I wish I'd thought to get his number so I could ask him what BMW had to say about it. At the time all I could think about was how freaky it was and how late I was for work.
I still think it was some kind of system fault having witnessed the accident unless it was just a severe case of ******* cramp.
At the end of the day if this happened to a car the passengers would not be thrown out of the car and it may not even crash. A bike? the out come is inevitable.
The pro's aren't exactly obvious so far.

 

If the implication is the ABS system grabbed the brakes, I can't see that. They simply don't work that way. The system releases brake pressure to keep them from locking up. It doesn't engage the brakes. That's from rider input. I can see the ABS malfunctioning and not modulating the brakes as it's supposed to. But that would rely on the rider grabbing a fist full of brakes to begin with.

Does it have a brake by wire system?

 

I don't know, but ABS problems on BMWs seems to be a pretty big issue.

In the last 10mins reading stuff, I've seen 3 cases of the ABS light coming on and the wheel locking up (2 fronts and a rear)
That's not normal.

Most of the time, though, the brakes just fail and won't stop you. Many rear end crashes and near misses.

Check this out

 

+1

As Kuroshio says , ABS/ALB systems work by releasing the brake pressure , not by applying pressure . The pulsing you can feel through the brake pedal of a car is the brakes being released so that the wheels can still turn . If the front wheels go into a skid you loose steering , ABS prevents this loss of steering.

Vehicles equipped with traction control sometimes use the brakes applied to individual wheels to maintain traction on a surface that is slippery , slowing that particular wheel down so it can regain traction.

Maybe the bike has a traction control system as well????

 

Some really scary stories in the link Dylan put up! I've never had a brake failure on a bike, it's bad enough in a car (old sh!tboxes years ago) when you have to pump the pedal a few times.

Do you think manufacturers are in such a hurry to out do each other in the technology stakes, that not enough real world testing is done? I'm not pointing the finger at any of them in particular and I'm talking cars too but I'm starting to get the feeling that we're the 'test dummies' sometimes.

You just can't f#ck up something as important as brakes!

For me this story just makes me more keen to hang on to my tried and tested bike rather than getting the latest models.

HenryM. "a severe case of ******* cramp"...funny mate.

 

I'm wondering if someone had worked on the brakes, or maybe he had a piston stick in the bore of the brake caliper, as unlikely as it sounds on a new bike.
Beautiful description our Enry

 

Geeze That's an interesting link Dylan!

Would appear to be a common problem , a great reason to save yourself a whole wad of cash and not buy a BMW!!

I bet the poor guy that HenryM helped out would be interested to read some of those posts!!

 

dang, i lost a great deal of respect for BMW on this, the link that Dylan posted actually shocked me, we are not talking about a small issue anymore, after reading those post on the link , i take back my rider error comment, it sounds like the pump can lock up on its own causing wrecks exactly how Henry described. wow, i hope honda does a better job with ABS being a feature on the new VFR.

 

I once heard a story from the local BMtroubleyou mechanics to the effect that
If you fit the wrong battery in certain models the battery can fail, causing the ABS to be useless. I didn't understand what that meant until now. The difference comes about because the Right battery is quite a lot more expensive than the Wrong one - the difference is in the amount of capacity the battery has, so some guys fit the cheaper battery (quite a bit cheaper) because it is only about 5A difference in the capacity, but this is apparently enough to cause problems with the ABS.
Needless to say I won't be buying a BMW anytime soon if the spares are so stupidly priced for what is really a factory fault and should be attended to by the local Stealership, free of charge.
Definitely the find of the week Dylan,
Take a bow !

 

Sounds to me like electronic power assist isn't something I'd want on my bike.....
Like that one police moto instructor guy said after his lockup.... "I know the difference between rider induced lock up and a faulty brake system. If you lose all electrical power to your bike and your power assist is not functioning then stay off the front brake if possible. Ride safe"
This doesn't sound like something you should have to think about! I'm not sure what was wrong with the regular hydraulic brake systems of the last century, but are people getting so weak that they can't pull a regular brake lever enough to make it work?... lol... (maybe BMW riders? )
I mean, I can see ABS being beneficial in plenty of circumstances if it works. Now if it doesn't work, and you pull the lever and nothing happens, obviously that's not good, either...

I'm not sure exactly what the problem is, but it sounds like there is definitely a problem.