‘Someone hacked the ECU open and cut all the wiring for the ABS’
Doble Motorcycles’ Scott Bullett reveals the worst bodge he’s ever seen
The thing about anti-lock braking is you’re not aware of it for thousands of miles until you spot that patch of diesel glistening ahead as the traffic lights go to amber. Then you are glad you can grab a handful without thinking about it. BMW pioneered ABS 25 years ago and it’s been a fixture across their range since. But when a 2006 BMW R1200GS came in as a part-exchange to Doble Motorcycles, the first sign of anything being amiss was when a technician noticed there was tape over the ABS warning light. He showed it to workshop manager, Scott Bullett, and when they peeled it back all the warning lights were flashing.
“A diagnostics check came back as ‘pump failure’ and when we got into it I found someone had bypassed the pump with a loop of brake line, then removed the pump and binned it,” said Scott. “So all the ABS wiring was hanging loose in the loom.”
“If they had sealed off the redundant wiring at the pump end and taped over the warning lights the bike would have been safe to ride as long as you knew the ABS wasn’t functioning. “Instead, someone then hacked the ECU open and cut all the wiring for the ABS circuits at that end before gaffa-taping the ECU back up and wedging it back.
“It could have easily got wet and fried the whole lot. They just took the lid off and got stuck in. So now we need a new ECU for between £280-£400 and a new pump, which costs over a grand, but we have a customer who is happy to buy it as a non-ABS bike.”
“If the previous owner had mentioned it when he partºexchanged it, we could have cancelled the sale. But the salesman said the guy mentioned it was disconnected so he assumed it had been done properly. Always ask that question and take a good look at how it’s been done before you make an offer,” warns Scott.º
‘It could have easily got wet and fried the lot’ NEXT WEEK ‘YOU DID WHAT WITH THE BRAKE PADS? REALLY?’