RE: Keyless ride: yes/no? good/bad? - 2

I too have the keyless option.

I bought the bike second-hand (only just, as it was a demonstrator with a few hundred miles on it) and it just came with this option. I probably would have chosen not to have it if I had bought the bike new, as I have had no previous experience of keyless ignition. However, having adopted this by accident, I rather like it. For me, it pays off at petrol stations, shopping etc. when you just press the ignition thing, press again for the steering lock and walk away. No key to drop, leave on the counter etc.. I once unknowingly dropped the key for my Triumph down the side of the fairing at a petrol station. It took me half an hour to find it with a borrowed torch. With the BMW, the key rarely comes out of my pocket. I have a key for my Givi panniers on the same key fob as the electronic BMW key but I also have a separate one that I use almost all the time so that, again, the BMW key stays safely zipped in my pocket.

I am ludicrously absent-minded (always have been) and I think it probably helps with this. For someone with a more organised set of brain cells than the ones that I have, this may all be of less importance. If you start the bike and then go back inside the house to get something that you have forgotten (a frequent occurrence with me), leave the key on the kitchen table (yes I have) and return to the bike, there is a red warning light on the dash to tell you that you do not have the key with you, so there is a sort of fail-safe for people like me. Mind you, a physical key would do exactly the same thing I suppose! I do always have the plastic key zipped up in my trouser pocket as an insurance policy though. I keep meaning to buy a spare key. I will order one today. If I remember. Perhaps.

Thanks very much for all the interesting and informative posts - am still not sure whether it's for me or not, but at least I understand what it's about now!

Just so I'm clear... if you buy a (new) keyless bike, am I right that it comes with a fob and a dumb metal key to access under the seat (and presumably any luggage); and then there's a plastic key which contains electronic stuff? What exactly does that do - let you start the bike if you've lost the fob or the battery is flat? And if it's apparently too puny to act as a actual 'key', why is it supplied in the form of a key, as opposed to just providing a spare fob?

That is pretty much correct.

The metal key has a transmitter as an integral part of it- just like the central locking transmitter on most car keys. The plastic key would not be strong enough to open the seat lock, or at least I don't think so. I would not try it anyway. It is a fail-safe and will operate ignition etc. in the absence of the metal key and its transmitter if pushed between the front and rear seat and therefore close to the receiver under the seat. So BMW say anyway- I have not tried it. I imagine that the plastic key is like the real metal one is so that a metal key can be made from it, using it as the pattern.

The metal key flips out of the fob and can then be used to open the seat. I think the BMW panniers/top box can be bought with the same physical key lock, so that one key will open everything but someone else here will know that. The electronic key works within a set distance (about a metre I think) and allows access to ignition and steering lock by just pushing the 'ignition' button on the steering head. It also allows you to open the petrol-tank lock without a physical key. If the key is not close enough to the bike, nothing will operate. Unless of course you are a low-life with a piece of fancy electronic scanning equipment! That could be a worry but otherwise, it is very convenient - for me at least.

Freddyfruitbat

By the way, I forgot to say, sorry to hear of your accident and I hope that the collar-bone heals soon. Best wishes.

My last bike was keyless. And it was the keyless system (or more to the point the microswitch that activated it) that decided to fail when I was 2500 miles away from home, and a very *very* long way from any main Kawasaki dealer.

The ridiculous thing with the GTR/Concours was that the "keyless" ignition system still had a key underneath; it was a big rotary dial you depressed to initiate the keyless ignition, and if it detected the keyfob nearby then you could turn it to the "ON" position and start the bike. There was another dial position that let you remove the whole rotary dial to use the attached key for the fuel-cap, seat release, and panniers.

Keyless? Never again. It solves a problem that never really existed.

Cheers

Paul B.

Thanks DJBee, all clear now! That makes perfect sense.

Thanks also for the good wishes. Healing slowly but surely - unfortunately the docs decided the collarbone hadn't healed right, so exactly one month to the day after the 'off' I was having surgery to attach a metal plate to it - ie, my recovery was back to square one. On the plus side, my insurers have just agreed a very nice figure for the bike's value (significantly more than I paid for it!) so at least that will help versus the massive hike in insurance premiums which I'm about to receive...

Zitat von Bonzo im Beitrag #12

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Zitat von Jetpilot5 im Beitrag #10

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Also read of a rider with keyless that left a gas stop at night with the fob sitting on his tank bag rather than in his pocket. He felt the fob slide off the tank bag and bounce off his leg as he accelerated up to interstate speed. No chance of finding the key along a dark interstate and no spare key with him. Ruined a trip.

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Maybe he took the fob out of his pocket so that he could place it on his tank bag?

Yes, keyless could prove problematic to the stupid.

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Zitat von Jetpilot5 im Beitrag #22

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[quote=Bonzo|p5942][quote=Jetpilot5|p5938]He felt the fob slide off the tank bag and bounce off his leg as he accelerated up to interstate speed.

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Zitat von Freddyfruitbat im Beitrag #23

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Zitat von Jetpilot5 im Beitrag #22

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[quote=Bonzo|p5942][quote=Jetpilot5|p5938]He felt the fob slide off the tank bag and bounce off his leg as he accelerated up to interstate speed.

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What would have happened next, would the engine cut out or would it have stayed running until next time it was manually cut?

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Zitat von Freddyfruitbat im Beitrag #17

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Just so I'm clear... if you buy a (new) keyless bike, am I right that it comes with a fob and a dumb metal key to access under the seat (and presumably any luggage); and then there's a plastic key which contains electronic stuff?

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Good plan that Lee

Yup. I have 2 fobs and a chipped metal key. One of the fobs with a reversed/taped battery goes into the panniers. Chipped key goes into the jacket, fob1 goes into the pants pocket. If you ever see me riding nude, then give me a round of applause, but don't ask where I've hidden fob2.

I got mine from the dealer when I purchased the bike. I think it was US$20.

Zitat von Holger im Beitrag #28

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Zitat von bill the cat im Beitrag #27

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chipped metal key

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Where do you get such a key?

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