Clacks , Crunches, or cant get Neutral

Mine was very bad with the engine warm sit it on the centre stand select 1st let clutch out than select 2nd and with the clutch still in the wheel would not stop spinning and you could not stop it by hand or boot. However off the stand on its own weight it was ok until you blipped the throttle with clutch in and than you felt the bike try to move and i was experiencing this coming down the box where i pulled clutch in cogged down a gear and blipped throttle and got drag.
Never had a problem finding neutral but the brand new demo i have now, does have a problem with neutral .
 
I'm picking mine up tomorrow afternoon with a bit of luck, it was only built last week, I'll let you know how it is........ but I may be a while test riding you understand :D

I picked up my bike this afternoon and took the long way home :D

I can report that my gearbox and clutch are absolutely flawless, slick and positive changes and finds neutral easily...took me 110 miles to get home when the dealer is only 38 miles away :nenau Bigger test tomorrow as heading over Deeside into the Angus glens for a day out.
My first impressions of this bike are super positive, was laughing out loud in my helmet on the back roads..... this bike is a bit special :thumb
Some of the very early impressions that I got are that it doesn't need to work the gears much, pulls like a train in 6th from almost anywhere in the rev range. Engine breaking is superb, roll off the throttle and immediate breaking (handy at the speed cameras and plod behind you :D, strangely there is none of the reactive boxer torque when you blip when stationary so engine is very balanced. There are no vibes through the bars or pegs (only a nice gentle vibe coming up through your balls in the seat, quite pleasant really) :D

The throttle response is absolutely brilliant, this bike is very fast out of the corners and very solid and planted at the same time. I think Giles said it almost feels like a supermoto and I would agree...it can be as mental as you want it to be. Roll on tomorrow :cool: Oh by the way, I found the bikes preferred speed today, its 92 mph, it just loves it!! (all bikes have a favourite speed in my opinion)
 
clutch issue

Dealer told me new parts in production apparently when clutch gets hot it expands and moves away from push rod running throught engine from slave cylinder. This makes push rod in effect too short, therefor clutch does not fully disengage.:Motomartin

Time will tell I suppose.
 
Dealer told me new parts in production apparently when clutch gets hot it expands and moves away from push rod running throught engine from slave cylinder. This makes push rod in effect too short, therefor clutch does not fully disengage.:Motomartin

Time will tell I suppose.

Really??
 
Dealer told me new parts in production apparently when clutch gets hot it expands and moves away from push rod running throught engine from slave cylinder. This makes push rod in effect too short, therefor clutch does not fully disengage.:Motomartin

Time will tell I suppose.

This must be the world's longest clutch pushrod
 
Dealer told me new parts in production apparently when clutch gets hot it expands and moves away from push rod running throught engine from slave cylinder. This makes push rod in effect too short, therefor clutch does not fully disengage.:Motomartin

Time will tell I suppose.

This must be the world's longest clutch pushrod

And made from a super expanding material!!!
 
Don't shoot me im only the messenger, anyway I dont give a f........ as long as they sort it!!!!!!!:Motomartin

I know, sorry......bit of a daft thing for the dealer to say. He must have meant something else as I can't believe that's quite right..
 
Surely the clutch, pushrod, engine and gearbox all heat up/cool down (and therefore expand/contract) by a similar amount?

Clutch drag (with a wet clutch) is usually down to some combination of incorrect adjustment, oil too thick or warped plates. Plus, on a well-used machine, "wear notches" in the clutch basket.
 
Surely the clutch, pushrod, engine and gearbox all heat up/cool down (and therefore expand/contract) by a similar amount?

Clutch drag (with a wet clutch) is usually down to some combination of incorrect adjustment, oil too thick or warped plates. Plus, on a well-used machine, "wear notches" in the clutch basket.

My Francis Barnet has a little bolt and lock nut to adjust the clutch center and get a sweet clutch action but i suppose its not fair to compare the GS gearchange with a 1962 British 2 stroke.
 
Surely the clutch, pushrod, engine and gearbox all heat up/cool down (and therefore expand/contract) by a similar amount?

Considering that the engine cases, which separate the clutch slave cylinder from the clutch, are an aluminium alloy and the push rod is more than likely a hardened steel rod, the engine cases will expand approx double that of the push rod for the same temp. rise. E.g if the distance from the slave cylinder to the clutch is say 10" then for every 100deg C rise in temp the engine cases will expand approx .009" more than the push rod.
I have no way of knowing the actual temp rise for the engine case and push rod when hot but even if you say the temp rise is 200 deg C, the difference is still not large at .018". But maybe this is crucial?
As a comparison, my Ducati clutch total separation is approx .08" and is perfect but has no oil to cause drag so, as .018" is 25% of the Ducati's total movement maybe it's more crucial than it seems but I would expect oil clutches to have to separate more than dry clutches to reduce oil stiction between the plates so it's not a good comparison.
If this is the case then a slightly smaller dia slave cylinder will stroke the clutch further for any given clutch lever movement and cope with this relatively small expansion differential. At the expense of a slightly heavier clutch lever pull of course.
As I mentioned before the BMW Tech at Garmisch said there was too much oil getting on the plates causing stiction drag so a greater separating movement would help this also (maybe).
 
"Too much oil getting on the plates"??

Surely this is a *wet* clutch - i.e. it operates in a bath of oil?
 
If some bikes are good and some are bad BMW must be able to sort this:nenau Lets hope it's quickly for all those affected, shame for a few issues to spoil a great bike:thumb2
 
If some bikes are good and some are bad BMW must be able to sort this:nenau Lets hope it's quickly for all those affected, shame for a few issues to spoil a great bike:thumb2

Agreed. Mine and all the recent ones are absolutely fine, so if there was a problem they know how to sort it :nenau
 
I think the dealers will stick to "they all do that" unless the owners put pressure on them. They are in a difficult position caught in the middle, they can only work on the problem if there is a recall or a bulletin from the manufacturer in any case it will be a slow drawn out process. If they can sit on their hands for a couple of months then most of the bikes will be tucked away in a garage until summer again.
 
Another 400 miles on mine this weekend, and 8 out of 10 times it old go straight into neutral. No gear issues, but had the occasional "clack". If this thread wasn't here, I wouldn't have given it a second thought.
 
Update on the new push rod

My bike was one of the first to have the new push rod fitted in the UK.

Unfortunately I have not been able to put the miles on as I would have hoped, and have only covered just over 100 to 150 miles since it was fitted.

On picking up the bike, after the push rod was fitted, there was a marginal improvement but still leaving me unhappy. However as the miles go on the clutch is getting much better. If the bike had been in the condition when new as it is now I would not have complained. There still is a slight crunch when going into first, but 50% of the time it is perfect, no clutch drag at all, that is not waiting after the clutch is pulled in. First to second does show a slight clutch drag but much less than before.

Overall I would have to say that this mod is a success, and if it continues to improve I will get happier and happier.

It was a shame that the initial joy of the new bike was marred by this, but it is now fast receding. I have NO thoughts of moving away from the new GS.

SMB
 


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