BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Riding my 2002 R1150R home from work today and encountered a problem. Coming out of a turn went to shift from second to third. Made the shift but when I twisted the throttle no power went the back wheel. I thought I just found a false neutral and moved the shifter but the same thing happened. Cruised to a stop and killed the engine because there a distinct clanking sound coming from the engine. It started back up fine but when I am in gear and twist the throttle nothing transfers to the back wheel and makes a pretty bad noise. Any thoughts?

Haven't been there myself, but it sounds like a clutch issue, the dreaded stripped spline teeth in the clutch disk. Do you get some version of the noises with the clutch in or in neutral?

there was no noise when it was being pushed in neutral and engine off but I did have noise when I pushed it engine off, in gear, and clutch depressed.

Definitely a stripped clutch hub and damaged transmission input shaft splines. It's an expensive repair. BMW should be ashamed for responding to this almost common major drivetrain component failure with inaction and denial.

The OilHeads are increasingly earning a very different BMW reputation because of this failure. That's what prompted me to get my current BMW, a superb alternative and a very different, performance oriented, modern machine. Helping a board member choose a replacement bike (he wanted an R1150R) I advised against it. We looked at a too used blue 2007 F800ST. Thinking ahead 10 years and considering his budget, lovely wife and type of riding involved, I confidently recommended This Bike. It was talked about by us HERE.

Back on topic . . . Is there someone experienced in the dealer costs to fix this clutch spline failure . . . with a credit card?

2wheels_only wrote:there was no noise when it was being pushed in neutral and engine off but I did have noise when I pushed it engine off, in gear, and clutch depressed.

Unfortunately, that experiment might have diagnosed a clutch spline failure.

When you push the bike in neutral, rear wheel turns the rear portion of the drivetrain - up to the transmission input shaft and clutch. No noise = no problem in the transmission (or at least unlikely), nor in drive shaft or final drive.

When you push bike in gear, with clutch lever pulled (clutch plate disengaged from pressure plate), the rear wheel sets in motion everything up through the clutch and transmission input shaft, aka splines.

Hopefully there's another explanation and simple remedy. Good luck!

<edit> Rob posted before me, and he's definitely the guy to listen to!

How expensive? Getting it towed to the mechanic tomorrow.
P.s. Bike only has 16k miles on it.

2wheels_only wrote:How expensive? Getting it towed to the mechanic tomorrow.
P.s. Bike only has 16k miles on it.

Only 16k. Wow.

It's about $500 in parts - mostly the clutch and transmission input shaft + a few odds and ends like transmission seals as needed. Transmission has to come out and be rebuilt. I would say about 10 hours labor.

I was riding with CycleRob when it happened to me. No warning at all. Whereabouts are you?

I am in Nashville, TN. Had it towed to the mechanic today. He was shocked at how low the mileage was on the bike to have these symptoms. He said he was going to take a look at it and if it was the clutch spline failure that it would be cheaper to buy a used transmission and put it in instead of getting new parts and rebuilding. Any thoughts on that?

Not sure about the cost of a new tranny, but when mine granaded @ 50k miles, dealer said the same thing. I think all their labor would have made for many $$$, so I did the clutch side myself.
Tom Cutter @ RCRG did the rebuild on the tranny.
Just about $1100 with shipping for the tranny (new seals, bearings, input shaft, labor) and ~$850 for the clutch parts from MAX BWM.
After much research on the 'causes' of this minor annoyance , I replaced everything from the flywheel (clutch housing) on back.

Sooo...just about $2G in parts & labor, + my time, which was a labor of love.
I'll only do it once...this repair should never be necessary, IMHO.
But the knowledge gained was priceless, and I will be on a regular spline lube schedule because of it....

So sorry to hear that. A few years ago I had an R1100S purchased from the original owner. He said the clutch splines failed on him at 12k miles! He had it rebuilt under warranty and claimed the dealer said they had never had it happen twice to the same bike. Well, I lost over a grand on that trading it away at 20k as I had no confidence in it. It may not have happened again. I hope it doesn't. I kept my 1150R to 18k miles with no problems.