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99 R1100RS clutch problem


krkarcher

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~ 35k miles.

 

While waiting for a red light to turn green, after about 15 seconds the bike started to move forward as if I was letting out the clutch but wasn't. At that time the light turned green, so I let out the clutch to pull into a parking lot. The clutch lever lost all it's feel, I could pull it in to the handlebar with no resistance at all (as if the cable had snapped). Pulling in the clutch had no effect, the transmission stayed engaged.

I had the bike towed home. The cable seems to be fine, no fraying at either end. I adjusted the cable at the tranny and handlebar to BMW specs, and the feel came back to the clutch lever. I started the bike while on the center stand, put it in gear, released the clutch and then pulled in the clutch - everything seems to be back to normal. I have not gone for a ride yet, I wanted to get some advice from this group first.

 

What could have happened? When adjusting at the tranny, I did have to turn-in about 3 full turns for the clutch lever to get it's feel back (the locking nut at the tranny was tight so it's not like it fell out of adjustment). Could the cable adjustment have been that far off that it would have caused this? There were no early warning signs that something was going wrong.

 

Appreciate all advice you can offer.

 

Thanks

 

Kurt

 

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~ 35k miles.

 

While waiting for a red light to turn green, after about 15 seconds the bike started to move forward as if I was letting out the clutch but wasn't. At that time the light turned green, so I let out the clutch to pull into a parking lot. The clutch lever lost all it's feel, I could pull it in to the handlebar with no resistance at all (as if the cable had snapped). Pulling in the clutch had no effect, the transmission stayed engaged.

I had the bike towed home. The cable seems to be fine, no fraying at either end. I adjusted the cable at the tranny and handlebar to BMW specs, and the feel came back to the clutch lever. I started the bike while on the center stand, put it in gear, released the clutch and then pulled in the clutch - everything seems to be back to normal. I have not gone for a ride yet, I wanted to get some advice from this group first.

 

What could have happened? When adjusting at the tranny, I did have to turn-in about 3 full turns for the clutch lever to get it's feel back (the locking nut at the tranny was tight so it's not like it fell out of adjustment). Could the cable adjustment have been that far off that it would have caused this? There were no early warning signs that something was going wrong.

 

Appreciate all advice you can offer.

 

Thanks

 

Kurt

 

Morning Kurt

 

The USUAL problem is the nut not being tight & the adjuster backing off (you don't seem to have that issue).

 

I have also seen the lever on the rear of trans crack then the clutch starts losing disengagement ability (if this is the problem then your loss of clutch control will return quickly).

 

The other problem I have seen is the bearing in the trans lever wearing/self destructing so the push rod sinks into the bearing then the lever can't hold the clutch disengaged.

 

Another problem I have seen (not very often though) is the clutch push rod on the clutch end wears into the spring so it effectively loses push length. (hope this isn't your problem as it is a LOT of work to repair).

 

Then you have the basic cable failure but that is usually on the clutch lever end & is usually visible with close inspection. (little cable barrel gets frozen in the lever pocket so keeps flexing the cable right at the barrel & eventually fatigues the cable to the point of breaking or only have a few strands remaining operational).

 

 

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