Monolever Question . . .

[CTellman]

I have a '93 R100RT with 50,000 miles. I change all oils every 6 months/ 6000 miles. What kind of service life do FD bearings, gears and seals have?
Any experience out there in cyberland?
Thanks,
Campbell Tellman II
'93 R100RT
:thumb

[PHMarvin]

Hi, Campbell,
Most of the components you asked about last for the life of the bike. If any of the final drive seals begin leaking, yes, have them replaced by a competent person (maybe you, maybe not!). The thing I would worry about on a bike of that vintage is the lack of the circlip on the input shaft of the gearbox. BMW saved a few pfennig from '86?-'95 by not machining the circlip groove and leaving the circlip off, the circlip which prevented the bearing from moving. Without the circlip, the bearing WILL eventually move, destroyong itself and necessitating a gearbox rebuild. If it hasn't yet been gone, I would stop riding the bike NOW, remove the gearbox and send it to you rebuilder of choice. In your area, I would choose Anton Largiader in Charlottesville, VA (I think) or Tom Cutter in Yardley, PA. The rebuild might be expensive, but with the rebuild (and now, with a groove cut into the shaft and circlip fitted, the gearbox should be good for 100k+ miles.

[20774]

Phil -

Your beginning year for the missing circlip is around 1984, but it sounds like that even has a question mark associated with it. Snowbum discusses it here:

http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/transmission.htm

Anton has good pictures on the subject too:

http://www.largiader.com/articles/circlip/

[CTellman]

Phil,
Thanks for the reply. I hope to do transmission and rear main seal this Christmas . I check the magnetic drain plug every three months and as of my last check (just before the rally) there was some gray powder but no new filings or pieces. There have always been a couple very small filings on the magnet but I couldn't wipe them off with a shop towel. I see no change.
I also don't drive very hard. Nevertheless, my next wrenching will be separating the trans from engine and sending it away for some work.
Thanks fo your input.
Campbell
:thumb

[bikerfish1100]

I also don't drive very hard.

depending upon what you mean by this, you could actually be causing problems, not preventing them. The engine does like to be revved, not lugged. 3K rpm may "feel" good, but the bike will be happier at 5K rpm.

[PHMarvin]

Hi, Kurt,
I have always heard the circlipless transmission started sometime in the '85 model year, maybe even '86, and the circlip was returned during the '95 model year. I do NOT believe the circlip was removed during the '84 model year. I took delivery of the next-to-last '84 R100RS off the line. The build date was 9/84 and Harriet (late wife) picked it up in October, 1984 in Munich. It was serial number 6227336 and it had a kickstart transmission. We kept that bike until lste 1996 and never had any trouble with the gearbox in 64+k miles.