Dropping from 6th to 5th gear

[Avventuri]

Dear GS Community...... h-e-l-p!

My GS (1150 from 2003) has just presented me with a strange intermittent problem: While cruising in 6th gear, the bike suddenly drops to 5th. No drama, no crunching of teeth –*revs come up and the indicator shows "5".

The bike is new to me, and over about 1500 kilometers, this has happened four times.

Is it me, failing to pull the lever far enough to properly settle the gear, or is it something else??

Yesterday, I rolled 150K and tried everything to reproduce the odd problem –*while taking extra care when changeing gears. I could not make it happen.

Anybody experienced the same, or any educated guesses on what´s up??! Your five cents greatly appreciated. Oooh, the bike has 21000 km on the clock, is in mint condition and has a full service record. Nothing noted on a gearbox issue.



Morten
Denmark

 

[vilguy]

Mine does exactly the same thing. I think we need to strip down the gear change bushes, clean and regrease mate.

 

[davegs]

Gears

Whatch the position of your foot you may be restimng it on the gear lever done it myself.
Dave gs.

 

[celcius]

i remember reading somewhere that Getrag, the manufacturer of the gearboxes used two-stepped engagement dogs between the gears inside the box.
Not the standart straight dogs, but the kind that have a smaller diameter at the tip, which gets larger towards the end. Apparently due to specifications put down by BMW
Due to this; if you are too 'gentle' while shifting, only the tip of the dogs will catch but they won't slide into the corresponding engagaement holes fully, the gears will engage briefly, but once you open the tap the engagement dogs cannot hold on any further and just slide out.
Happened to me a couple of times back when i first bought the GS. I learned quickly not to treat it too gently like operating a Suzuki 'box.
Slightly pre-loading the shift lever before pulling in the clutch and then giving the gear lever a firm jolt seems to be the way to go with these.

 

[Swesty]

Mine does it sometimes, it's OK whilst under load but when on 'cruise/idle' it will drop into 5th. Been doing it for 40K miles so I'm not worried about it, besides I have 2 spare gearboxes

I put it down to operator error.

 

[Welshman]

Mine did the 6th to 5th BADLY with crunching noises etc...... the gearchange input to the box was loose on its spline (one screw on the starter cover to get to it) fixed that and 95% of my problem was gone, the other 5% is "positive" changes.. not 1/2 measures

 

[Avventuri]

Now I feel better......

Thanks guys, for your advice and for sharing your stories.

It makes me feel a little bit better –*at least is doesn´t sound like there is something "wrong" with my gearbox.

I will check the gear shift linkage and bushings –*regrease if necessary – and start using my foot along with my brain, when changing gears.

Morten