I've got an US spec '85 r80 G/S. I was looking at getting a rebuild on the transmission to get a circlip put in, but had a few questions. I thought the G/S came stock with a kickstart, but my bike doesn't have one. The serial number on the tranny is Z 105826. Snowbum's site put's that in the 'no circlip' zone, that makes me think it's probably the original tranny. Any idea why I wouldn't have a kickstart? Were there some bikes that didn't come with one? I asked the PO about it when I first looked at the bike but don't remember what he said. I shot him an e-mail, hopefully he'll give me some info. Oh, and to ask this for the 10,000th time...... I've read about how poor the kickstart is on these bikes but most everything I've read talks about kicking the high comp 1000cc bikes. Anybody got experience using a kickstart(for emergencies) on the low-comp 800cc bikes? Just another point of failure?
If I remember correctly, having an 85 US spec bike puts you right at the end of the model production run. I would have no doubt that BMW was just putting what they had in the bikes to get them out the door. Not sure when BMW stopped putting kickstarters on the bikes but someone here might As far as using the kick starter, I have been told that if you use them a lot, you take the risk of deforming the shaft....or maybe the opening in the tranny lid. While they are cool and might make a neat impression at the local meet, it seems like most people recommend them for emergency use only.
bgoodsoil, My kick starter lever was giving me grief, and I removed it. Although I did attempt to adjust how it attached with a brand new mounting bolt, that attempt failed with several curses and a series of hammer blows with a punch. I recall the expression "use it, and lose it". My question to you, how smooth does yours shift ? Doug...
it seems to shift alright. I have to match my downshifts with speed or it grinds, but I think that's normal on these bikes? I have to be at a dead stop to go into first without grinding. It's not terrible though, I wouldn't be getting a rebuild if it wasn't for the circlip. Honestly, I'd like to try doing the rebuild myself but Joerg's site makes it seem like I'd need tools that I don't already have. I really really hate the idea of paying somebody else to work on my bike but I don't think I have a choice this time. I saw a G/S that showed up at Boxerworks from Florida. The guy's taking a Central America ride like mine. He sent the bike up to Nathan...along with about $10k for work and upgrades! Definitely opposite end of the spectrum where motorcycle maintenance is concerned.
if you wanna tear into it go for it. if i had nathan right down the road i'd be more brave. you can at least get it apart and then seek help here or at boxerworks if needed.
FWIW, mine is 86 (10/85 build) and it has kicker. Also, I posted elsewhere on an old tranny thread, but I'll repeat here: those looking for tranny re-builds may want to investigate re-psycle's rebuilt units on ebray. I know nothing about their quality of work and the price seems initially high, but if you can recoup some of it by selling your old one, it might turn out to be an ok deal for someone who wants to minimize down-time? YMMV etc...
everyone bidding on those dislikes you more everytime you post about them.... you should do it in a few more threads. (sarcasm intended...)
well, the rebuild for mine was $1,100 from Ted Porter's Beemershop and included three new gears that were toast at 20K miles..... And IMHO, no there shouldn't be grinding when you down shift, provided you do have the clutch lever in..... If I was to go riding waaaaay down south, I'd go for the rebuild to make sure all is OK back there....
BTW, it's not an auction. It's "buy-it-now". I imagine they'll sell/rebuild you one if you miss the one currently on-line. It's what they do: re-cycle parts.
I've heard something like $600 for rebuild if no parts required. The gears are ridiculously expensive (nearly $200 for trick 5th?). I imagine factory parts are also silly...
bgoodsoil, I have a couple of issues with mine that I still haven't totally resolved. Like yourself, when downshifting I can get caught in a false neutral which will produce a grind when shifting to the next gear, up or down. I am certain that's not right, and want to resolve that. Per some feedback from a previous thread, I did make some adjustments to the shift lever although it has not fixed it entirely. Doug..
I was sometimes getting a false neutral and consequent grinding, typically the result of turning bike off while in 2nd gear. I found that it was largely a result of my not being "definate" when shifting. After reading about pre-loading the lever, I started making sure that while not being overly rough, I didn't shift too tentatively either. Problem gone. Of course, I also assume that I'm missing circlip, and live in fear that missed shifts are impending doom
Gimmeslack, I just have not become comfortable with the shifting on the G/S, now with over 2000 miles on it. The up shifting and down shifting seems to have signficant stiction compared to my R100PD, and R1200GS. The clutch has been adjusted for a small amount of play like the PD, and I have aligned the shifting tab. The feedback suggest it's how I am applying action to the lever, that might be some of it, although I am convinced there is something else missing to this equation. Doug...
If I'm not mistaken the re-build "buy-it-now" trannies are about $900 plus an exchange with your rebuildable used tranny or a $150 core charge. Not a bad price when one considers getting a new one or the cost of repairing one after the inevitable catastophic failure. A rebuild by Porter is about $600 or so, assuming no replacement of gears, shafts, etc. A 35,000 mile used tranny from a 1984 bike went on E-Bay yesterday for about $450 or so. Of course, some 84 trannies have been reported with the missing circlip so that's a risk one takes. I'm planning on taking mine up to the Beemershop when I get around to pulling it. I have been diligent about running through the testing checklists Snowbum and Parkhouse suggest.
$600 is the much used figure for a tranny rebuild, and in speaking to Ted, that was if the largest bearing didn't need replacment. The guy who used to be the master tech, and airhead guy at my local shop said "why would you ever rebuild a trany without doing the big bearing? It's the one that takes the load?" Well, mine turned out to be bad, along with other parts...
Eliminate your cheap possibilities first: Lube your splines. Although I haven't experienced it personally, some have reported dramatically smoother shifting. Taken from webbikeworld: "I carried out a spline lube because I found the gears were often hard to shift without experiencing a considerable clunk and grate of gears, particularly shifting down from 3rd to 2nd and from 2nd to 1st. Getting the 'right revs' helped but not always. I found doing the spline lube helped particularly in the other gears, making the shifts silky smooth, but still had problems with the 2nd and 1st gears as described above. What I have discovered since, ( at least 6 weeks later) is that I didn't have the clutch properly adjusted. I was looking over my R65 owners manual (as came with the bike when new) , and it described how to adjust the clutch (ie adjusting the cable AND adjusting the locknut at rear of clutch housing to give clutch lever freeplay), whereas previously I had been adjusting just via the cable lever adjust nuts."
i've talked to a guy that said he charged 500 for a rebuild, but that's just his labor, no parts involved. solo's experience is the number i hear people getting closer to most of the time. doug, if i recall you're fairly new to the airhead world. are you preloading the shifter?? when i got into airheads someone showed me how to preload the shifter and it resolved what i thought was a problem.
blake- not sure about doug, but i do not think i am preloading anything. would you briefly outline the process? thanks, pat
it's very easy to show someone. i'll try and type it out. when you are about to upshift, apply pressure upward on the shifter (it has a bit of play). keep that slight pressure applied and as you pull in the clutch lever the trans will slide right into gear. release the clutch, then let the gear shift lever drop back into place. i mention this only b/c everytime i swap bikes with a friend they shift my bike like i did when i first got into airheads. they come back asking if i have a trans problem.
