Man, this topic just doesn't go away (that says something about topic BTW
). I for one choose to just accept it as a characteristic of the B. Yes I was a bit freaked out at first, but I really wanted to like this bike because of how it looks and the power and handling it offers so I kept at it. There have been some comments about some of the GT and GTL models, but by far the most have been about the B derivatives. I understand BMW (or any brand really) owners and the tendency to defend the brand and even the specific models we own, but just the mere fact that there's discussion after discussion after discussion of the anomaly says something going on with these bikes. I've posted on several of these threads about the bike just being "different" than the GW and HD tourers (I have many years and hundreds of thousands of miles of experience on both models). This being my first real BMW, I noticed the behavior from the very first time I rode a brand spanking new off the showroom floor B model. I've ridden 3 B models now, including my own, and they ALL have the exact same behavior.
@bhobbs1981, if you have never experienced it, then good for you. Many of the B owners on this and other resources have, I refer back to my comment about how many threads one finds about the topic. As for the NTHSA and the complaints they have, somewhere buried in those complaints is mine and I'm actually one of the people that they have contacted and asked me to run some tests for them that involve having someone drive behind me video-taping the bike. During my last group ride, several riders mentioned to me how bad the bike weaved at times. They asked if something was wrong with the bike. Again, I've just gotten used to it and accepted it as part of the bike's behavior. It doesn't have to be behind a trailer or even a car in some instances. Any dirty air will cause even a little bit of wobble. Speed is not the culprit either. My bike will behave the same at 50 or 150, the same weave may or may not occur. I will say that the weather and tires have a lot to do with it because it won't always do it. I, for instance, will experience it (even just last night) when a cold front is moving in and we have a bunch of unstable air (both in the air as well as on the surface. Yes I am a pilot so I notice these things). That has been one consistent fact that I have found. The other has been the tires. I recently replaced the tires with a new set of RS4s and while the bike handles curves way better than what came off the bike, the weave got worse and more prominent. The federales seem to think it's the floorboards on our B models causing the bike to want to lift, I don't necessarily agree with that, but it's one of the items I need to test out. I'll be removing them to see if, in fact, they do cause a difference. Anyway, probably too late for this, but long story short, these bikes do NOT act like your average GW or HD tourer when it comes to traveling down the highways. But!, it's a trade-off I, and I'm sure many others, are willing to put up with because of the superior handling when it comes to the type of riding I choose to do and is the reason I own one of these bikes to begin with. The saga continues....
