r1150rt transmission

[scottie boy]

I own a 2004 r1150rt with 5000 miles. I have always owned Jap bikes so this is my first Beemer. Is my transmission supposed to be this dang clunky? The biggest problem is missing the 1st to 2nd upshift. Would a synthetic help?

[lorazepam]

Welcome to the forum, and BMW ownership :clap this is a good place to learn about your bike and I hope you enjoy it here. If you think that 6 spped is clunky, you should ride an older generation bike. The tranny will smooth out somewhat with milage, but it will never be as smooth as a japanese bike. Some people report that using the synthetic lube does help with shifting. It is definately worth a try. You will find that the engine will smooth out after 10-12k, the real break in point, and the transmission will also. These bikes are designed to give you a lifetime of usage, well over 100,000 miles. I hope you enjoy the bike, and once again welcome to the forum.

[BMWRich58]

Welcome to the forum, and BMW ownership this is a good place to learn about your bike and I hope you enjoy it here. If you think that 6 spped is clunky, you should ride an older generation bike. The tranny will smooth out somewhat with milage, but it will never be as smooth as a japanese bike. Some people report that using the synthetic lube does help with shifting. It is definately worth a try. You will find that the engine will smooth out after 10-12k, the real break in point, and the transmission will also. These bikes are designed to give you a lifetime of usage, well over 100,000 miles. I hope you enjoy the bike, and once again welcome to the forum.

Absolutey!!!!!!!!!
Just hold off on the "synthetic oil" use until everything has a good chance to "wear in". Most owners and dealers recommend you wait till you reach 12,000 miles before any synthetic use. Yea,these transmissions are "clunky" but with mileage they will smooth out. But the trans will "Never" be no where as smooth as a "Jap BIKE". K-bikes have smoother transmissions but still you can't beat the jap bikes for smoothness.
I've got an early '02 and when I switched to synthetic in the motor and trans at 36,000 last summer, I didn't notice any difference in the trans shifting any smoother. And, also common with these oil heads, is their ability to drink oil. Some report that the engine oil usage went down with the use of synthetic engine oil. Well my '02 engine with 44,000+ and synthetic oil filled, still uses oil. I really don't see/feel oil consumption has changed any with the synthetic useage.
So be aware!!!

[riderR1150GSAdv]

What they said.
It takes times for the engine and tranny to get smoother,but it will take time and miles. The more miles you put on the better everything will run for you :bliss
Now you have an valid excuse to ride as much as possible. :clap
Welcome to this forum and riding Beemers!!

[110601]

My 2002 doesn't have a "clunky" transmission, but more often than I like, I'll upshift from first, release clutch and apply throttle, and find myself in neutral - Am I just a sloppy shifter or is there an adjustment that'll get the bike from 1st to 2nd better?

[scottie boy]

Exactly, I often find myself in neutral instead of 2nd gear. As far as having an excuse to ride, I've ridden 5,000 miles in four months (winter months) including almost 500 miles yesterday. Does any one recommend a particular brand of synthetic lube?

[Mr. Frank]

For the tranny I've been very happy with the BMW 75W140 synthetic gear oil. I've used it in two bikes. On the oilhead the tranny is right above the cat converter, a very hot location. My bike shifts very nicely (with earplugs in). The throw from 1 to 2 is a little longer and requires a little more concentration than the other shifts.

[kbasa]

BMW transmissions like it when you preload the shifter a little before you actually shift. They also like a very, very firm shift.

[Harv Read]

This applies to all boxers, new and old: Practice urine-free shifting. As in, rev the Piss out of it! Those twins like to rev, and will shift much nicer when they do.

[BMWRich58]

This applies to all boxers, new and old: Practice urine-free shifting. As in, rev the Piss out of it! Those twins like to rev, and will shift much nicer when they do.

Now that's the "Honest ta God" truth!!!!!!!!!!

Get the "R's" up before ya shift. On my oilhead and airhead,I don't shift until after 4000+ rpm's. And when riding, I aways keep the motor in the 4000 rpm range. The motor will run better,stay cleaner inside, and definately shift easier/smoother.
These motor's "love to breathe"!!!
When I shift,I never pull the lever all the way in to the grip. It's a
"quick" two finger shift, about half way pulled in. This has also helped me combat the "missed shift or neutral instead of 2nd gear shift".

