Thanks for all the replys, had the bike back at the dealers whom (wait for it) carnt find anything wrong. The bike has only 3 settings, so not a lot to play with. It seams to be like my drag bike that squats under power the front goes light then its ok. But in stop start traffic its a real pain.
Steve
Thefastone

I've had the exact same problem with my 2009 GSA! Thank god I'm not the only one, I almost dropped the bike right in front of Chizz's house (HUBB member) and on a few other occasions. Two up, fully loaded, Metzeler Tourance Exp tyres and terrible handling at low speeds (walking pace). I have never experienced anything like that before, not even on an equally loaded (aka overloaded) Tenere with 20 year old springs and shock. I think "like on marbles" actually describes it best - it's terrible.

Do you have the ESA system? I've had mine set to two people soft, unfortunately BMW only allows you to select one person, one person + luggage and two people, then soft, normal, and hard. What tyres do you have on yours?

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"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting GERONIMO!"

Measure your sag... Static sag and rider sag with the bike loaded up.

Find your book and find out the total travel on the rear shock...

The shock should be compressed about 5-10% of its total travel just sitting on its wheels without your arse on it and you should only be using about 25-30% of your total travel when you are sitting on the bike, loaded up...

If its much more than this then you need to adjust either pre-load or maybe if you're overloading the bike , you need a stronger spring.

You always see overloaded overland bikes dragging their arse. Totally overloaded with really badly adjusted suspension. These are the people struggling to corner, falling over on trails and wondering why their front wheels feel disconnected to the road....

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Exactly!

Even if ESA is great it can't make the spring stiffer. I would guess that the routine is described in your manual.

WTF? You just wrote a gleaming review of your GS on another thread .... so what's up with this? If I didn't know better I'd guess these bikes have major chassis problems. But my guess is that the prob is owner related. I didn't realize your bikes had the ESA options. I've no idea how it works but if you both are having the "like on marbles" issues, something is clearly F'd up .... and does not sound real safe.

My BMW buddy with the '09 has Ohlins front and rear on his bike. But he gets it free.
Loves the bike and goes good on it ... but gets really pissy when I pass him on my 37 HP DR650 on a nasty, wet road.

Seriously, this is pretty weird. I would definitely get in touch with someone
fairly high up at BMW and get this sorted out. Good luck.

This has nothing to do with the bike itself. My guess is that this is somehow related to the bike being overloaded. Might also be caused by the tyres. It doesn't happen at all when we're going two up with no panniers or solo with luggage. Thus, it's not really an issue with the bike but rather the bike telling me to go easier on it next time. In all fairness there's not a singgle bike out there whose stock suspension is made for carrying two people plus luggage. Some aren't even strong enough for just two people (Suzuki Freewind for example) thus I fail to see how this is related to the opinion stated in the other thread that you're referring to. I sense a lot of hatred towards BMW coming from your direction...

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"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting GERONIMO!"

"Nothing to do with the bike" ??
Now that is Funny!
You mean the OPINION that YOU Stated in your long rant about the joys of your GS? Maybe you should re-read what you wrote on the other thread and try to figure this out. Or I could quote it back here for you ... and everyone to read? BTW, its totally related. And its everything to do with the bike.

I sense a lot of paranoia and wild imaginings from your direction. No one is attacking your beloved BMW ... just trying to offer a few tips to solve a problem your dealer should have solved before you got the bike.

Remind me never, ever to try to help you with ... anything ... ever.
And you do need help, Marble man.

Eehhhhhh.....

Attack all you want I couldn't care less. Seriously, go nuts. Frankly, I've never owned a bike that I didn't like yet - they were all great in their own specific way. And as long as there are at least two motorcycle brands available there's going to be trench warfare between fans of brand a) and fans of brand b)
And I'm certainly not going to badmouth the entire bike because of a minor glitch that is solvable. This is not going to be one of those "I have a minor problem... OMG THIS IS ALL CRAP <insert_brand_here> IS ALL CRAP I HATE IT DIE DIE DIE!" situations that I have experienced too often already. The rust might be the deal breaker in my case. But like they say - nobody's perfect. How about we agree that we will probably never get along in terms of what bike to use for long distance travel but that it doesn't really matter in the end as long as you get your butt on that bike and go?

And while I appreciate the help I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with the bike per se but with either a) the suspension, b) the tires, or c) both. Just like on any other bike that suspension is not strong enough to carry two passengers plus full luggage. That bike was heavily overloaded and it doesn't behave that way at all when it's not overloaded. I've noticed similar albeit not that bad, behavior on a Suzuki Freewind two-up. That suspension is barely strong enough to carry a grown man plus luggage...

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"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting GERONIMO!"

Have your ever ridden with Telelever front suspension before?

There is a significant and obvious difference in how the front handles with TL. The front doesn't dip like other 'normal' bikes with standard forks. The TL system actually stabilises the front and reduces the front-back seesaw motion. Instead you get the feeling that the bike just rides back on acceleration and then comes level, never feels as though there is more than balanced weight on the front wheel. This is not a problem with the bike but the way it handles. To plant the front you really need to be up on the pegs and put your weight through the bars whilst braking (Don't try this at home because with ABS you'll be ejected over the handle bars if you don't know what you're doing =)

I too when first riding with TL felt like I had no control over the front but over time I began to understand how the bike handles and made do. When I was fully loaded I noticed problems with the rear bottoming out so I opted for Ohlins +2 rated spring at the back and that solved the bottoming when loaded (2up + luggage).

Hope this helps.

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