Mine has 4500 kms. Trying to push it in the morning with 1st gear engaged and clutch in is almost impossible. Upon firing her up, still in 1st gear and with clutch all the way in, I get a good jump forward. For the first 10-15 minutes of riding, neutral is hard to find from 1st gear up, a bit less so from 2nd down. Selecting 1st gear seems to get noisier with time (I've had the bike since the end of March.) If I do it fast, I get a good clunk. If I do it slowly, I get a frightening noisy rattle of gears. Yes, just as if the clutch didn't disengage properly. 1st through 3rd is almost always clunky, though with great care I can sometimes minimize clunk form 2nd to 3rd. From 3rd up, if I use the right technique, or clutchless changes (the smoothest way), everything is smooth. Going down through the gears is difficult to do smoothly. I always keep pre-load down on the lever, then try clutchless, blipping the throttle, tiny amounts of clutch-in... you name it, but it rarely shifts down without some noise.
Would you say this a case of bad clutch? I am soooo sure my dealer will go «They all do the same.»
Have you flown over here and stolen my bike as they are the same concerns I have. Though i would add that the gear change is worse with higher revs.
I have seen a post somewhere that BMW have someone looking into problems with the clutch or gearbox but it is possibly only a rumour.
There is a lot of speculation as to the root cause
1) Incorrect oil grade
2) Dry clutch plates
3) Clutch plates stuck together
4) Warped clutch plates
5) Blued clutch plates
6) Incorrect size of either master or slave clutch cylinders
So for my thoughts on it
1) Could possible cause clutch drag if to thick, possible excessive wear if to thin. I am not convinced this is the cause
2) Wet clutch need to be wet or it will wear and get hot
3) I f the plates were permanently stuck together then you would have to stall the bike to stop it, the clutch would not disengage at all. I think if the plates were stuck together then the bike would have had to have been unused for a very long time pos years. or the clutch basket would have to be very worn with the edges of the clutch plates catching in the wear groves on the clutch basket.
4) This sound like a likely symptom, The plate become warped due to heat build up causing the clutch to drag
5) Clutch plates have over heated blued and warped
6) If the clutch is not fully disengaging due to mismatched clutch cylinder sizes then clutch drag heat build up etc
The only common denominator to me is heat build up due to either clutch not getting enough oil or clutch not fully disengaging (clutch cyl sizes ratios etc)
Sorry for just stating the obvious but as you can see finding the route cause will need the engagement of BMW engineers.
If anyone has any other thought then please share them as my bike is going in for new plates next Thursday and I am hoping that will fix it.