[CustomSarge]

I concur with all previous:
1> a slight preload tension save a lot of "duh neutral" rev-ups
2> the 2 finger, bring it 'til your foot pops up, works great
3> as of '99 (my newest one) they ALL act this way
4> airheads also have a little neutral twix 2 & 3
5> too much up preload or stab down shifts only cause grief
You can shift like a grandma, but the bike won't respect you & will feed you neutral now & again anyway.

[scottie boy]

I've played with preloading the shifter in the past however I still wasn't happy with the results but I think I discovered the magic combination yesterday. You have to preload the shifter & let it go COMPLETELY back down after changing gears. If you anticipate the next upshift and don't let the shifter return 100%, sometimes it doesn't properly catch.
I still want to switch to synthetic though. How many miles should the bike have on it to properly break in?

[riderR1150GSAdv]

I have changed my oil three times sofar with mobil 1 twice and with Valvoline once. After the last change with Syn the tranny shifts very smooth and easy.
I have now 11K miles on my bike and it is getting smoother.
I think I am getting used to the bike and the bike gets better as miles pile on too.:bliss

[timay]

I'm a fairly new rider and a new RT1150RT owner. I have about 2K miles on it so far. I've noticed the "finding neutral during upshift between 1 & 2" issue for sure.

Recently, I've been having a *lot* of issues downshifting. Example: I'm cruising at 40, pull in the clutch and apply the brakes to stop at a stoplight. At around 10/15 MPH I attempt to downshift from 4th to 2nd and I get a hard shifter petal. This is with the clutch lever fully applied. Fixes:
- Apply gentle pressure to the shifter and slowly let the clutch out until it drops into a lower gear, which is usually around 1/3 applied (aka 2/3 released)
- Rev the engine lightly, then try again
- Let the clutch out all the way (fully engaging the engine), pull it back in, and try again
- Decelerate to below 10 MPH

Each of these works 100% of the time. Which one I use is situational.

All "procedural" issues aside, I would expect downshifting to be pretty smooth. Based on the fixes, it kinda-sorta feels like something gets out of sync on the deceleration.

I'm going to change the transmission oil to a synthetic soon and see if it makes a difference. I'm guessing this hasn't been done in a while. :dunno

Aside on synthetics:
I just performed my first oil change. I used AMSOIL 20W-50 Motorcycle Oil. I read their Motorcycle Oil Whitepaper and decided to give them a try.

At first I didn't notice much of a difference, but after the oil had some time to circulate around, I started to notice some subtleties:
- First, the engine seems quieter. I used to hear it pretty well through my helmet, now not so much so.
- The engine actually feels like it's running more smoothly, especially at higher revs, and it feels like it has more power. There is less vibration in the seat.
- Riding today, I noticed my temp is lower: Up until now "normal" has been 6 bars. I rode 400 miles this weekend, and the only time it went to 6 bars was sitting at stoplights in the city. The rest of the ride was 5 bars.

This *is* my first oil change, so this is hardly conclusive: I could have been overdue for an oil change, and I could be experiencing how the bike runs on fresh oil.

That said, I'm going to try AMSOIL's high-load 75W-90 synthetic gear oil in my transmission and rear drive to see if there's a difference. At the very least I'm expecting my transmission to quiet down a bit, but I'm hoping some of the shifting issues will melt away. I'm also going to try AMSOIL in my car. :)

[twins4life]

My experience:

Ok with dino lube
HORRIBLE with Amsoil 75W-90
Excellent with Royal Purple MaxGear 75W-90 full synthetic

Put Royal Purple in and be amazed how much it will smooth out (and give good foot pressure on the shifter).

Remember you have a dry clutch now, not the wet clutches found in Jap bikes. The oil in the wet clutch is engine oil (10W40?) and the BMW uses real GEAR oil (75W-90) which is thicker and requires a little more effort.

Side note: I would suggest avoiding Amsoil products completely.

[PMonk]

My previous 4 bikes were Harley's. They were a little clunky I guess.
I always thought the BMW kind of snicked into gear with just a little pre-load on shifter. And it does shift much better between 3500-4000 rpm. Anything lower and it gets kind of vague feeling.
Also shifting seems to be smoother with Mobil1 75-140 in transmission.

Interesting comment about never using Amzoil. Anytime anybody mentions oil the Amzoil charts pop up. My dad believed in Amzoil. He had it in his truck and believed their claims (back in the 70's) that you could run 25k just change the filter every 5k.

When his engine froze up due to no lubrication, his mechanic scooped and scraped the amzoil out of the pan and sent samples to the company for evaluation. Needless to say Amzoil never did reply to his letters and got no evaluation of the goop in the pan. One bad experience trumps 1,000,000 great charts.

