Weird Clutch Problem

[pedro cerveza]

I’m having a problem with the clutch on my 05 K1200S and I thought I would throw it out to greater minds than mine (not saying much) to see if anyone had any ideas…

Here’s the situation: I have an 05 with 93,000 miles on it. With the exception of the first 500 all of those miles are mine. At about 80,000 I decided to buy the bike a present and got some fancy moto-zen levers from Jerry at Pirates Lair.

I had to do a lot of fine tuning of the plunger adjustment screw in the grip assembly to get the clutch to the point where it grabbed at the right point in the lever travel, had enough pull to let me get through the gears and did not slip. In the process I stripped the socket on the little set screw that locks the plunger adjustment screw. (I am the poster boy for why Jews shouldn’t own power tools).

OK, now here’s the problem… when the bike is cold in the morning the clutch begins to grab when the lever is fairly close to the grip. No problem hitting neutral and the bike shifts as good as it ever did. (Insert disclaimer about typical BMW shitty shifting here).

After a day of 250 miles or so when the bike is hot the clutch grabs much closer to the end of the lever travel and I have a very difficult time getting neutral… and the clutch slips.

The bike has had all of the scheduled maintenances at the dealer who uses BMW spec semi synthetic oil. I’m in Florida when the temperature is almost always above 80. I was thinking that going to a higher viscosity oil might help. Any ideas??? Thanx in advance.

 

[Guest Kakugo]

Just one very, very stupid idea: have you tried refitting the original levers?

 

On my last track bike I had bought a set of cheap "pattern" levers to use on track, to limit eventual damage.

However I soon noticed both braking and shifting had markedly worsened with these levers. It went away when I refitted the expensive OE ones. I then dissected the cheap pattern levers and, behold, I found the issue: both levers had far too much freeplay on every axis.

I am not saying your expensive levers are as my shoddy eBay specials but it could well be they do not mate well to your bike due to whatever reason. Fitting back the old levers is much cheaper than changing the clutch.

 

Having said that, it's possible the problems are unrelated. Could be a bad slave cylinder, could be too thick of an oil (what grade is the dealer using?), could be air in the clutch hydraulics, could be a master cylinder in need of a rebuild, could be...

[pedro cerveza]

Actually it's a good idea. I have a stupid answer. I can't find the original levers. I just tried shaving the grip puppies down under the lever so hopefully I can squeeze it closer to the grip.

[Dennis Andress]

We have a couple pairs of originals laying in a box if you want to stop by and try one out...

 

I've found that making sure the four screws that hold the clutch actuator on are tight makes a difference in how the clutch feels. (The actuator is the thing by your right ankle that sticks out the furthest). DON'T wrench them too hard - SOMETHING like 1/8 a turn is enough.

 

I've found my clutch chatters and squeals if I get on it hard when I'm using anything but BMW oil. There's some kind of an additive in there that makes the clutch plates happy.

 

[pedro cerveza]

Appreciate the advice!

[Beech]

Your not the first to have problems with those brand of levers. Good work shaving the grip puppies, one fellow cut a hole in them for the lever tip. Speaking of which, slide the outer piece of the lever in to make it shorter, this will help. Best is to go back to original setting on your master cyl. push rod and get stock levers or Pazzo and set the to the all the way out adjustment. Keep an eye on your clutch switch through all this.