Clutch life and shifting

[kdcord]

Maybe a naive question but what is the average clutch life span on the dry single plate in miles? cost of replacing with a certified shop and is up shifting with no clutch damaging when done smoothly? 99 1200 RS. Thanks !

[PGlaves]

Maybe a naive question but what is the average clutch life span on the dry single plate in miles? cost of replacing with a certified shop and is up shifting with no clutch damaging when done smoothly? 99 1200 RS. Thanks !

I don't think there is a meaningful average life. Touring riders who shift a few times per tank of fuel get very long life. People who ride in field events get very short life. Commuters get somewhere in between. I've changed them at 30K miles and have seen them go over 200K miles.

Figure $1500 at the shop for a classic K. It varies by hourly rate and model. Over $2000 on Oilheads.

You are unlikely to damage the clutch by not using it upshifting - but you risk damage to the transmission. If you use the clutch when shifting you can fully engage the shift dogs before applying significant torque to them. If you upshift without the clutch that might happen - but you also may get very slight partial engagement. On BMWs the dogs are not angled or under cut. You can round them off fairly easily.

I see clutchless shifting as very little upside and a big potential downside.

[98lee]

For the reason Paul stated, DON"T DO IT!

Once the shift dogs get even slightly rounded off, you run the risk of the transmission popping back out of gear after it has partially gone into gear.

When that happens, it bends things in the internal shifting mechanism (shift forks and shifting drum and followers). Then it REALLY starts to tear things up!

The shifting drums are $361. Each of the shift forks is about $75 for your bike. Older K bike (K75,K100,K1100,K1) shift forks are $250 EACH!! and are the lightest flimsiest piece of metal known to man.

DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT SHIFT THESE TRANSMISSIONS WITHOUT THE CLUTCH!!!!!!!

These are NOT like the transmissions in the japanese bikes. They were NEVER intended to be shifted without the clutch.

There is NO upside to shifting without the clutch.

Yes, they will do it (for a time).

So will shifting a car or truck. And they have the benefit of synchronizers, which these transmissions don't have. Think of driving for a day without the clutch including starts and stops. You WILL do some damage. You will take thousands of miles off the life of the transmission. Sort of like when you tried to teach your teenage daughter how to drive a stick. GRIND, WINCE!
GRIND, GNASH, WINCE, GROAN!!

Or like shifting a car from reverse to drive with out coming to a stop, or the old Neutral Drop Start from our teens (rev up the engine in neutral, then drop it into drive)! It worked most of the time , but it was a good thing dad traded in his car every two years for a new one. I can't even imagine the life I took out of that car!!!


:dance :dance :dance

P.S. DON'T DO IT!!

[kdcord]

I am SOOOOOOO glad I asked that question. My friend who has an 03 k1200 has been upshifting with out a clutch for some time and recommended the same to me to save clutch life. Like you guys said, on rice bikes, it is just done. THANKS AGAIN FOR SAVING ME !! I will clue in my normally bright friend. :wave