service manual options

[Grumpy Goat]

My initial thought was this was the result of some legal action from some folks who'd messed up a big job and took out their frustration on the folks who provided them with the DVD..., but then, the less specific Haynes Manual has probably led more folks down the rabbit hole than the BMW manual.

Quite likely the case, or just a smart decision by BMW Motorrad who probably realize that they can do that and still not make any dent on their sales directly attributable to that decision. The bikes will either sell based on other reasons or they will not, and the lack of a service DVD will make an insignificant impact on sales.

BMW will spin it as "ultimate driving machine with all the latest in safety, electronics and technology should get the best technical expertise working on it and that is at a dealership with factory trained technicians and diagnostic equipment ..." Those buzz words cannot be denied by any of us, so we'll have to accept the spin even if some of us grumble. Would any of us swear off BMWs because of the lack of BMW service manuals?

Also, BMW Corporate they are also well known for putting big pressure on dealerships to set up their showrooms a certain way and make the necessary infrastructure investments to be "worthy" to carry the marque. So, if the dealerships get more service business because of this decision on the Service Manuals, then both the dealership and BMW Corporate win. Despite that, the sales of the bikes will still continue ...

As for the Haynes Manuals ... I think that no one who may had had a failure due to misinterpretation of the steps in a Haynes Manual would go to BMW complaining that said manual led them wrong and they expect BMW to fix it on their dime. I have Haynes manuals for all my bikes and AAMOF have a BMW DVD Shop Manual for my RS. Guess which one I have never opened yet? The Haynes manual is good for many things, but the DIY owner should be aware of their limitations and know when to bring the bike in for the real technician to do their job rather than risk creating a SNAFU that will send good money after bad.

Hard to believe BMW would want to pass up the profits from sales of all those over-priced DVDs and related specialty tools.

I figure it this way ... for each bike sold there may / may not be a DVD sold for $125. If they lose these $125 sales, they probably make that money back in jig time maybe within the profit from one service, and we know the bike will be in the dealership for more than one service no matter how handy an owner is.

And then there's the R18 - isn't part of the American Cruiser culture to spend more time on maintenance and cleaning than riding? Not sure how well the lack of a service manual will go over.

Cleaning, polishing and posing yes, working on the mechanics of the bike .... hardly. One of the groups I ride with has people on Harleys - all marine engineers - and with the exception of one, they all go to the dealership for all service work. The one that does not automatically go there is (a) cheap as heck (but owns 6 bikes), and (b) has basic knowledge that means he can do all the basics and he does. But all the bikes in the rider group are always typically clean and shiny.

Of course, this has been a trend with car makers for years. GM and Toyota come to mind. And just for fun, I checked to see if I could order a service manual for a BMW 530e.... I can get tire valve caps, and I can download an owner's manual, but there's no service manual.

I agree with you on this being a trend in recent years throughout the automotive industry, and will be more acute in the premium market where there is more disposable income and less time to be willingly "wasted" on working on the mechanics of the machine "when there is an expert who can do it right the first time, even if I have to pay ..."

Added to that is the fact that as our generation dies off the owners of any vehicle (car or bike) would be ignorant of everything on the vehicle other than the infotainment system, and would be inclined to bring it to someone else to get anything fixed. A manual may as well be written in Chinese so there is no need. My daughter drove that point home a couple of weeks ago when she had a problem with the battery on her car needing to be charged and I suggested that she could borrow my charger and take it to her place and have her boyfriend do the needful. She said that I might as well explain that to her as he basically had no clue about cars or anything mechanical. I don't know him very well but from what I do know she is probably absolutely right.

Sorry for such a long post. Yes, I wished that they continued selling the DVDs for those of us who want / use them, but I can totally understand what their rationale for might be for stopping these sales. After all, the bigger problem is not the shrinking DVD market but the shrinking motorcycling market in the first place.