Five years and two days ago, I sat on my first ever motorcycle, an old Kawasaki Eliminator cruiser, and began my motorcycle journey.  This weekend I was looking forward to an anniversary ride on Sunday since Saturday dawned gray and misty.  Instead, in doing a seemingly good deed, I broke the R Nine T.

            If you own a motorcycle, I recommend searching for hidden problems with the bike.  On the BMW R Nine T the hidden problem is known as the disappearing rear brake.  A full depression of the rear brake pedal and nothing happens, no caliper engagement.  And why?  That was perhaps the greatest mystery.  The motorcycle has less than 3,000 miles on it, is kept in a garage, and isn’t ridden very hard.  Yet on this gorgeous sunny, breezy Sunday, my motorcycle mysteriously broke.

            The disappeared rear brake was discovered while Bill was bringing the bikes down the driveway.  The Triumph waited patiently by the curb for my BMW to ride.  The little garage cabbage white admired the Rocket from across the street.  But my bike never made it to the curb.  We tried adding brake fluid, but it was a no go, so no ride.  And after the week I had at work, I really needed a relaxing ride full of butterflies (I’d spotted a bunch on the drive over).

            Instead, we returned both bikes to the garage, packed up the gear, and headed home to do some research.  That’s where we learned about the disappearing rear brake.  What was really annoying was one of the potential causes of the disappearance was getting the ABS mechanism wet.  Guess what we did on that dreary Saturday?  Right, we washed and waxed the motorcycles.  One would think the dealership would warn new owners that washing their motorcycle might damage one of the most important features of the motorcycle, but no.

            Now the problem could be air in the brake line, so we’ll try bleeding the line first before trying to set up service.  I really am screwed if the R Nine T does need service; the dealer’s service center doesn’t have any appointments open until September! 

            So I end this blog post with a cliffhanger—will the R Nine T rear brake get fixed?  Will it need service months away?  Will I get to ride next weekend?  Will there be a sixth anniversary? Stay tuned!