Grabby Clutch

[paulm236]

Has anyone experienced a problem with a snatching clucth?

It's been like it since the bike was new (now done nearly 30k miles). My only other experience of the 1150R engine was on an R1150R courtesy bike which was a lot smoother by contrast, but I asked the dealer to look at it anyway and he said there was nothing wrong and that the GS has different characteristics to the R. Since then though I've ridden another GS and found that was totally different to mine and more like the R.

Any help/comments gratefully received.

Cheers,

Paul.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Paul, usually a grabby clutch on a BMW means that the plate is warped, or has high spots.

The clutch plates on all BMW bikes are virtually identical in manner and build to small car clutch plate set-ups. They do require running in and then one can drop the clutch and do drags etcetera without too much damage.

I myself have destroyed about 5 clutch plates over the years. This has been due mainly to either riding in bucket loads of sand and coming out of rivers with a wet clutch plate and slipping it as one climbed the sandy bank, or road racing the thing and giving it heaps.

If you wish to see your clutch working then take the rubber bung out of the hole on the R/H side of the bell housing, it's behind the R/H throttle body. Using a torch one can then pull the clutch in and out and see a miniscule gap appear as the clutch is pulled in. This will not, and is not, a clutch inspection, but it does give one a sense of wonder at the small gap that is between you slip sliding away.

Mick