A frequently heard complaint is that these footrest rubbers are softer than the rubbers that were supplied on the motorcycles at the time and are therefore of poorer quality. The footrest rubbers are indeed softer.

However, this is not a quality problem but a changed BMW specification: the rubber initially had a Shore A hardness of +- 80, but this was later reduced to +- 60.

The reason for BMW to make the footrest rubbers softer is from a safety point of view: a softer rubber provides more grip and therefore less risk of a foot slipping off the footrest.