Downshifting on 1150gs

[gbpot]

Hi,
New bike, first 1150gs. 2002 with 24Kmiles.
Bought the bike to see if the riding position suits me (6'4"). Picked it up and did 150 miles home. All seemed fine till I tried to downshift. Past bikes - vfr, gsx1400 and rocket, all able to flick down the gears, but on the gs I found that difficult. If I put a little down-pressure on the gear and released the clutch a little then it will pop in. But difficult to just - clutch in, and tap tap tap - if you know what I mean.
I know its a different bike, I wanted to try it because of the size, but do I need a different technique or does something need adjusting?
Hopefully not the gearbox
Any advice greatly appreciated

 

[Stewart H]

The technique will come with practice
Stewart

 

[oblertone]

Most 1150 gearbox problems ...

... are nothing to do with the gearbox, but rather the external linkages which are prone to stiffening up due to ingress of road crap. It's a fair bet yours has never been dismantled as you do tend to 'get used to it'. However, all the fettling in the world is never going to make the 1150 into a 'slick as snot' jap box, they just aren't; and you do need to match revs to road speed for best results.

The search function is your friend, there are exploded diagrams and lot's of advice on how to clean up the linkages

 

[fatnfast]

It could be you just need to get used to the GS. I used to have a fireblade and the GS box is not as 'quick shifting'. When coming down the gears I always do it one at a time, i.e. clutch in down a gear clutch out. I found these bikes like to be carefully matched to the correct speed for smooth changes. Pulling the clutch in and coming down 2 or 3 gears at once does not work very well! Clutchless up changes are easy enough, but require a firm push with the foot.

Might be worth checking the exposed gear linkage as this can get mucky and does affect gear changes. A good clean would sort this out. The clutch itself should hopefully still be fine, did it have a service history to show regular clutch fluid changes? There is also a cluch slave cylinder that can leak and cause problems which it tricky to get at (do a search for info). I doubt your gearbox is at fault with that mileage and I assume there are no horrible sounds?

Welcome by the way!

edit: sorry about repitition in the reply, as I was typing others posted with good info as well

 

[gbpot]

Thanks people, I'll away and have a good clean. I did look at the clutch fluid and it looks pretty old, like dirty dish water really, so I'll change that. I'll go and experiment.
I had just bought the bike the other day, and after a m'way stint, came up to a r'bout - clutch in, tap tap tap and woooooops???
Hee Hee
No noises ---- I'll away and practice.
Cheers

 

[gbpot]

No change, so will have to wait till weekend for a strip-down of the linkage as it seems to be a common problem, but easily solved. (crossing fingers)

 

[davegs]

Gear box

Not so much the out side linkage but the gear pedal where it pivots on the foot rest. This get full of crap and can get really bad, the bolt holding it on is lock tited so heat up the pivot assembly with a hot air gun you will probably have to remove the pedel ass to get at the allen screw if you havent got a y peice on the exhaust. These are tight even when the lock tite's been heated up. Give it a good clean and a bit of grease and you'll be ok for ages.
But don't forget your now a tractor rider and it has the gear box to match!
but be careful changing down very quick in lower gears the rear's light and the wheel can lock up! not funny when the road is slippery.
Dave GS.

 

[ahebron]

Just down change steadily and slowly priming the change as you go. The engine braking on an 1150GS will scare the crap out of Jap bike rider chasing you down a hill.

Adrian

 

[MikeP]

No change, so will have to wait till weekend for a strip-down of the linkage as it seems to be a common problem, but easily solved. (crossing fingers)

I wouldn't bother. I doubt if it's the linkage. When the linkage causes problems it's the pedal not returning to its position.

It sounds more like you are expecting the gear-shift to react the way that your previous bikes have done. The reason why it doesn't is to do with the design.

You can de-clutch and bash the gears down two or three without working the clutch between each gear but there will be more resistance than you are used to.

As you guessed, you will have to alter your technique. There are big, heavy, straight-cut cogs in that gearbox. They don't 'snick' or move without lots of encouragement. It's a BMW thing.

 

[Paul Young]

It's also because the BM gearbox runs at engine speed (ie: the gearbox input shaft is rotating at the same speed as the engine crank) rather than having a reduction gear in between, like most others. Lots of heavy bits of metal, spinning at high speed = difficult to make smooth gearboxes.

 

[Sempione]

Make sure the shifting arm sits correctly on the selector shaft.

I wouldn't bother to just clean and reassemble the pivot assembly. If you remove the loctited gear lever pivot assembly install plain bearings, for example INA Permaglide ones.
This should remove most of the play of the rubbish plastic ones.

As mentioned earlier, your shifting problems might as well just be a matter of technique.
Preloading the gear lever combined with spirited shifting results in the best shifting for me.

Cheers

 

[nikos]

...and if you need to get into first (at say the traffic lights) its best to do it whilst still moving!

Neutral to first needs a little bit of a knack when at standstill - half release the clutch and listen for the clunk.

Enjoy!

 

[Bigyin]

But don't forget your now a tractor rider and it has the gear box to match!
but be careful changing down very quick in lower gears the rear's light and the wheel can lock up!

I am slooooowly getting used to not downshifting like my last jap 600 sports bike as it used to rev high enough going down 2-3 gears at a time to cope but have realised now the 1150 locks up really easily and that cant be good for the shaft drive or bearings ................ the joys of changing years of instinctive riding what you are used to then onto something completely different