JaimeC
New member
This past weekend I took my 2013 C650GT on the Ramapo 500, a two-day, 500 mile backroad tour through New York and Connecticut. Day 1 was almost entirely done in the rain. Day two started out with heavy fog, but cleared into a hot, humid (but otherwise dry) day.
At 3:00 in the afternoon I pulled into a gas station in Pine Bush, NY to refill the tank. After it was full, I got back on, retracted the sidestand, turned on the ignition key and watched the instruments cycle through their self-diagnostics. And then, as I did DOZENS of times during the past week, I hit the starter button. However, unlike the dozens of previous times, this time NOTHING HAPPENED.
We pushed the scooter away from the pumps and looked it over. Nothing seemed out of place. There wasn't any kind of dirt buildup around the sidestand (thought maybe the sidestand cutout was gummed up). We even snapped the stand back and forth several times to see if we could shake anything loose.
Next, we removed the right side fairing panel and checked the battery and fuses. Everything was intact, and fine. We borrowed a jumper system from the auto garage next door thinking MAYBE the battery had gotten weak... but that didn't do anything either.
So here I was, stranded in Pine Bush, NY with the closest dealers either 50 miles away in Danbury, CT or 60 miles away in Bergen, NJ. I called Roadside Assistance and the fun REALLY began. It seems they couldn't find ANY of their contracted towing services to cross state lines. The NY-based towing companies apparently didn't have the necessary permits or whatever to operate out of state, and the same was true for getting a CT or NJ-based service to come get me in New York.
They were trying to find a NY-based company to come get me and deliver the bike to Manhattan (the next closest dealership, though almost 80 miles away as the crow flies) but couldn't find anyone in network to do that either. They started calling companies "out of network." At this point, I started calling friends with trailers... but that wasn't working out either. Nobody was home.
Finally, my companion said he had a buddy with a trailer, but nothing to hitch it to. My car has a trailer hitch (but I don't own a trailer). I ended up calling a member of my club who went to my house, got my car keys from my wife, and then drove the car to pick up the trailer and then the 160 miles from there to where I was stranded.
I called Roadside Assistance and told them to stop looking, but that I'd need a tow from my house to my own dealer during the week, which they were easily able to accommodate. I got home a few minutes before midnight, hot, and too exhausted to even be upset.
The dealership has it now, and though they haven't (yet) looked at it, they strongly suspect a defective switch. I was told this has been a common problem with late model BMWs. Just sharing my tale of woe here to see if anyone else has had this wonderful experience. If so, what was the problem?
PS: I had JUST gotten the scooter back from its 600 mile break-in service two days prior to this event.
At 3:00 in the afternoon I pulled into a gas station in Pine Bush, NY to refill the tank. After it was full, I got back on, retracted the sidestand, turned on the ignition key and watched the instruments cycle through their self-diagnostics. And then, as I did DOZENS of times during the past week, I hit the starter button. However, unlike the dozens of previous times, this time NOTHING HAPPENED.
We pushed the scooter away from the pumps and looked it over. Nothing seemed out of place. There wasn't any kind of dirt buildup around the sidestand (thought maybe the sidestand cutout was gummed up). We even snapped the stand back and forth several times to see if we could shake anything loose.
Next, we removed the right side fairing panel and checked the battery and fuses. Everything was intact, and fine. We borrowed a jumper system from the auto garage next door thinking MAYBE the battery had gotten weak... but that didn't do anything either.
So here I was, stranded in Pine Bush, NY with the closest dealers either 50 miles away in Danbury, CT or 60 miles away in Bergen, NJ. I called Roadside Assistance and the fun REALLY began. It seems they couldn't find ANY of their contracted towing services to cross state lines. The NY-based towing companies apparently didn't have the necessary permits or whatever to operate out of state, and the same was true for getting a CT or NJ-based service to come get me in New York.
They were trying to find a NY-based company to come get me and deliver the bike to Manhattan (the next closest dealership, though almost 80 miles away as the crow flies) but couldn't find anyone in network to do that either. They started calling companies "out of network." At this point, I started calling friends with trailers... but that wasn't working out either. Nobody was home.
Finally, my companion said he had a buddy with a trailer, but nothing to hitch it to. My car has a trailer hitch (but I don't own a trailer). I ended up calling a member of my club who went to my house, got my car keys from my wife, and then drove the car to pick up the trailer and then the 160 miles from there to where I was stranded.
I called Roadside Assistance and told them to stop looking, but that I'd need a tow from my house to my own dealer during the week, which they were easily able to accommodate. I got home a few minutes before midnight, hot, and too exhausted to even be upset.
The dealership has it now, and though they haven't (yet) looked at it, they strongly suspect a defective switch. I was told this has been a common problem with late model BMWs. Just sharing my tale of woe here to see if anyone else has had this wonderful experience. If so, what was the problem?
PS: I had JUST gotten the scooter back from its 600 mile break-in service two days prior to this event.
