My bike's TPMS saved my butt tonight...

Beemerguy53

Beemerguy53

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Ten months ago, I bought a brand-new 2013 BMW R1200R 90th Anniversary Model. It came with a lot of bells and whistles, such as Traction Control, a trip computer, and a Tire Pressure Monitoring System.

Now, I am a very careful and responsible motorcyclist. (I've been riding for 43 years, have never had a ticket on a bike, and had one accident, back in 1979.) I check my bike visually every time I ride, and I pay careful attention to things like tire pressures...so I thought the TPMS was basically useless for me. If a tire was low, I would spot it or feel it while riding, I figured...I don't need some sensor to tell me something is wrong.

Guess again. I came out from work Tuesday evening, put on my helmet and jacket and gloves, started the Beemer and walked around it, confirming that everything was okay. But before I had ridden 50 yards, the TPMS came on, and the red warning light flashed on the instrument cluster, telling me that the rear tire had only 22 pounds instead of the 42 it should have.

I stopped, got off the bike, looked at and squeezed the tire, and it felt fine. I rode around the parking lot at work and the bike felt fine...but the warning light was still flashing. I stopped and got off again, and this time I saw the drywall screw in the center of the rear tire! The tire -- a low-profile radial -- looked and felt fine, but was dangerously underinflated.

I live 34 miles from work, and much of my ride home is on I-95. Absent that TPMS, I would -- at best -- have been disabled on the shoulder of a dark Interstate highway, instead of in the secure parking lot of my workplace.

Guess who's a new believer in the value of TPMS? :)
 
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Good to hear. My old school V -Star died on Saturday and I bought a FJR1300a yesterday with traction control and all the other goodies. I 'm very happy.
 
The company I worked for developed that, I worked on it, the Ford, Firestone thing years ago was why we developed it.
 
Beemerguy53 said:
I check my bike visually every time I ride, and I pay careful attention to things like tire pressures...so I thought the TPMS was basically useless for me. If a tire was low, I would spot it or feel it while riding, I figured...I don't need some sensor to tell me something is wrong.

But before I had ridden 50 yards, the TPMS came on, and the red warning light flashed on the instrument cluster, telling me that the rear tire had only 22 pounds instead of the 42 it should have.

I stopped, got off the bike, looked at and squeezed the tire, and it felt fine. I rode around the parking lot at work and the bike felt fine...but the warning light was still flashing. I stopped and got off again, and this time I saw the drywall screw in the center of the rear tire! The tire -- a low-profile radial -- looked and felt fine, but was dangerously underinflated.

I live 34 miles from work, and much of my ride home is on I-95. Absent that TPMS, I would -- at best -- have been disabled on the shoulder of a dark Interstate highway, instead of in the secure parking lot of my workplace.

Guess who's a new believer in the value of TPMS? :)
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This is certainly great news and your post further reinforces my confidence in the TPMS, although ours are in our cars. It would have been a different outcome if you had not stopped to check your Beemer before you reached the highway speeds on I-95. As aviators say "Great headwork!"

We had a somewhat similar experience last year. We were at highway speed on I-285 headed towards Austin, TX when I heard a thump. The TPMS light immediately came on and I headed for the shoulder off the interstate. The steel belts had separated in the right front tire. The dealer informed us that, had I not stopped as quickly as I did, at 70 MPH in a few more seconds I would have lost control and the car could have rolled over.

BTW - we were stranded on the side of the road for almost 90 minutes. During that entire period of time no one stopped to assist us. Fortunately it was at 9:20 a.m. Had it been 9:20 p.m. in south Atlanta (where we were), I may not be here today to write this comment. That area is in a high-crime section of Atlanta. However, I did have my trusty S&W Model 19, with hollow points!
 
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tyusclan said:
The new technology is great as long as it's working. When it quits, it's a major pain and a major expense to fix.
Glad it helped you out in this case.
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I have had it on 3 Vettes and with those run flat tires you will not notice anything if you have low pressure. I like the idea of hitting a button and getting the pressure in all four tires. If your tires get too low the display will pop up on the dash automatically and show what tire it is!.

