It’s been a bit quiet here this past couple of days. I’ve been a bit distracted. On Wednesday I planned to nip to the local town as I needed to collect some medication from the pharmacy. The bike wouldn’t start. Well, to be more precise, I couldn’t switch off the alarm, so it was immobilised.
I tried using the alternative key fob, just in case the battery was flat in the one I was using. Nope, that didn’t work. When Mrs L came back from her errand, we swapped out the batteries in her key fob. Still no joy.
A bit of Googling told me that this type of alarm, the Meta 357T is prone to failure at anything from five to eight years old. This one is eight years old… Meta’s website was about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
I checked the wiring as best I could, but this thing is attached to the bike’s loom like a keeper to the nerve system of its host. I tried calling the dealer who fitted it, but the number was constantly engaged. As I have to return to the UK on Saturday, I called my insurance breakdown company in the hope that they could get the bike to a dealer and have them remove it.
There is no equivalent of the RAC or AA in France. One’s motor insurance covers basic recovery. In this instance up to a value of €200. The closest recovery firm did not have the facility to carry bikes. The next one they tried would, but coming out to me and taking the bike to Montpellier would cost €400 and I would have to pick up the difference. Frankly, €400 for taking the bike to the dealer – even though it is about 60km – is outrageous and I was unwilling to pay that.
I tried the UK dealer again and finally got through. I described the fault and, yes, it did look like the unit has failed. However, it is fairy easily bypassed and he explained how. Although the unit is wired into the main loom, if you remove the connection to the starter solenoid and the fuel pump, remaking the original connections, the alarm is no longer effective. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. Certainly I’m back on the road and it didn’t cost me a penny, which is good, but it does seem rather simple to disable. Okay, so I had to remove the fairing, but once that was done, it was a couple of minutes with a soldering iron. I was expecting something much more complicated.
Once the bike is back in the UK and I take it in for a service, I’ll ask them to take the damned thing out and leave it out. I very much doubt I’ll want to put an alarm on a bike again as this is the second occasion where an alarm has left one of my bikes disabled. The last time, I had fitted it so could easily remove it. BMWs seem to be a low theft risk and the inconvenience when the alarm fails is more trouble than it is worth. At least a big lock can be taken off when you want to ride the bike.
Will your insurance be affected?
yeh – have it properly killed… they’re nasty things that almost never deter experienced bike thiefs (think 3 or 4 men throwing it into the back of a van)…
a good chain is always the way to go.
in the uk the surgery should cost about £30 from a reasonable bike shop.
Don’t you just hate it when that sort of thing happens? Hasn’t happened on my bike yet.
I can’t see the point in aftermarket alarms. They seem to do very little to stop bikes being nicked and only cause hassle like this.
Of course BMW’s are low risk – what self-respecting thief would nick something that boring.
And as for the wrinklies that ride them……….
Yes, my insurance premium will be affected, but not by very much.
Harry, there’s no such thing as a self-respecting thief, just as there’s no such thing as a boring bike 😉
“Medication”? “pharmacy”? Why the Euro-speak?
It’s not Euro-speak. Both words are perfectly normal English words that mean what I wanted to say. And, in France, a seller of medicines is a pharmacy.
I used to work with older BMW’s with Mobitec in the U.K, if you can give me some details I might be able to give you some instructions to remove the alarm completely, over in the Dordogne not too many owners bother with an alarm on an older bike as bike theft is rare, however I do live in a very rural area and in the towns people do use locks, especially on scooters.
OOOOPs you have already, sorry just got back from the U.K on the bike and did’nt read the whole paragraph.