Scared the S%$T out of me

[knight_vision4u]

So I was cruising back home this afternoon from town and about eight miles from the house, the (infamous) ABS General Warning light came on. I'm in the middle of lunch hour traffic and not able to pull to the side of the road to stop and check it out. So I continue to the police department parking lot (as I am a cop) pull into the parking lot grab the clutch, (When the engine noise subsides I can hear the ABS pump running), and the bike stops with out me having to use the brakes.(Now I have had problems with it in the past but nothing like this.) So I do what I have to do at the PD (probably 15 minutes), jump on the bike, every thing is good the general ABS light is out, I turn on to the highway go about a mile, and the go to apply the front brake lever and the front wheel locks up, I'm talkin' full on locked up. Im not going very fast but but fast enough to leave about five feet of rubber on the road. So I manhandle the bike, with both front and rear wheels locked, off the roadway and on to the shoulder. After regaining my composure I call a tow truck and begin to look at the bike. The rear brake disk is blue and the top vertical edge is now gold colored so that tells me it was rather warm and there was a white powder in the brake disk holes(?). One of the tow truck drivers recommends opening the bleeder valve on the rear caliper to (possibly) relieve the pressure and release the pads, so I do, and there is no fluid in the caliper. The wheels are still locked so the tow truck driver has to use the winch to drag the bike on the flat bed and he takes it home for me.
The brakes were serviced about three weeks ago and the fluid was changed.

Any advice on what it might be??????
Its a 2004 R1150RT

[BrooklynLou]

Sounds like that was a little too close for comfort...glad you were able to keep the bike upright. I'm new to ABS on motorcycles & the BMW world, so I am unable to make any suggestions on remedying the situation. Please keep us posted, so we know what to look out for.

Cheers,

Lou
SF, CA

[Bob1200rtc1]

I would look at the rubber seal on the top of the master cylinders. If it looks swollen then something other than brake fluid got into your master cylinders. If thats the case, Everything that has any rubber in the brake system needs replaced and the other parts need flushed with brake clean. I've run into this in cars several times over the years. Get an expert to diagnose your problem. Brakes are no place to cut corners.

[knight_vision4u]

Just got the bike back from the mechanic (Basin Motorcycle Works :bmw: ) today.
Harry replaced the "micro switches" on the rear brake foot lever, and the front brake lever and presto its fixed. He had to do a little reasearch but he found that the switches got "super sensitive" and the ABS unit couldnt react fast enough to the signals the switches were sending, so it thought the switches were closed all the time (sending a signal to the ABS unit), thus sending pressure to the calipers, causing the brake pads to come in contact with the rotors just enough to heat the pads up which caused them to swell. Then when I used the front brake lever, it was just enough pressure to lock both front and rear brakes up and ABS unit could not prevent the lockup. So Harry tore the rear brake caliper apart found that it was salvageable, put new pads on it checked the front pads (they were ok) and five hundred dollars later I'm back on my Beemer. I know this is confusing, but it kinda makes sense. The ABS general warning light did not come on, on the ride home :) so I'm hoping this will fix that problem too. A big thanks to Harry Hill and his gang at Basin Motorcycle Works. It was very difficult to be with out the bike as we only have one cage (FJ Cruiser) but the Beemer is fixed and I'm thrilled. :bmw: :bmw: :bmw: :dance:

[cfell]

should improve your gas mileage, too!

It pays to check your wheels when you STOP your ride... everything will be hot...

So, just a suggestion.. when you stop your bike and put on the Centerstand, walk aft and bow and spin the wheels...

[Semper_Fi]

Great story - and more importantly you were not injured when the bike locked up.