Transmission hard to upshifting '85 K100RS

[sinclairniu]

Good Evening, everyone.
Recently I felt that my bike (1985 k100rs) was very hard upshift, esp. from the first gear to the second gear when the bike is cold or I ride it first in the morning. It will be fine after ten minutes. I checked transmission oil, it looks fine.
Someone has any idea what's the problem?
Thank you,
Sinclair

 

[kayseventyfive]

What lube are you using in the gearbox?

 

[sinclairniu]

The pre-owner changed transmission oil with Mobil 1 SAE Synthetic Gear oil and Final Drive with BMW Dino Gear oil SAE 90 before I bought it. I think that was August 2008. I have ridden it about 15000 miles since then. I just noticed the problem recently.

 

[roy]

Are you having any problems with down shifting? Could be the beginning signs of dry clutch splines. On my 85K I noticed shifting in general both up and down was more difficult when the bike was cold and the splines where dry.

Not a real difficult task to lube them just time consuming. If you do this make sure to lube the final drive splines at the same time.

Do NOT use pure Honda Moly 60. Blend it with a good grease so it doesn't dry as quickly.

Roy

 

[sinclairniu]

Because I am a very new motorcycle rider. I am not sure it is normal: on my Honda Magna I don't have to give a little gas when down shift. So the other words, there is no problem up shift and down shift.
But on my K100rs, its a little hard to up shift when it is cold and down shift I always have to hold the clutch first and then give a little gas, then down shift. I don't know if its a right way to down shift on BMWs

 

[kayseventyfive]

Because I am a very new motorcycle rider. I am not sure it is normal: on my Honda Magna I don't have to give a little gas when down shift. So the other words, there is no problem up shift and down shift.
But on my K100rs, its a little hard to up shift when it is cold and down shift I always have to hold the clutch first and then give a little gas, then down shift. I don't know if its a right way to down shift on BMWs

Well, ya know, I have owned over 50 bikes, and my K75 is the second-worse shifter of all. Particularly the 1-2 upshift.

My suggestion would be to ask another K rider to see how yours feels to him.

 

[beemer01]

+1 on the input splines

Lube them - but sparingly - and it'll likely cure the problem.

 

[sinclairniu]

What does input lube mean? Is that I have to remove the transmission and lube all the splines?

 

[58058D]

Another key is thay you may be trying to be 'too gentle' in your shifting. Purposeful direct shifting, no hesitation, is appreciated by the K trannies, but as indicated above, they are clunky, especially an '85 K.

 

[41107]

Another key is thay you may be trying to be 'too gentle' in your shifting. Purposeful direct shifting, no hesitation, is appreciated by the K trannies, but as indicated above, they are clunky, especially an '85 K.

My 85 k shifts as smooth as silk up or down.Had the trans oil spiked since new with a little moly.Best shifting bike in the house.

 

[kgadley01]

I don't think there's a BMW made that will shift as good as any Jap bike. thats just the way it is. I never could understand how Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, etc. could build a dependable good shifting tranny cheaper than everyone else.

 

[beemer01]

Input spline lube directions

http://www.ibmwr.org/ktech/clutch-spline-lube1.shtml

 

[35634]

I don't think there's a BMW made that will shift as good as any Jap bike. thats just the way it is. I never could understand how Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, etc. could build a dependable good shifting tranny cheaper than everyone else.

They build better & cheaper lots of things. BUT... I don't know of any HonYamKawSuz that has a dry clutch. Makes it lots harder to design a smooth shifting tranny.

 

[kayseventyfive]

They build better & cheaper lots of things. BUT... I don't know of any HonYamKawSuz that has a dry clutch. Makes it lots harder to design a smooth shifting tranny.

Interesting thought. However, I can think of a few exceptions.........the AMC gearbox used in Norton dommies and the Manx. Butter smooth shifts, fast or slow. The Manx had a dry clutch while the dommies had a wet clutch. And, I would suspect the multi-plate dry Manx clutch had more drag than the single disk on our K bikes.

Another is Ducati. The few times I have ridden a dry clutch Duck, they shifted as smoothly as my wet clutch Duck.

Oh yeah.....my Noddy Bike had a dry clutch and shifted smoothly. Valiant and Viceroy, same thing.

 

[kgadley01]

They build better & cheaper lots of things. BUT... I don't know of any HonYamKawSuz that has a dry clutch. Makes it lots harder to design a smooth shifting tranny.

Good point...even my Harley has a wet clutch. maybe those Germans need a wake up call....

 

[PGlaves]

Good point...even my Harley has a wet clutch. maybe those Germans need a wake up call....

F650, G650, G450, F800S, F800ST, F800GS, new F650GS, K1200R and S, K1300 - I think the Germans do know that wet clutches exist.

 

[sinclairniu]

Thank you everyone. I will try to do the spline lube on my k100rs when I get my grease. I ordered Paul's favorite lube from the Web. Hopefully, I will fix the problem.
Ride Safe,

Sinclair

 

[41107]

Good point...even my Harley has a wet clutch. maybe those Germans need a wake up call....

Just wait,pretty soon the dry clutch and all that made bmw a bmw will be gone.The trend is set.Good by boxer.Just my feeling.

 

[sinclairniu]

Good morning, Everyone.
I haven't come to the site for a while. Being busy and also forgot my user name and password, really missing this site.
I posted the question about hard shifting when my bike was cold. Thank your for everybody that gave me a lot of help. The problem is the bike needs spline lube. After that，the problem is gone. I have ridden about 31,000 mile now since then. So far so good, thanks the God.
Thank you guys again.