2015 1200 Adventure quickshifter issue

Shurv

Shurv

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I have recently taken delivery of a lovely 2015 1200 adventure with 13k on the clock from Wollaston BMW in Northampton. I absolutely love the bike apart from the bloody awful quickshifter. Having ridden bikes for over 40 years, and learned to do perfect clutchless upshifts, and neat and tidy rev matched downshifts, I find the gear change on the new bike awkward at best, and ferkin useless at worst. My question is, can it be easily removed completely? Is it just part of the clutch whereby I can fit a clutch from an earlier bike or am I doomed to accept it and lurch around all the time looking like a rank amateur?. :nenau
 
Just ride it normally using the clutch. All the quick-shifter is, is a strain-gauge connected to the shift lever and software. It only does its magic if the clutch isn't being used.
 
ChazzyB said:
It only does its magic if the clutch isn't being used.
Click to expand...

Also make sure that you leave the throttle alone while shifting, the bike will match the revs for you and that for some takes some getting used to.
 
Benchmark said:
Also make sure that you leave the throttle alone while shifting, the bike will match the revs for you and that for some takes some getting used to.
Click to expand...

On downshifts you need to have the throttle fully closed, but on upshifts you need it as near fully open as practical for the smoothest results, and even then it is not great 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd, so probably not worth using for those.

Personally I rarely use it as I have no need to save a few milliseconds on upshifts, particularly not at the expense of more strain on the transmission, and on downshifts I find great satisfaction in being able to manually blip the throttle just the right amount to make downshifts imperceptible to my pillion.
 
Benchmark said:
Also make sure that you leave the throttle alone while shifting, the bike will match the revs for you and that for some takes some getting used to.
Click to expand...

Quite so, but the OP doesn't want to use the quick shifter. Though he might if he got the hang of it. ;) My first GS was a 2015 bike and I thought the QS was brilliant.
 
Shurv said:
I have recently taken delivery of a lovely 2015 1200 adventure with 13k on the clock from Wollaston BMW in Northampton. I absolutely love the bike apart from the bloody awful quickshifter. Having ridden bikes for over 40 years, and learned to do perfect clutchless upshifts, and neat and tidy rev matched downshifts, I find the gear change on the new bike awkward at best, and ferkin useless at worst. My question is, can it be easily removed completely? Is it just part of the clutch whereby I can fit a clutch from an earlier bike or am I doomed to accept it and lurch around all the time looking like a rank amateur?. :nenau
Click to expand...

I find the quick shifter useless for up shifts and tend not to use it. Yes I do know how to use it and have had them on road and track bikes for 20 years. You can still do your clutchless up shifts in the usual way, it works just fine.
Down shifts are worth persevering with as when you have worked out what revs work best( mine is 3.5-4.500rpm) it is a joy to use, this is the first bike with an auto blipper and I love it, I'll take it over the quickshifter anytime.
 
CPJS said:
I find the quick shifter useless for up shifts and tend not to use it. Yes I do know how to use it and have had them on road and track bikes for 20 years. You can still do your clutchless up shifts in the usual way, it works just fine.
Down shifts are worth persevering with as when you have worked out what revs work best( mine is 3.5-4.500rpm) it is a joy to use, this is the first bike with an auto blipper and I love it, I'll take it over the quickshifter anytime.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you are saying there is correct. According to BMW you should have the throttle closed when using the quickshifter. The engine revs will then depend on your road speed and what gear you are in. The system then autoblips automatically to rev match to the lower gear when it detects use of the gearshift. If you don't have the throttle closed I believe it can confuse the system and give poorly matched downshifts.

So far as upshifts are concerned I don't see how you can do "normal" clutchless changes if the quickshifter is fitted as it is only disabled when the system detects movement of the clutch lever. If the clutch lever is not touched and movement of the gearshift is detected, then the autoshifter will do its thing, which as far as I know on upshifts just consists of momentarily cutting the torque output of the engine to reduce load on the transmission as the gear change happens.
 
If it’s a 15 year bike, the quick shifter was almost certainly installed as a retro fit. I had mine retro fitted on my 15 GS, and it doesn’t blip the throttle on down shifts. In fact I have to fully close the throttle and then open it slightly as I change down. The up shifts are ok going from 3rd to 4th above 4000 plus revs, and are better going’s from 4th to 5th and 5th to 6th.

The Spanish dealer I bought the bike new from has now closed down. In 4 years of dealing with them and spending well over 20,000 Euros, I was never even offered a cup of coffee. Never mind help when the quick shifter never worked after they serviced the bike. I now will not go to any BMW stealer in Spain. I now do all my own services .

