The beauty and the beast...

A while ago, sitting in front of me in the train there was this beautiful young woman, dark skin, big light brown ayes, curly natural black air cascading down both sides of a perfect oval face, mouth begging for a kiss, perfect nose, in short, the sort of woman you promises to build her a marble palace with your bare hands and to stay with her there forever. But then the magic was gone. She sat there looking out of the window away from us, simply mortals when suddenly, in quick sequence she farted THREE times, opened the purse for her handkerchief and proceeded to poke inside that perfect nose for five minutes, carefully inspecting every bit who came out. Sorry, lady. No palace for you. The awe and the love were replaced by disappointment and disgust.
What this has to do with motorcycles and with a GS, you wonder?
Well, although Geronimo, my R1100GS will never be considered for a beauty contest, I do love the shape, the Hi-tech look, the advanced design that make it different from any other bike in the world. For me, is perfection. From the superb handling, adequate brakes, comfort, etc.
We live together, commuting every day from Surrey into London and we spend the week-ends together as well as it is my only mean of transport. However, here the magic is gone. Like the girl in the train, what you think is perfect, is in fact far from it.
I’ve ridden in forty years, many different bikes, from perfect Japanese to some hideous contraptions, from Hayabushas and the like to Urals, Jawas, Enfield Bullets, you name it. But the gear box on my GS beat all of them by being one of the worst I’ve ever experienced. Clunky, noisy, full of false neutrals, horrible. The false neutrals I brought, more or less under control by adjusting the linking rod on the lever, but the clunk every time I change up or down, (pedestrian run for cover fearing a terrorist attack) the grinding noise while actually engaging gear (by now half the cogs must be gone) is driving me mad. I tried every trick I could think from changing to different oil, playing with clutch pull, different RPM setting, everything. No luck.
More maddening is the answer I get from the “experts” at different dealers: “They are all the same”. Although I’ve ridden other GS’s, and true, they are far from perfect, mine seems by far the worst. Before I commit the ultimate sin and move to a Japanese or maybe Chinese model, maybe somebody can suggest something?

Try leaving her in third!

Yosi, try changing gears from 1st to 2nd at about 2,500 rpm. Do it a few times and don't be in a hurry.

If you eventually succeed at a noisless change then keep on changing gears at about 3,000 rpm until you get to 5th gear then just ride on.

The idea is that you have to learn to walk before you learn to run. I've found that if one changes gears at a very low engine speed on a different BMW then and only then can I understand the relationship betwen the hand, foot and brain.

It takes a few days to master then once you have mastered the noisless technique, up the revs a bit at a time until you are able to match engine revs, clutch and gear lever movements at a higher speed.

On jap bikes,the input shaft of the gearbox is running at half engine speed, but the BMW gearbox input shaft is running at engine speed. This is what I believe is the main reason for noisy gear changes.

Most bike riders are brought up with silky multiplate wet clutches with their built in slippage factor and this coupled with a gearbox rotating at half engine speed makes for an easy gearchange scenario.

They then change to the BMW setup which is a dry clutch with virtually no slip factor and a gearbox that is running at engine speed and requires the rider to be extremely Teutonic in their actions!

Give it time and treat it like a baby and eventually it will come around as your brain and body adjust to the way it is. Trust me, I've had 14 BMW's and more or less they are all they same.

I myself do almost noiseless changes and only occassionaly do I make a grating sound. Usually that's when I'm coming down to 1st from second and travelling slowely. If I'm really hanging it in there I now make absolutely noiseless changes about 95% of the time. This I must admit took about 5,000Klm's before it started to happen, but the gearbox also had to run in as well.

Mick.

Thanks

Thanks, Mick: I'll try that. You have come with the best answer so far. So you win the free pint next time we meet.
Now, 2500, 2500, 2500...remember 2500.

I've had an 1150 GS now for around 4 months. I've done almost 5,000 miles since then (all in the UK). I came from a TDM, which are renowned for clunky gearboxes. I really hated the gearbox in the GS when I got it. It had done 7,000 miles when I bought it from another Club member. Now it's done almost 12K, I am amazed at how much smoother the changes are (mechancally I mean.....nothing to do with the way I have improved my actual gear change). It's still terrible in comparison to the Jap bikes I've owned over the past 20 years (especially the Suzuki's), but it's much better.

Apart from the noise, I was also having real problems getting a smooth change at all. Especially in the lower gears, most of the time there would always be a lurch between gears. It took me a couple of months to get that right. For me, it meant much more movement in the throttle before engaging the next gear. So, say 2nd to 3rd, I have to give it much more throttle than any other bike I have ever owned, in order to getthe revs up. The result is much smoother and it's got better now. When I get on my old classic Z-650 now, at first, I am revving the emgne too high as the clutch comes out! But it works on the GS, and it's passable. It's amusing really, as smooth gear changes on all of my other bikes were taken for granted. With the GS, I suddenly find myself getting a calm satisfaction out of gear changes, knowing how hard it is to make the whole thing smooth! It's actually become one of the things I enjoy about riding, as it's become another thing that requires more skill.

One final thing....and it's been said a thousand times before...on the odd occasion I nip to the shops without the ear plugs in....it sounds absolutely awful! Smooth changes or not....to anyone with any mechancal sympathy...it makes my stomach churn. So now I ride wih earplugs in almost 100% of the time...which is much better for me. You see....another GS benefit!

Bottom line though, is that like you, I love the bike, and I mean REALLY love it. Like a good wife, we all have to put up with the bits we don't like and focus on the whole woman! Unconditional love and all that. She's worth it!

Regs,

Richard