bike and found no problems shifting. When I got the bike back it was shifting properly.
Between the "instruct the customer" session and the road test, I'm sure the technician spent at least 15-20 minutes on my shift complaint. They probably could have sold me a new shifter if they were that type of dealer. The cost for all this? No charge, come back soon.
These are good guys. I recommend them.
I had begun to experience difficulty in downshifting. It began with first, then downshifts to second and sometimes third were "sticky". I thought perhaps it was my shift linkage going South. Great.
It was time for new tires, so when I brought the bike in, I asked Matt Sage, the Service Manager, to check my shifting problem. Matt inspected the linkage and pronounced it sound. He took the time to explain how a loosening shifter would feel. When the technician got my bike, he immediately suggested a possible cause: My clutch lever was set to position one; he moved it back out to position four and explained how BMW had changed the adjustment settings later on (my bike is an early '99), since the old position one did not always disengage the clutch fully. After installing the tire, he test drove the bike and found no problems shifting. When I got the bike back it was shifting properly.
Between the "instruct the customer" session and the road test, I'm sure the technician spent at least 15-20 minutes on my shift complaint. They probably could have sold me a new shifter if they were that type of dealer. The cost for all this? No charge, come back soon.
These are good guys. I recommend them.