2012 BMW G650GS Sertao Owners

Woke up this morning and swung by the the Moab Cafe on the to the White Rim Trail. After I filled up on a breakfast burrito I went out to start Serts and low and behold: hot start issue. Looks like I'll be cutting my trip short and taking a tow truck to Grand Junction. I'm extremely upset with BMW to say the least. If this had happened a few hours later today I could have found myself with a 70 mile walk ahead of me. Waiting for the tow truck now. I'll post more when I know more.

Edit: Tried it one last time and she fired up but now I've lost all confidence in the bike. Looks like I won't be riding White Rim today either way.

Thanks Ozi,
I look forward to the details.
Cheers, Justin.

I had the same issues when I was test riding/demoing my Sertao. (it was on weekend loan from the dealer). Had hot-start issues a couple times, got stranded in the woods once. I got mad too. However, all my other experiences with it were awesome. Made the dealer do the decomp lever job before I bought it, and now it always starts up at the press of the button. I LOVE my bike.

I recommend that every Sertao owner has their Dealer do the job, and not wait for the issue to happen. And if your dealer gives you guff, go over their head. It's a known issue, the service bulletin is in their system, no excuses.

I love my bike as well. I had an absolute blast on it to and from Moab and on every trail I rode while I was there. That said, I don't love BMW for allowing a known issue to lie in wait for some unfortunate person to discover in the middle of nowhere. This isn't a Gullwing. I very much could have been in a lot of trouble this weekend if things had turned out differently. The blame rests on my shoulders for learning about the issue through here and not taking care of it immediately, but I doubt every G650GS owner is aware of, and utilizes advrider.com. Their handling of this issue is despicable at best, and dangerous to their customers at worst. There won't be much of a customer base for them to sell $20,000 bikes to if all of their entry level riders end up dead out in the woods somewhere.

My Sertao is at BMW for a new water pump and so i thought i would suggest they do the hot start fix while its there. they told me that there has been no bulletin in South Africa about the hot start problem and it could be exclusive to the US. they said our bikes are made to European specs and the US version could be slightly different? He then went on to say that altitude and local temperatures could also affect it and hence no bulletin in South Africa. The only bulletin he had was for the front beak which he said they automatically replace once the bike goes in for any reason. Does this sound correct to y'all? Has any other South African Sertao owner had a hot start issue? i hope not and i hope it isnt just that there are so few on the road here that they havent encountered it yet? i'm doing a big trip over the weekend and i must say im not all that confident with this bike.

I think the "hot start" issue is limited to short rides in low ambient temperature. I rode the wheels off the bike after I picked it up in August but didn't encounter any starting issues until the temps dropped below 10 C. After that, it seems the colder it gets the more often I encounter the problem.

Generally, all it takes is to leave the bike for at least 15-20 minutes to cool off. Then, it will start perfect.

I know some of you have mentioned service bulletins concerning the starting issues, but both my local BMW dealers were unable to bring up anything. Do you have any more information on this, or even the name of your dealers so I could contact them directly and research it myself? Both dealers told me that they would attempt to recreate the issue and run diagnostics but if there were unable to find anything, I'd be paying out of pocket for the time spent investigating the issue.

I live in Darwin, it does not get below 13 if we're unlucky for about 2 weeks of the year!

I had the hot start issue and it's not weather related, it's either valve clearances or in my case the decompression lever which has now been rectified.

Cheers

Sy

No, doesn't sound correct. There are quite a few reported cases on UK spec bikes too.


Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

Interesting!

Ive had no problem with hot start in 10k often warm miles. My fan did die though.

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That's correct, it's not weather related. My dealer said something of "too tight tolerances" when I got the starting problem. After changing the lever she started perfectly at any time and temperature.

th.

Has anyone installed the Wolfman pannier racks on their Sertao? i just purchased them and i am convinced the nuts and bolts that have been supplied are too long. even when using the spacer that is supplied it just doesnt come together. the actual rack does seem to fit but its impossible to get it on even close to tight.

anyone else experience this?

Cheerz

was fiddly to install but they do fit

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152195547995534.934025.725090533&type=1&l=826a7426d4

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152200623200534.934667.725090533&type=1&l=e88c13bd3b

another addition on my Sertao.

I like to "two tone" colours, silver BMW bars and black wunderlich bars.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152303316770534.948646.725090533&type=1&l=414279d4a0

Donford in Stellenbosch told me they applied the fix to all of their Sertaos, including mine.

So it is definately a known issue on SA bikes too.

Thanks! I think i'll have my dealer call the Stellenbosch branch... doing some long rides over December and dont need this story to happen!

Looks great on your bike! i am convinced that the nuts that were supplied to me are too long. atleast for the upper spot where the spacer goes. you wouldnt happen to have the instruction sheet with you to see what sizes were supplied to you? im thinking that maybe in South Africa we've still got old stock that isnt compatible with the Sertao...

In my booklet it says the following:

4 = 8mm x 25mm hex head
2 = 8mm x 40mm socket head (these are the ones that are just TOO LONG)
2 = 8mm washers (large)
6 = 8mm washers small
2 = 3/4 x 3/4 spacers
2 = 8mm lock nuts

Thanks for your help!