Breakdown Poll

[dav]

All on the R65,

First was the coil when it saw dark clouds hoovering above, but got home on one pot.

2nd was the right hand carby overflowing when ever it felt like it, i just pulled over took off the bowl played with neddle/seat. Happened more then a few times until we gave the new fuel lines a good clean.

3rd was a broken gear linkage, i was in third wanting to shift up to fourth but nothing just nothing, pulled over & there it was. Had to ride 30kays in third gear to get to home base.

[suecanada]

Once the coat hanger gear shift linkage fell off one post. The wee clip got loose. Everything was still attached but there to be put back in place. Ithen had a zip-tie around that wee clip under the rubber boot for a few years before getting Justin's linkage.

Otherwise LRB has never let me down.  [smiley=dankk2.gif] LRB!!!

[msbuck]

Crack-o-matic coil left me stranded in the middle of a Motorcycle class (BikeSafeNC).  It was nice that a Highway patrolman was riding behind me (as part of the class I was taking) to fend off the cars as I pulled off on the side of the road.  I'm sure it looked like I was just going too fast...  

Otherwise, flat tires have been my achilles heel.  Graham always carried a spare tube when we first started riding together.  I asked him how many times he had ever needed it - the answer was none.  So I talked him out of carrying it anymore.  To serve me right, I had 5 FLAT TIRES during the next year.  I finally got smart and put a mudflap on the front tire to solve my flat tire problems.   8-)

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Oops!  I forgot about one.

I have the flat-top carbs, and the white plastic ring that holds the diaphragm to the slide had gotten too large (ID) and would not hold the diaphragm in place.

I had to find an adhesive that would put up with the gasoline.



I was 300 miles from home, on my way to a Gathering of the Clans.  (didn't make it)

Were you using a fuel adative when this happend ??.
Lou

No.

I had replaced the diaphragms a couple of times over the years, reusing the white rings each time.  They eventually wore too much to hold.

[balibeemer]

Broken clutch cable.

[nhmaf]

The only BMW- breakdown on the road I've had was with the R65LS within the first year I owned it - I hadn't gotten round to checking the clutch splines and lubing them yet, and, the splines failed - fortunately within 3 miles of home.  

[Ed Miller]

...need to add a choice for drivetrain other than engine.  I was stranded when my tranny went out on me, and later when the clutch disk friction material stopped being stuck to the clutch disk.

[Justin B.]

I voted for battery and tires.  Mine was actually an alternator rotor opening up but I figured "Battery" was close enough to "Charging System".  As far as tires I have had numerous flats, especially on my way up the AlCan Highway to Alaska...

[Melena]

I put down Engine Mechanical and Other.  But I forgot about the alternator rotor failure which could be "Other".  That had me stuck on the side of the road for a bit.  

Sucking the valve wasn't too good either.  Luckily I was close to home on that one and it happened in early spring so it got a nice rebuild of the upper end before the ride to Redmond.

The other one was loosing the clutch.  Luckily it was only a nut that had backed off and was an easy fix.

[k_enn]

Starter relay and/or the connectors to the relay got me.  

[Dizerens5]

Almost incredibly in over 50 years I've only been stopped dead on the road three times (though quite a few times I've clattered home with soft tires, misfiring engine, no lights etc!).
One stop was a flat tire, quick enough to need immediate repair. Lucky it was in a small town (Langport, Somerset, England) with a car dealer close by, when motorcycle wheels-- and tires -- were easy to get off and when car shops still were happy to repair inner tubes. The other two were due to failures of aftermarket electronic ignition. My old R60/5 sweated oil everywhere and had a lot of other problems but always got me home. My R65 did too but currently has a starting problem, I'm working on it.

[Ed Miller]

Starter relay and/or the connectors to the relay got me.  

I didn't really count that (it's happened to me twice and then it goes away) as I was able to push start the bike.

[proctorls]

My LS has really only let me down hard once in 5 years (about 8K miles). After a short ride (10 miles or so) the ignition quit cold.  After fifteen minutes of troubleshooting, it fired up again, only to die in two more miles.  I had a friend trailer it home, where I cleaned up the ICU and replaced the heat transfer grease.  Problem solved.

Steve in VT

[k_enn]

Had one other combination of events, that while not strictly a breakdown, caused me to bail out of a run.  It was a combination of carboration (would not idle), weak battery, heat, and traffic.  The bike would not idle, so I had to manually keep the rpms a good bit above idle to avoid stalling without a battery strong enough to start. So shutting and restarting when able to move was not an option.  I was stuck in traffic (i.e., no air flow), and reaching the point where I could feel and hear the bike about to overheat (just before I was due to enter the Holland Tunnel into NYC, with even more stagnant air and not place to pull over) .  With discretion being the better part of valor, I bailed out of the run.  

k_enn

[mimmo66]

Four times in 5 years.

#1 Return spring on gearbox shift lever left me stuck in 3rd gear

#2 Brake clutch cable at handlebar snapped due to insufficient lubing

#3 Hall gizmo Inside Bean Can went dead suddenly, no more sparks!

#4 Intake valve guide being sucked in, lots of white smoke warning

Guess this makes me #1 on this poll so far!