[deilenberger]

This applies to all boxers, new and old: Practice urine-free shifting. As in, rev the Piss out of it! Those twins like to rev, and will shift much nicer when they do.Hi Harv!

Actually - not. The new 1200 6-speed is about as slick shifting a transmission as anything I've thrown a leg over. It doesn't clunk, it doesn't miss shifts, it pretty much "snicks" from gear to gear up or down. It also doesn't sound like an agitated bag of rocks in neutral with the clutch engaged. There is a slight whine to it - which I believe is the noise from the helical gear-set.

I think they finally got it right. Only took about 85 years or so..

[twins4life]

. One bad experience trumps 1,000,000 great charts.

There several more stories about Amsoil, including one by a Company named Red Line Lube. Where they bought a quantity of Amsoil and had it analyzed. The lab found elements that give EXCELLENT wear protection but have a life span of about 4 hours when exposed to heat and combustion gasses. This explains how Amsoil gets those superb "better than anyone else" numbers :fight

I have the Redline Report if anyone wants to read it and I have sent it to a man that ceaselessly promotes Amsoil on another BBS. He said he didnt believe it and would get Amsoil to discredit it. I never heard back and he wont respond to my emails on the subject :dunno

And there are two more horror stories I have of my own.

Amsoil is great, as long as you dont go beyond company hype or the words of the $50 / overnight oil expert - dealers...

[73516]

I too, had issues with bulky downshifts in the tranny. At 12K I switched all lubes to synthetic (BMW stuff) I noticed improvement in the tranny, but still wasn't what it should be. Along came 18K miles and guess what the ole BMW started to downshift much better. My sense is the bikes take considerable mileage before they run in. In short the synthetic are the way to go.

[bikerfish1100]

I still want to switch to synthetic though. How many miles should the bike have on it to properly break in?

you can go to full synth in the tranny ANYTIME you want. break in for a BMW motor, which is primarily about rings seating properly (at least as regards oil discussions), really wants dino oil for the first few thousand. most recommend around 10-15K on the MOTOR. as for the TRANNY, it's all just gears and shafts, with no wearing surfaces that require proper seating/mating to produce a positive seal. I run a semi-synth in my R11S, but that's just because it's already a pretty smoooth shifter. If i thought or felt I needed to, i'd drop the extra coin on a full synth, and would be willing to do it from day one.

[glwestcott]

I have 74000 on my R1100RT. The transmission shift is quite good with a rapid snick. Bit of a clunk sound going into first from neutral, but other than that a rapid and smooth shift up and down through the gears. No synthetic, just run dyno and change it out regularly. I am in a hot climate too, but never seemed to need to do anything else. I suspect that while synthetic oils are better and hold up better in heat, they really aren't necessary. I always wonder about reports of shifting or running better with this oil or that, I know my bike and cars always run smoother after a wash. I suspect that is really what is happening.:bolt

[twins4life]

I know my bike and cars always run smoother after a wash. I suspect that is really what is happening.:bolt


Dont get me started :type :stick

[henzilla]

Dont get me started :type :stick
SORRY for the Hijack...but...speaking of :stick have wondered what BAD experience(s) you had at Lone Star that made you add that to your sig line?
Have done business with three dealers in TX and one in Tennessee:thumb ,another in Kentucky:bluduh and as far as Texas, LoneStar has been the most accomodating.

I had to pay for an apparent dealer misfire on a bike that was serviced in Kentucky that I had LoneStar repair. That dealer would not let me have the service records or transfer them to LS , even at request of former owner...they used 'privacy "laws" as an out. That place is off my list .
SO.....What's the story??

[twins4life]

SORRY for the Hijack...but...speaking of :stick have wondered what BAD experience(s) you had at Lone Star that made you add that to your sig line?
Have done business with three dealers in TX and one in Tennessee:thumb ,another in Kentucky:bluduh and as far as Texas, LoneStar has been the most accomodating.

I had to pay for an apparent dealer misfire on a bike that was serviced in Kentucky that I had LoneStar repair. That dealer would not let me have the service records or transfer them to LS , even at request of former owner...they used 'privacy "laws" as an out. That place is off my list .
SO.....What's the story??

PM me your cell phone number and I will call you... I think the tag line suffices here and I have explained to MANY people who have asked what the story is. I dont want to start a dealer bashing thread, but if someone does me wrong, I WILL warn others, then they can do as they choose!