If the QS packs up again, It will say broke, as you really do not need it.
 
fred_jb said:
I'm not sure what you are saying there is correct. According to BMW you should have the throttle closed when using the quickshifter. The engine revs will then depend on your road speed and what gear you are in. The system then autoblips automatically to rev match to the lower gear when it detects use of the gearshift. If you don't have the throttle closed I believe it can confuse the system and give poorly matched downshifts.

So far as upshifts are concerned I don't see how you can do "normal" clutchless changes if the quickshifter is fitted as it is only disabled when the system detects movement of the clutch lever. If the clutch lever is not touched and movement of the gearshift is detected, then the autoshifter will do its thing, which as far as I know on upshifts just consists of momentarily cutting the torque output of the engine to reduce load on the transmission as the gear change happens.
Click to expand...

What I mean is during down shifts as the the revs drop on a closed throttle the sweet spot for changing down is at 3.5-4.5000rpm. On upchanges at half or more throttle I cannot move the gear lever, if i use it at quarter throttle at about 4000rpm it will snick through a treat, fine for two up touring.
As for doing clutchless gear changes the old fashioned way, try it, it works fine, just as any other bike does. It probably is because the quick shifter requires a lot of pressure to activate it, doing it the old fashioned way does not load up the gear lever enough to trigger the ignition cutout as you have already unloaded the gearbox.
 
CPJS said:
......
As for doing clutchless gear changes the old fashioned way, try it, it works fine, just as any other bike does. It probably is because the quick shifter requires a lot of pressure to activate it, doing it the old fashioned way does not load up the gear lever enough to trigger the ignition cutout as you have already unloaded the gearbox.
Click to expand...

As much as I hate to rain on your parade, your description about upshifts does not quite reflect reality.

Unless you pull the clutch handle, your upshift will activate the QS (i.e. cut theengine for a few ms in order for rpm to drop).
The lower loading option that does not activate QS simply does not exist. You have to bring up the shift lever a certain distance in order to engage the next gear, and you can not engage the next gear without activating the QS function.
 
knutk said:
As much as I hate to rain on your parade, your description about upshifts does not quite reflect reality.

Unless you pull the clutch handle, your upshift will activate the QS (i.e. cut theengine for a few ms in order for rpm to drop).
The lower loading option that does not activate QS simply does not exist. You have to bring up the shift lever a certain distance in order to engage the next gear, and you can not engage the next gear without activating the QS function.
Click to expand...

I use constant throttle up changes and down changes and it works brilliantly.
 
knutk said:
As much as I hate to rain on your parade, your description about upshifts does not quite reflect reality.

Unless you pull the clutch handle, your upshift will activate the QS (i.e. cut theengine for a few ms in order for rpm to drop).
The lower loading option that does not activate QS simply does not exist. You have to bring up the shift lever a certain distance in order to engage the next gear, and you can not engage the next gear without activating the QS function.
Click to expand...

Is there not a pressure switch that operates when the lever is pressed ? it a far surer method than a position switch that could operate when there is not enough pressure to allow a gear change to take place. However, if what you say is true, old fasioned clutchless changes would not be affected as the gearbox is already unloaded when the lever is moved so the cut out would not be noticed.
 
knutk said:
As much as I hate to rain on your parade, your description about upshifts does not quite reflect reality.

Unless you pull the clutch handle, your upshift will activate the QS (i.e. cut theengine for a few ms in order for rpm to drop).
The lower loading option that does not activate QS simply does not exist. You have to bring up the shift lever a certain distance in order to engage the next gear, and you can not engage the next gear without activating the QS function.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I was going to say the same but couldn't be bothered! You can't change gear without the strain guage or whatever the QS uses telling the system a gear change is happening. It will then do its thing unless it detects movement of the clutch lever.
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned as rushing out now, but have you sprayed the gear leaver joints with oil as these have felt pads to keep them lubricated at the ball joints , had a similar issue as they had dried out with washing and dusty roads , once re oiled the action was smoother as a mechanical motion that may assist you.
 
My tuppenceworth, also have a 2015 gs. First few rides couldn’t get on with either quick shift or gearbox in general. My problem was the gearshift was too high and changing up I wasn’t lifting my foot enough for a clean change. Lowered gearshift by trial and error, now perfect. Quick shifter now works better, but to endorse what’s gone before, upchanges need open throttle and the higher part of the rev range, downshifts need a closed throttle. I use the downshifts most of the time but only use the upshifts when pushing on and in these instances I have gotten used to it and think it works great.
 
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