You leave the house at 30 Lbs (right setting for cold tires) drive a few miles and see the pressure go up about 3 lbs. If by some chance your tires are overinflated that will also trip a sensor and you know what tire/s it is

That is a very sophisticated system, my Tundra and both of the Rav4s my wife has owned ONLY show a light when the pressure drops. It does not tell you what tire is low only that one is.:(
 
Never had a TPMS on a bike but I ride Harley's. I have a hate/hate relationship with them on cars/trucks. I bought a new 2008 F-350 that the dealer had put 20" wheels on. 3rd day into my ownership the TPMS warning light comes on. Brought it into the dealer - no TPMS had been installed on the new rims. It took 3 days to trigger??? On the F-350's a lot of us run 55-60 psi when we're not loaded or towing. Not anymore - the TPMS requires 80PSI. Lastly my daughter has it in her VW GTI. With low profile tires she was getting weekly warnings and it didn't tell you which tire.
 
I obtained a system last year for trailers and I move it around to whichever trailer I am using. One of our trailer is a big heavy 32 foot fifth wheel RV. I had tires come apart on it before and you never knew they were going down until it was too late. I was always checking my mirrors but had several tires fail and I never felt them going. With the monitor I feel a big worry has been lifted and I enjoy traveling more now. I should have installed a TPMS years ago.
 
NYlakesider said:
I have had it on 3 Vettes and with those run flat tires you will not notice anything if you have low pressure. I like the idea of hitting a button and getting the pressure in all four tires. If your tires get too low the display will pop up on the dash automatically and show what tire it is!.

You leave the house at 30 Lbs (right setting for cold tires) drive a few miles and see the pressure go up about 3 lbs. If by some chance your tires are overinflated that will also trip a sensor and you know what tire/s it is

That is a very sophisticated system, my Tundra and both of the Rav4s my wife has owned ONLY show a light when the pressure drops. It does not tell you what tire is low only that one is.:(
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My car is a 2013 VW Golf R, and its TPMS shows only that there is a pressure discrepancy, but not which tire has the problem. On my motorcycle, I can cycle through the actual tire pressure readings on the instrument panel display. If there is a problem, a warning light flashes and the system identifies the low tire. Very sophisticated system, and it worked perfectly last night. :)
 
bullmack said:
Never had a TPMS on a bike but I ride Harley's. I have a hate/hate relationship with them on cars/trucks. I bought a new 2008 F-350 that the dealer had put 20" wheels on. 3rd day into my ownership the TPMS warning light comes on. Brought it into the dealer - no TPMS had been installed on the new rims. It took 3 days to trigger??? On the F-350's a lot of us run 55-60 psi when we're not loaded or towing. Not anymore - the TPMS requires 80PSI. Lastly my daughter has it in her VW GTI. With low profile tires she was getting weekly warnings and it didn't tell you which tire.
Click to expand...

The TPMS in my VW Golf R is probably the same as the one in your daughter's GTI. There are no sensors in the wheels; it works by detecting the different diameter of an over- or under-inflated tire.

Was she resetting the system, as explained in the owner's manual? What you have to do is set your tire pressures to the correct level, and then open the glovebox and press the little button in the upper left corner; this resets the TPMS, and tells it that the current pressure is the correct pressure. Then, if there is a deviation from that standard, the system alerts you. Every time you check tire pressures, or add air, you should reset the system.

If she is doing that, and her tire pressures are normal, and the system is still alerting, then there is a problem with it.
 
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Beemerguy53 said:
The TPMS in my VW Golf R is probably the same as the one in your daughter's GTI. There are no sensors in the wheels; it works by detecting the different diameter of an over- or under-inflated tire.
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Are you sure about that? US spec VWs have Direct TPMS (sensors in the wheels). They still have a calibration button in the glove box, to ensure they are all reading the same however. Correction, VW has switched to ITPMS I apologize for doubting you!!! I am also wondering why our VW has the metal valve stems!

A quick check is to look at the valve stems.... if you have steel valve stems, you have DTPMS (sensors).

Indirect TPMS works off the ABS sensors, but is not nearly as accurate, and is available to the rest of the world, but not the USA.....

Our 2012 sportwagen has them, from brand new, and they freak out if the pressure is 1-2 lbs off.... i am getting SOOOOO lazy at checking the tires!

Glad to hear the good news about the cycle, flats on a 2 wheeler are no fun at all!!
 
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NYlakesider said:
That is a very sophisticated system, my Tundra and both of the Rav4s my wife has owned ONLY show a light when the pressure drops. It does not tell you what tire is low only that one is.:(
Click to expand...

