shortywilliam
Registered user
Yeh good point
Clacks , Crunches, or cant get Neutral
- Thread starter needlongerlegs
- Start date
Yeh good point
Exactly, Sunday last I got off the 1200GS WC thinking nice engine but I couldn't live with that shite gearbox. I then got onto a F800GT and took that for a spin. Brilliant. BMW should throw in the towel and get Rotax to design(?) and build their gearboxes.
andylel
Registered user
Had a call from my dealer today to say my bikes ready having had the new pushrod fitted. Apparently I must ride it 'spiritedly' and not expect improvements for quite a few miles. Smells funny to me but I'll post back my experiences.
If you are one of the unlucky owners with a shit gearchange, here is the reason why...
"The separation behaviour of a wet clutch type of construction is affected by the supply of oil to the clutch plates. In addition to the use of the approved type of oil and the correct oil level, the intensity of lubrication of the clutch plates is crucial. The amount of oil is essentially determined by the cross section of the oil passages in the clutch pressure plate. Due to the present manufacturing process of the clutch and the tolerance range of the pressure piece, lubrication of the clutch plates and therefore the separation behaviour may vary within a certain range."
Quoted from an article in BMW Motorcycle Magazine Fall 2013 page 18 - interview with Jens Staebe.
"The separation behaviour of a wet clutch type of construction is affected by the supply of oil to the clutch plates. In addition to the use of the approved type of oil and the correct oil level, the intensity of lubrication of the clutch plates is crucial. The amount of oil is essentially determined by the cross section of the oil passages in the clutch pressure plate. Due to the present manufacturing process of the clutch and the tolerance range of the pressure piece, lubrication of the clutch plates and therefore the separation behaviour may vary within a certain range."
Quoted from an article in BMW Motorcycle Magazine Fall 2013 page 18 - interview with Jens Staebe.
So, is the problem too much oil flow or too little?
Should have just stayed with a dry clutch.
Should have just stayed with a dry clutch.
If your LC currently suffers from poor gear changes do something proactive and lower engine oil level to half way up site glass (when hot after 5 mins stopped on centre stand) and remove clutch master cylinder cover and make sure the fluid level is not over full.
As I've said before my bikes gear change was good before 1st service and poor after I am now convinced this was due to too much oil in the engine, this combined with the clutch fluid being too full and causing the hydraulics to baulk
Mileage to date 4500
I've been out tonight and tried super fast changes accelerating hard as if in race mode surprisingly these were perhaps the best changes. The worst being1st 2nd 3rd holding revs at say 7,000 then changing up I think you would expect this and I only did this in the interests of research
If I up shift in my normal riding mode which is moderate revs smooth but fast progress the gear change is near perfect
finding neutral is not a problem.
I also adjusted the clutch blade position to closest to the bar which I would have thought would open clutch plates the least but this had no negative effect apart from trapping my little pinkies between bar n blade.
Don't take my word for it make the fluid adjustments try it yourself and report back
None of the above changed clunk and lurch when going into 1st but if the engine would tick over at a slightly lower RPM this may improve this very unpleasant and annoying feature.
As I've said before my bikes gear change was good before 1st service and poor after I am now convinced this was due to too much oil in the engine, this combined with the clutch fluid being too full and causing the hydraulics to baulk
Mileage to date 4500
I've been out tonight and tried super fast changes accelerating hard as if in race mode surprisingly these were perhaps the best changes. The worst being1st 2nd 3rd holding revs at say 7,000 then changing up I think you would expect this and I only did this in the interests of research
If I up shift in my normal riding mode which is moderate revs smooth but fast progress the gear change is near perfect
finding neutral is not a problem. I also adjusted the clutch blade position to closest to the bar which I would have thought would open clutch plates the least but this had no negative effect apart from trapping my little pinkies between bar n blade.
Don't take my word for it make the fluid adjustments try it yourself and report back
None of the above changed clunk and lurch when going into 1st but if the engine would tick over at a slightly lower RPM this may improve this very unpleasant and annoying feature.
This probably doesn’t help and personally I hate forum posts that states “well I’ve got one and mine is fin” – But….. I recently spent 4 days onboard a 12 WC hire bike for a trip to the Alps. We did 1500KM of tough riding including a lot of gear changes. I’d read about the gearbox issues on here before I set off so was expecting issues. Didn’t have any problems whatsoever with the gearbox despite a thorough testing - although neutral was a little hard to find on occasion. Only issue that I found was a strange grating noise/vibration that felt like it was coming from the shaft. Didn’t worry too much as it wasn’t my bike and reading up on here confirms that this is ‘normal’. Very early 1200 WC with just under 10K miles when I collected it and always run at half oil – it didn’t use any at all. Cracking bike.
Bike at BMW being fitted with a new pushrod and slave cylinder , also they will lower the engine oil level to the red circle . With the clutch cover off it seems that excess oil sits at the bottom of the clutch housing , whether this makes any difference , not sure , but worth the quote.
Lets hope this works as off to Spain on Tuesday !!!!!
Lets hope this works as off to Spain on Tuesday !!!!!
Hey Sticky Boy, ask them to check clutch master cylinder fluid level
Report back how she rides baby
Which dealer is working on your bike ?
Hope it's successful for you and you have a good trip!
Mine won't be done as we are off to the Black Forest in the morning. I am sure mines been worseIt since the 1st service although it has only been used once since.
Fingers crossed for us all this works
Like they never went wrong and were so easy to change
My clutch has done over 90,000, mixed riding including off road and track days. Still good. Plenty of people get over 100,000 miles out of them.
Granted they are time consuming to change but I don't see any reason why they couldn't have relocated it to the front as in the WC but still used a dry unit. They seem to work fine in one or two cars as well.
Had one go on my 1100GS at around 13,000 miles and been plenty 1150GS's that suffered oil leaks contaminating the clutch etc
No problem with the concept of BMW using a wet clutch and hopefully the new 2014 models will be sorted as will shortly be ordering one
Hey Sticky Boy, ask them to check clutch master cylinder fluid level
Report back how she rides baby
All good , they have changed the pushrod and the slave cylinder , so so far seems loads better ,,,, finger crossed
Clarks BMW Rednal Birmingham.
All good , they have changed the pushrod and the slave cylinder , so so far seems loads better ,,,, finger crossed
Happy to hear that.
Do you the chance of getting the part number of the new pushroad?
All good , they have changed the pushrod and the slave cylinder , so so far seems loads better ,,,, finger crossed
I was speaking to my dealer today, and they seem to be under the impression from BMW that ALL bikes will be recalled to have this fitted.
Hamslay
Registered user
Do 2014 models already have the latest parts, or will they too need a recall?
