Rattly gear selection.

[Jim Dow]

I have a 2003 R1150 GS Adv which has only done 65k kilometres. I have owned it since new, but haven't ridden it much for a few years.
It has a god awful rattle when selecting first from neutral, and a reluctance to engage, which I don't recall happening before. It will engage if the lever is gently pressed.
What may be the problem, and what is the suggested remedy.
It has not had a hard life.

Thanks in advance,
Jim.

 

[KMD]

Is your clutch starting to drag ? It’s not unknown for the seal around the actuating rod from the slave cylinder to weep, and maybe cause the clutch not to clear properly?

Or, maybe just very old and now contaminated brake fluid? Friend of mine once lost his clutch altogether on a trip to the Dolomites and had the bike recovered. By the time he next saw it back in the UK the clutch was working again, seemed the heat and severe use of the clutch had done something to the old fluid, and it just stopped doing what it should do. A complete fluid change fixed it.

 

[albatross]

First I would do a service, change the gearbox oil with good 75W90 oil,
Change the clutch fluid…
Have a look at the old oil…any metal residue, .
Any better …no then might require gearbox overhaul,new bearings ?

 

[oblertone]

Personally, I'd dismantle clean and grease the double ended banjo between the shaft and pedal; often the source of 11** gearbox woes. Be careful of the rightly named 'ping-fuckits' as you do so.