Funny you mention that, I have a RAV4 also. Probably one of the few men that drive one. :D:p
The dashboard light came on about a year ago, low tire pressure. No idea which one. I checked all 4 tires on the ground multiple times, they all checked out ok.
Perplexed was I :confused: :rolleyes: :o, what could it be?
A quick visit to the RAV4 forum and bingo, spare tire. :confused::cool: I had no idea the spare tire pressure alert was displayed on the TPMS monitor.
The vettes at least have the 4 corner display and will let you know which tire is low. The Goodyear runflats on the vette always feel like they're low on pressure.
 
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Have the TPMS on our Honda CRV. Just gassed in Reno..headed out onto the interstate and the warning light comes on. Near zero traffic, I go to the shoulder and the tire is almost flat. I gingerly drive 50 more feet to a wide spot to the right and remove the tire.

NV HP drives up and after finding out I'm a retired MT HP he takes our flat to a tire shop, gets it fixed and returns it...in maybe 25 minutes!!

I've had hi speed blow outs...NOT a lot of fun.

Also nice to have saved the tire too. Didn't ruin it by driving on it as it got flat.

Yeah a PITA to get the sensors replaced when needed, etc. But I'm happy to have it in my |wife's car.
 
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My 2009 Chrysler has a rather primitive system: a light comes on when one of the tires is low. It's still a lot better than nothing; with my creaky knees it's painful to get down to check the tire pressure, and agony getting up again.
 
I've got the 2012 version of your bike with the TPMS. A dealer tried to sell me the Classic because that's the one they had, but no way no how am I getting a moto with tubes OR spokes and beyond that, you can not have the factory TPMS on the spoked wheels with tubes.

I was on a road trip with a friend, we took a week off work to do this, and outside Chico, Calif., there was a new freeway road surface being applied, but we were directed through a narrow but high speed section of this construction. Gnarley in the extreme and at one point it felt like my wheels were going to come off, like a blow-out.

I keep my display on tire pressure and ambient temp. Good thing, because as the fertilizer hit the fan, I was able to look at the display and know my tires were fully inflated and in good shape - it was the road.

So like you, the TPMS saved my bacon.
 
Snapping Twig said:
I've got the 2012 version of your bike with the TPMS. A dealer tried to sell me the Classic because that's the one they had, but no way no how am I getting a moto with tubes OR spokes and beyond that, you can not have the factory TPMS on the spoked wheels with tubes.

I was on a road trip with a friend, we took a week off work to do this, and outside Chico, Calif., there was a new freeway road surface being applied, but we were directed through a narrow but high speed section of this construction. Gnarley in the extreme and at one point it felt like my wheels were going to come off, like a blow-out.

I keep my display on tire pressure and ambient temp. Good thing, because as the fertilizer hit the fan, I was able to look at the display and know my tires were fully inflated and in good shape - it was the road.

So like you, the TPMS saved my bacon.
Click to expand...

You make a very good point here. I actually went through a little bit of buyer's remorse with my bike, wondering whether I should actually have gotten the Classic instead. I love the look of that bike, especially with the wire wheels, but I don't want to think about what would have happened if I had ridden off that parking lot and gotten on a major Interstate highway with a tire that was only 50% inflated and losing air.

Great idea about letting the tire pressure be the default reading on the display...think I'll be doing that myself from now on! :)
 
Snapping Twig said:
I've got the 2012 version of your bike with the TPMS. A dealer tried to sell me the Classic because that's the one they had, but no way no how am I getting a moto with tubes OR spokes and beyond that, you can not have the factory TPMS on the spoked wheels with tubes.

I was on a road trip with a friend, we took a week off work to do this, and outside Chico, Calif., there was a new freeway road surface being applied, but we were directed through a narrow but high speed section of this construction. Gnarley in the extreme and at one point it felt like my wheels were going to come off, like a blow-out.

I keep my display on tire pressure and ambient temp. Good thing, because as the fertilizer hit the fan, I was able to look at the display and know my tires were fully inflated and in good shape - it was the road.

So like you, the TPMS saved my bacon.
Click to expand...

Are you sure the spoked wheels on that bike require tubes? I ask because for years BMW has tubeless spoked wheels on the GSs (dunno if they still do, because I stopped keeping up with every new development a few years ago).

In any case, tubes are nothing to fear. Of course, in the usual case it is much simpler and quicker to plug a tubeless tire in place than to dismount the tire to repair or replace a tube. But if for some reason the tire has to come off the rim, or works its way off before you can get the bike stopped, it is going to be a lot harder to break the bead or re-seat it if the rim has the bead retention shoulder that is typical with tubeless tires. I won't say it is fun, but I have fixed a lot of tubes alongside the road or trail, and it gets easier with practice and the right tools.
 
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