Power cut when service due: F800GS

[Ulvetanna_imp]

I had been thinking my F800GS was feeling sluggish for quite a while. It's 85 HP and 470 pounds and lately, the CB1100 has seemed faster. How, with less power and heavier?

I got this GS-911 interface from Hexcode (only works with BMWs) and hooked it up, cleared the service reminder and reset the service interval.

Rode it today, MUCH faster.

I had this same thing happen a couple times after it was serviced at the dealer. New, they come with some timing retard and redline reduced. After the first service it was noticeably quicker.

So what they are doing is, that if the bike is overdue for service, the ECU cuts the power by I would guess around ten percent. Then, once you hook up to the ECU and clear the alert and reset the service interval, it gives you full power.

I mean, the difference was huge. I remember now I used to be able to get the front end just an inch or so off the ground under hard throttle but that was a while back. I can do it again easily now.

Just another way that you need to either pay the dealer a fortune, or have a tool, because with BMW anyway, your power is reduced until you service the bike.

I guess this is the thinking if you happen to be in some remote part of Botswana on world rally, and can't find any parts or service. Reducing power would help prevent engine damage.

[Olyrider]

Thanks!!

It gives me a reason to plug in the GS-911 I bought on ADVrider last year!
My 2009 F800GS awaits.

Who knew....

[Elipten_imp]

As the owner of two older BMWs this just reenforces my opinion of never buying a new model and giving them the one finger salute.

Love my CB 1100 for short rides and my K75 RT for long hauls


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[Cormanus]

It's rude, really. I know we are well into nannydom, but if you want to forget to service your bike, surely that's for you and you have to suck up the consequences.

The real issue is that BMW and other manufacturers want you to have to buy yet another contraption just to be able to make some simple choices.

[the Ferret]

My brothers new Bonnie has a little service light that came on at 600 miles. You have to take it to a dealer to get the light turned off, there is no jump thru hoops procedure to follow to get it out. Dealer has to do it. If not you get to ride around with a little light on the dash. Beats losing 10% of your power though. If you don't want them to do the service, it costs $50 to have light turned off.

[Rocky_imp]

My brothers new Bonnie has a little service light that came on at 600 miles. You have to take it to a dealer to get the light turned off, there is no jump thru hoops procedure to follow to get it out. Dealer has to do it. If not you get to ride around with a little light on the dash. Beats losing 10% of your power though. If you don't want them to do the service, it costs $50 to have light turned off.

Wow, a built-in cash grab.

[Ulvetanna_imp]

These manufacturers are finding so many new ways to use computers to monitor and control the way their vehicles are used.

I am not complaining about the F800GS, though; it is a marvelous motorcycle, it really makes a great urban machine. Not the best off-road bike I ever owned, and certainly nowhere near as good offroad for real exploring as my 1989 R100GS. But it is fast and handles exceptionally well, pretty light, and comes with heated grips which I used yesterday.

In a way things haven't changed much; in the past we'd tear apart our engines and bike to see what made them tick. My first "motorbike" was a little minibike with a friction clutch and pull-start. I thought it was great, I tore into the thing and messed with it, welded stuff to the frame, stuck a big chrome pipe on it.

These days I plug in the GS-911 and a laptop to my bike and it tells me what's up. It was $300 which is really a pittance compared to what the bike cost, and I have a couple of bikes that can use it.

But it's right about the CB1100, it's really pretty simple overall. It functions extremely well as a basic motorcycle and I think, after reading what many have done with the bike over the last three years or so, it just doesn't like to be shoehorned into some specialized role. It's stubborn but honest.

Then there's that Wolf Classic I can't shut up about. There are no computers on that bike, it's as simple as they come. It does have transistorized ignition and solid-state electrics, but it's got a carburetor and no data port.

My brothers new Bonnie has a little service light that came on at 600 miles. You have to take it to a dealer to get the light turned off, there is no jump thru hoops procedure to follow to get it out. Dealer has to do it. If not you get to ride around with a little light on the dash. Beats losing 10% of your power though. If you don't want them to do the service, it costs $50 to have light turned off.

Wow, a built-in cash grab.

Wow, a built-in cash grab. Oh yeah. Services cost a fortune for the BMW's and it's remarkable how many people just don't take any time at all to try to do any of the work themselves. It's like with taxes, it can be confounding. Just pay someone else.

I got a story, I met a couple guys the other day and one was on a KTM ADV, the biggest one. He said he had to pay $1400 to have the valves adjusted, because they'd become so tight the bike would not even start. I believe he said the bike had less than 20K miles on it.

I have been riding the heck out of my CB1100, 10,500 miles so far, the valves were perfect at the 8K mile check, and it has never missed a beat. Lots of guys are saying the valves practically never need adjusting.

Big engine, very understressed. It's like an airplane engine, very simple and rugged and reliable.

[kennyw]

My brothers new Bonnie has a little service light that came on at 600 miles. You have to take it to a dealer to get the light turned off, there is no jump thru hoops procedure to follow to get it out. Dealer has to do it. If not you get to ride around with a little light on the dash. Beats losing 10% of your power though. If you don't want them to do the service, it costs $50 to have light turned off.

I would just pull that light bulb and call it a day.

[Elipten_imp]

Exactly right.


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[jedd_imp]

These days, I doubt it's just a simple screw in light bulb. More likely it's an LED, which is most likely
soldered into the circuit board.
I say.... cover it up w/ black elec. tape!