Interesting interaction with BMW USA regarding lack of maintenance/service manual

Noguru00

New member
Me:
Good morning,

I am the owner of a 2018 C650GT Maxi Scooter. I bought it in Houston Texas
from Team Mancuso Powersports about a year ago. The VIN number is
WB10C1507JZ316446. My bike needs the 6000 mile service. The dealership
pricing on that service is outrageous in my opinion and I'm not ready to
pay 25% of the residual value of my bike for one service visit.

To that end I have been searching for a service/maintenance manual so that
I could perform service myself. I am an engineer in the electronics field,
have worked on many motorcycles and feel confident I could do the
maintenance if I had a guide. I have found out a few things in my search:
The manuals were once on DVD's but are not anymore. It seems that the
manuals are hosted on a website and authorized techs are given a password
to access them.

I don't want to be adversarial but I have also learned that BMW cannot by
law require that maintenance is done by certified techs to keep the
warranty up. To that end the language in the owner's manual confirms that
by strongly encouraging dealer service without ever requiring it. One
snippet is very interesting to that end saying that "generous treatment
after the warranty expires" is dependent on using dealer service.

I am asking for access to a service/maintenance manual. Whatever that
takes. I am willing to pay a reasonable price for it but I cannot take no
for an answer. BMW cannot leave their customers hanging with no way to
properly maintain their bikes before or after the warranty expires.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Response from BMW USA:
Dear Shawn,

Thanks for contacting BMW Motorrad USA regarding the availability of a Repair Manual for your 2018 BMW C 650 GT. I'm sorry to read of your concerns.

As you mentioned, the repair manual DVD's are no longer available. BMW Motorrad no longer offers repair manuals for our motorcycles.

You're welcome to service your vehicle yourself or by any mechanic that you trust; however, BMW Motorrad warranty and maintenance plans are only valid at authorized BMW Motorrad dealers. Our dealers undergo specialized training and are equipped with special tools specifically needed to care for your motorcycle. We also recommend that you continue to service your motorcycle at an authorized BMW Motorrad dealer after the warranty period ends.

To locate a dealer to schedule service or discuss pricing, please visit www.bmwmotorcycles.com/dealer.

Should you need to contact BMW Motorrad Customer Relations and Services again, you can reach us at 1-800-831-1117 Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET and Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET.

Thanks again for writing to us.
 

Delray

Well-known member
"BMW Motorrad no longer offers repair manuals for our motorcycles."

This is a written statement from BMW Motorrad USA?

It's pretty outrageous. I imagine they justify it by saying, "we think it's THAT important for our (oh-so-precious) BMW motorcycles to be worked on only at BMW dealerships." Horsehockey.

More likely, BMW wants to steer maintenance and repair business to the dealers, so the dealers won't abandon them. I guess according to BMW, we loyal customers can go straight to heck.

Selfish, greedy, foolish.
 

EvilTwin

Active member
It looks like the OEM manuals are still being sold online, going price is about110 bucks, some with shipping. Thinking about getting one because sooner or later I will need it.

If you look at all Delrays posts you will see he has documented much of what the routine service on these bikes entails. I've done the first oil change and it wasnt that bad. I've serviced my previous bikes, an r12rt, can am spyder, Silverwing and more than a few cars and trucks. Half of what you need is already out there on the interwebs, might take some searching. Having a service manual is always a help, but not absolutely necessary IMHO. Most of the folks on this board are more than willing to help.
 

Ceesie76

Active member
I bought a DVD online, it's far from inuitive to use (also because I only use it sporadically) but after a lot of trial and error I usually find the info I need to do the basic maintenance the bike needs. I had to buy an external dvd drive to be able to actually use it. Don't remember how much I paid for the dvd but it was not very much, $50 maybe on Ebay as I recall. And yes there's a lot that's been documented on this site and on youtube.

