Gear lever fell off.

[Stratman59]

Hi, I was out on a ride today on my 8 week old GSA. Sitting on a steep hill in traffic I was in neutral and hill start assist on. As the traffic moved, I went to find first and my gear lever just fell off. It had somehow unscrewed itself at the height adjustment linkage to the gear lever. Has this happened to anyone else and has anyone got any idea as to why this happened? Luckily, I was with a group and one of the guys had the right tools so I was able to fix it and get home.
P.S how do I upload a photo?

 

[Victor c]

Quite common if it has been adjusted and the locking bolt not correctly torqued up. I always add a bit of thread lock compound to be sure it stays put.

You need to pay subscription to upload pictures.

 

[DrFarkoff]

Quite common if it has been adjusted and the locking bolt not correctly torqued up. I always add a bit of thread lock compound to be sure it stays put.

You need to pay subscription to upload pictures.

Correctly tightened!! This should not move !!!

Its events like this that screw up a simple job for a mechanic a year later!

 

[DrFarkoff]

Hi, I was out on a ride today on my 8 week old GSA. Sitting on a steep hill in traffic I was in neutral and hill start assist on. As the traffic moved, I went to find first and my gear lever just fell off. It had somehow unscrewed itself at the height adjustment linkage to the gear lever. Has this happened to anyone else and has anyone got any idea as to why this happened? Luckily, I was with a group and one of the guys had the right tools so I was able to fix it and get home.
P.S how do I upload a photo?

Never mind the photo Just make sure that it is secure

So you never noticed the travel getting longer?

Maybe a bit more work to get boot under lever etc etc

Pay attention to the bike and it won;t kill you !

Example squidgy in corners or turns ?? Possible low tyre pressure

Everything has a reason it just does not magically happen!

 

[Santa-2512]

Never mind the photo Just make sure that it is secure

So you never noticed the travel getting longer?

Maybe a bit more work to get boot under lever etc etc

Pay attention to the bike and it won;t kill you !

Example squidgy in corners or turns ?? Possible low tyre pressure

Everything has a reason it just does not magically happen!

You mean there aren't bike faeries

 

[Victor c]

Never mind the photo Just make sure that it is secure

So you never noticed the travel getting longer?

Maybe a bit more work to get boot under lever etc etc

Pay attention to the bike and it won;t kill you !

Example squidgy in corners or turns ?? Possible low tyre pressure

Everything has a reason it just does not magically happen!

Why so angry? The OP just asked a simple question to see if this a known issue. My previous GSA gear linkage came loose where the ball joint threads into the gearshift assist unit and the GSA before that, the adjustable lever tip came loose. Neither gave any prior warning they were loosening and the gear change didn't feel any different until they detached.
Maybe you ride in your slippers, so your tootsies are more sensitive?

 

[Bigcats]

I just add a bit of loctite of literally everything I take off now (the blue medium one)

Less sump plugs etc but pretty much anything else gets a bit

 

[Deleted account 250722001]

Nylocked mine

 

[Stratman59]

Thanks everyone. One of the reasons i posted was, it' generally accepted that the last models of the R1250's were supposed to be the pinnacle of this particular design, prior to the new 1300, all issues ironed out and corrected etc.
I was just surprised something as basic as this could occur. And just for DrFarkoff, yes TBH, at the previous few junctions i had noticed a little more clunkiness, but its a fairly clunky gearbox anyway but nothing to scream at me, the gear lever is about to fall off.
Thanks for you advice though, after over 45 years riding, it's never occurred to me to me the check my tire pressures

Just to be clear, it was at the ball joint about an inch down and an inch to the rear of the 14 mm torx bolt. Which is why I wanted to attach a photo. A forum where you can't attach a photo? Is this 2004 or 2024?
It will be checked and given a drop of loctite.

 

[GSMarky]

Thanks everyone. One of the reasons i posted was, it' generally accepted that the last models of the R1250's were supposed to be the pinnacle of this particular design, prior to the new 1300, all issues ironed out and corrected etc.
I was just surprised something as basic as this could occur. And just for DrFarkoff, yes TBH, at the previous few junctions i had noticed a little more clunkiness, but its a fairly clunky gearbox anyway but nothing to scream at me, the gear lever is about to fall off.
Thanks for you advice though, after over 45 years riding, it's never occurred to me to me the check my tire pressures

Just to be clear, it was at the ball joint about an inch down and an inch to the rear of the 14 mm torx bolt. Which is why I wanted to attach a photo. A forum where you can't attach a photo? Is this 2004 or 2024?
It will be checked and given a drop of loctite.

Pay your subscription and you can post pics.. A poorly assembled threaded joint isn't really a design issue, so suggest you go see the tech' that did the PDI although I always set mine touch points like this up to suit me. Screw threads have been keeping mechanical assemblies together for some time now & what you experienced is unusual & rogue I'd say.

 

[Boxerlust]

I have seen a car today that lost its left front tire…The driver probably forgot to locktite his lug nuts before the tire just came off… It was a Toyota…Very unreliable

 

[autogs]

How did the tyre come off the wheel rim then? Or do you mean the car lost its wheel?

Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk

 

[GSMarky]

Tire in American translates to wheel with tyre here in blighty I think..

 

[Boxerlust]

How did the tyre come off the wheel rim then? Or do you mean the car lost its wheel?

Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk

I just tried to make a point that Stratmans gear lever did not just fell off like this guy obviously never felt the wobble before the front wheel finally came off...LOL

 

[Pukmeister]

Shit happens sometimes.

I had similar years ago on the A3, I was giving a mate a pillion ride to Surrey to collect his rebuilt Guzzi LeMans. Hammering up the outside lane Northbound towards the Liss roundabout I went to downshift and couldn’t find the gear lever on my Yamaha Thundercat……fuuuuuuuck !!!

Clutch in, timed the run up to the roundabout on the brakes then coasted across and slipped the clutch like hell to get going again in top. Pulled off at Bordon to find the gear lever pinch bolt had fell out, thankfully the lever was dragging along by its rose joints rather than being in a ditch somewhere miles away. I robbed a subframe bodywork bolt as a substitute to make a roadside repair and reattach the splined end.

 

[clutchspring]

I had the gear lever fall off on a old cb750 honda in the late 1970s lucky I manage to turn round and follow my tracks and managed to find it laying in the gutter , had no spanner to proply fit it but it stayed on till I got home

 

[R_otor]

Thanks everyone. One of the reasons i posted was, it' generally accepted that the last models of the R1250's were supposed to be the pinnacle of this particular design, prior to the new 1300, all issues ironed out and corrected etc.
I was just surprised something as basic as this could occur. And just for DrFarkoff, yes TBH, at the previous few junctions i had noticed a little more clunkiness, but its a fairly clunky gearbox anyway but nothing to scream at me, the gear lever is about to fall off.
Thanks for you advice though, after over 45 years riding, it's never occurred to me to me the check my tire pressures

Just to be clear, it was at the ball joint about an inch down and an inch to the rear of the 14 mm torx bolt. Which is why I wanted to attach a photo. A forum where you can't attach a photo? Is this 2004 or 2024?
It will be checked and given a drop of loctite.

And the battery wiring on the last 1250's for whatever reason hasn't been tightened at the factory (or dealer) so the bike just stops. Without physically touching the wires to the battery you'll be scratching your head for a while to figure out such a simple issue.