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Transmission grind


Jordan Botha

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Andy m

You needed the Mike Fishwick tomes they used to publish in the OC magazine . Nothing wrong with the gearbox. Just a case of taking it to bits, doing something with washers to the return spring, adding some teflon gloop to the oil and then remembering to time the gear changes correctly so you could pre-load the lever, match the RPM, change and hold the post-load afterwards. ๐Ÿ˜

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Andy

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Xactly
2 minutes ago, Andy m said:

You needed the Mike Fishwick tomes they used to publish in the OC magazine . Nothing wrong with the gearbox. Just a case of taking it to bits, doing something with washers to the return spring, adding some teflon gloop to the oil and then remembering to time the gear changes correctly so you could pre-load the lever, match the RPM, change and hold the post-load afterwards. ๐Ÿ˜

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Andy

Pre-loading the gear lever certainly helped with smooth changes. I think Fishwick stuff was all about airhead boxes IIRC. There very much was something wrong with the first two attempts at the oilhead 5-speed gearboxes (M93 and M94). Even the final (M97) one had issues - wavy washer anyone? Certainly some of the issues on the earlier ones could be staved off by using Redline heavy duty fully synthetic raspberry sundae oil but, as in the case of my R1100RS, eventually the โ€œraise the tail in the airโ€ rigmarole to replace the gearbox was largely inevitable.

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Steve Case

I did indeed 'raise the tail' in the air which was mainly to replace the clutch (why did they wear out at 50K?) I actually replaced 1st and 2nd as they had been beaten by a previous owner and the dogs were rounded.ย 

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This didn't prevent the false neutrals and in the end the only way to get a good change was in a leisurely fashion, while thinking about what to have for tea.

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The bike was a '97 reg oilhead GS but I believe the build date was late '96.

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1 hour ago, Steve Case said:

I did indeed 'raise the tail' in the air which was mainly to replace the clutch (why did they wear out at 50K?) I actually replaced 1st and 2nd as they had been beaten by a previous owner and the dogs were rounded.ย 

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This didn't prevent the false neutrals and in the end the only way to get a good change was in a leisurely fashion, while thinking about what to have for tea.

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The bike was a '97 reg oilhead GS but I believe the build date was late '96.

Hmm, 1997 was the intro year for the final M97 box.....My 1996 RS had the worst of the three, the intermediate M94 with the rubber rings to prevent the noise. (I ask you.....)

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Andy m

I met Mr. Fishwick at the Stafford show. He asked why I'd switched to Yamaha ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜

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Andy

  • Haha 3
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Steve Case

Could have been a great bike, it was a good un but not a great one.

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40 minutes ago, Steve Case said:

Could have been a great bike, it was a good un but not a great one.

Yes, I view my Crossrunner as a GS with a decent engine and transmissionโ€ฆ

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MatBin

I had a monoshock R80RT, replaced the clutch at 100k miles as a precaution and never had any issues with the box apart from its agricultural nature and that was using it as a commuter bike into London from Herts, about 35 miles each way.

The K75S that replaced it however wore it's clutch out in 30k miles, not impressed at all.

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4 hours ago, MatBin said:

I had a monoshock R80RT, replaced the clutch at 100k miles as a precaution and never had any issues with the box apart from its agricultural nature and that was using it as a commuter bike into London from Herts, about 35 miles each way.

The K75S that replaced it however wore it's clutch out in 30k miles, not impressed at all.

I think you were either just unlucky with your K75S or perhaps a PO abused it, or it was incorrectly adjusted. I know a few people whoโ€™ve had a K75 or K100 and none ever had a new clutch.

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MatBin
1 hour ago, Xactly said:

I think you were either just unlucky with your K75S or perhaps a PO abused it, or it was incorrectly adjusted. I know a few people whoโ€™ve had a K75 or K100 and none ever had a new clutch.

I think mine was a Friday afternoon bike, riddled with issues, gorgeous to look at and loved riding it though. Dealer maintained, never ridden in winter (honestly), garaged etc, shame, but I swapped it for a Triumph 955 ST which was better in every way, apart from looks possibly, and remains one of my all time favourite bikes.

Edited by MatBin
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Steve Case

I think the oilheads had a few issues that were down to poor QC so it would not surprise me about the clutch.

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Iย think BMW still pedal the idea the bikes are all built in Berlin...

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13 minutes ago, Steve Case said:

I think the oilheads had a few issues that were down to poor QC so it would not surprise me about the clutch.

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Iย think BMW still pedal the idea the bikes are all built in Berlin...

Assembled by disaffected Turks probablyโ€ฆ.

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Rocker66
22 minutes ago, Xactly said:

Assembled by disaffected Turks probablyโ€ฆ.

When we visited the factory in Spandau back in the 1970s there were many Turkish workers building the airheads and there was nothing wrong with the quality of those.

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Steve Case

Nothing to do with Turks in the Spandau factory, by the 90's production was at a number of plants and this is where the QC started to struggle to keep up.

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Steve Case

On the other thing I wish i'd bought the 955ST and not the 955 Daytona, love the engine and the sound, suspension was lovely, build quality was a bit 'industrial' but the bloody seating position....

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3 hours ago, Steve Case said:

Nothing to do with Turks in the Spandau factory, by the 90's production was at a number of plants and this is where the QC started to struggle to keep up.

Maybe not, but the Bavarian craftsman image really applied to the Earles fork era models, which really were quality and cost around twice as much as a Brit twin.

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Rocker66
15 minutes ago, Xactly said:

Maybe not, but the Bavarian craftsman image really applied to the Earles fork era models, which really were quality and cost around twice as much as a Brit twin.

The airheads werenโ€™t exactly cheap as my R75/5 was ยฃ1200 whilst a Honda ย 750/4 and a Suzuki GT750 were circa ยฃ750.. In those things like the coach lines were hand done and the bikes were assembled by people not robots.

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Steve Case

Oi no taking the piss out of robots.

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I don't think Bavarian craftsmen had anything to do with bolting on the drive hub on my oilhead.

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MatBin
On 09/08/2021 at 11:36, Steve Case said:

On the other thing I wish i'd bought the 955ST and not the 955 Daytona, love the engine and the sound, suspension was lovely, build quality was a bit 'industrial' but the bloody seating position....

Didn't the Daytona have a more tuned motor though. Swings and roundabouts :)

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Steve Case

Yup it was stuck on top of the standard rev range so for an extra 1500 rpm you got an extra 20hp if memory serves me right. Everything below 9500 rpm is the same as the speed triple.

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The engine was beefed up with a lot of forged components so should take a thrashing.

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However because of my height I spend a lot of time with my chin over the top yoke, mind you I did find that the problem was not so much the height of the bars but the width putting my arm close to my body and not allowing me to turn. I've since fitted a pair of Tomasselli clips which are much wider and a lot more comfrtable.

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SteveThackery
On 06/08/2021 at 12:53, Steve Case said:

Not sure it matters, he got the point across and the information he needed.

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Well, I don't think he did.ย  I don't believe a tight chain can cause "grinding" of the gears UNLESS it is so tight it has actually already damaged the gearbox bearings.ย  In which case, correcting the chain tension won't fix it.

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Steve Case

We may never know

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