Just forget BMW, they are in their own world, to their credit together with plenty of customers who don't mind having all repairs and maintenance done by BMW dealers. They don't like us DIY'ers for many reasons and won't try to help us and I can kind of understand why.

I had my C650 Sport into the local dealer only once for warranty work and they screwed that up. I received an email from BMW to rate the work and when I gave honest feedback to what I thought was a national customer service address, the local dealer service manager called me to ask what went wrong. I was surprised that my information had gotten back to the dealer but explained it to him. He said "Yeah, that tech no longer works for us". Case closed on going to the dealer ever again for service (besides the insane cost).
 

Ceesie76

Active member
Ps just checking now I see on Ebay a dvd for our 'C' for $12.90 delivered from California. Pirated no doubt but it should work fine.
 

Delray

Well-known member
"I had to buy an external dvd drive to be able to actually use it ... $50 maybe on Ebay as I recall."

I paid $25 for mine from a company in England. It's an OEM, or else someone did a masterful job of copying the printed label. I find it very helpful, clearer and more detailed than similar manuals for the Burgman 650 and Honda's Silver Wing. Only wish I could get a nice printed copy of BMW's book -- nothing like having it right there on the garage floor with you.

Worth noting for BMW Motorrad afficianados: The OEM DVD has ALL BMW BIKES, C-series, R-series, K-series. So if BMW no longer issues service and repair manuals, that little round piece of plastic could become very rare and valuable.

Personally, having been to the promised land of motorcycling with automatic transmissions, I will never go back to shifting. I am 100% convinced no matter how adept you are with a manual clutch, your reactions are intuitively faster (and thus safer) without shifting. Also think hand brakes give you quicker reactions than a foot brake.
 

emseedee

Member
"I had to buy an external dvd drive to be able to actually use it ... $50 maybe on Ebay as I recall."

I paid $25 for mine from a company in England. It's an OEM, or else someone did a masterful job of copying the printed label. I find it very helpful, clearer and more detailed than similar manuals for the Burgman 650 and Honda's Silver Wing. Only wish I could get a nice printed copy of BMW's book -- nothing like having it right there on the garage floor with you.

Worth noting for BMW Motorrad afficianados: The OEM DVD has ALL BMW BIKES, C-series, R-series, K-series. So if BMW no longer issues service and repair manuals, that little round piece of plastic could become very rare and valuable.

Personally, having been to the promised land of motorcycling with automatic transmissions, I will never go back to shifting. I am 100% convinced no matter how adept you are with a manual clutch, your reactions are intuitively faster (and thus safer) without shifting. Also think hand brakes give you quicker reactions than a foot brake.
I've got a copy of the manual as an ISO file (i.e. a DVD image). I used to be able to mount the file as a drive in Windows 10, but after a recent Windows update that doesn't work any more (thanks for nothing Micro$oft). I found that I could unpack the ISO image using 7zip to a folder somewhere convenient on my PC, and then run the RSD.exe file and everything seems to work fine.

I'd be interested to know what version everyone has - mine is 062013 (it has the line "Ausgabedatum=062013" at the end of the DATAS/Version.Ini file. It includes the C650 up to 2013 (which is when mine was first registered), but nothing later.

Mike
 

Delray

Well-known member
I'd be interested to know what version everyone has"

Mine is dated 12/2016 and includes 2012 to 2017 models. When my 2013 GT is done (now with 20,500 miles and going strong), I will buy a later model GT and use the same DVD; I assume basic specs for oil change, variator nut torque, etc. are unchanged.

The DVD is a bit of a PITA because it only runs on Windows. I bought a used Dell laptop for $45 with counterfeit Windows that frankly felt like a streetcorner weed transaction. But hey, it runs the DVD perfectly. The "dealer" even let me run the DVD before I bought.

Naturally, when I bought the MotoScan app for diagnostics and (mainly) to turn off my "Service" light, it requires Android, so I bought a new MatrixPad S7 tablet for $75. Can't complain, though. I love this bike so much it's all worthwhile.
 
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