Clutchless gearchanges

[GSmonkey]

If you think its knackering your gearbox, you're not doing it right. I always do clutchless upshifts on the 12GS, no problems so far.

 

[CaptainBBQ]

gearchange

The 1200 has a very sweet box ! the upchange is as good as almost anything (exept a 990 ktm they are sweet as pie) certanly the best gs box ever (had all the others and the 1100s was horrid) but be certain that compared to a harley (you need years of practice not to clunk the upchange never mind the down ) everything is sweet and easy cluchless.
The damage will come from miss timing your throttle position but if you know what your doing then i say go cluchless up but never down .
J

 

[Totoro]

Well I'd just tried clutchless upchanges on Friday after all the positive responses and they felt really smooth. Had a couple of clunck but I think thats because I'm out of practice

But then I see this

The ONLY major fault inflicted by the various testers was a broken gearbox. BMW replied that they had sold 50,000 bikes (30,000 GS's) with this gearbox which had proved very reliable but IT WAS NOT DESIGNED FOR CLUTCHLESS CHANGES. You cannot make comparisons with a chain or belt drive machine - just work out the different speeds on the input shafts.

Now I am confused. Can it really break the gearbox? It that only if you botch each gearchange?

And while we're on the subject, I didn't think you could a really do a poor upchange?

The method I've always used is to apply light pressure upwards on the gear lever and to close the throttle until the bike lets you change gear. Is this right?

 

[Le singe]

Changing up without using the clutch is straightforward, changing down takes a bit more practise, forgetting what bike you're riding and attempting to go down 2 gears, clutchless, before entering a corner, can be entertaining.
As to damaging the 'box, if the change is smooth and silent, there are clearly no adverse loads.