BMW ESA failures

bigpoppa

bigpoppa

Well-known member
Anyone know what happens if the BMW ESA fails(apart from a large bill to replace it?)
I have heard from people that the forks revert back to functioning like regular static forks

That true?

And are they still safe to ride on?
 
bigpoppa said:
Anyone know what happens if the BMW ESA fails(apart from a large bill to replace it?)
I have heard from people that the forks revert back to functioning like regular static forks

That true?

And are they still safe to ride on?
Click to expand...
no idea, i have service coming up, i can ask.
 
Reading online that some people replace ESA with non ESA whenever failure occurs, that seems...tricky
 
bigpoppa said:
Anyone know what happens if the BMW ESA fails(apart from a large bill to replace it?)
I have heard from people that the forks revert back to functioning like regular static forks

That true?

And are they still safe to ride on?
Click to expand...

ESA is more than just forks, it's suspension adjustment for front and rear.

There are different versions of ESA, the newer versions perform all kinds of functions like automatic pre-load, self-levelling, automatically changing damping on the fly to suit road conditions.

I don't know what happens when ESA fails, but depending on the version, at the minimum you will probably lose the ability to set pre-load and damping, which are pretty important features. Earlier versions of ESA don't have self-levelling, so you select the preload based on presets like solo rider, solo rider + luggage, pillion, pillion + luggage. Solo rider preload is set for an average rider's weight (175 lbs I think), if you weigh more, you'd select the other presets depending on your own weight.

What is failing on the ESA? The ability to change presets for preload? Is it stuck on "solo rider" and "comfort" mode? Because that would suck if you weigh 225 lbs and like to ride aggressively on twisty roads with smooth pavement. Or did you lose the ability for the shocks to provide damping and rebound completely? Seems like these things are pretty essential for normal operation and you should factor in the cost of either fixing ESA or replacing it with manually adjustable shocks.
 
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