Clutch adjustment

[msbuck]

So now I feel like a real newbie since MrBuck is no longer here to help.     That being said, I went out a few days ago to take a ride. It has been a year since it wad ridden last. I've been successful in getting it started. Yeah! Win! I got all geared up, started the bike and when I put it in gear, it lurched forward and stalled - before I released the clutch.

I was hoping it was simply a clutch adjustment problem. I have read many different iterations on the 'proper' way to do this. One note - with the bike not running, I can get it into 1st gear and neutral no problem, the others not so much. I attempted a couple of times to adjust the clutch, trying to run through the gears while not running. I am not having any luck. It is now in a state where it will reluctantly go into 1st, but no others.

I'm just frustrated right now and about ready to take it to someone else who knows what the heck they are doing. This widow brain doesn't seem to be functioning so well...

Any suggestions? Thanks. 

[Barry]

I got all geared up, started the bike and when I put it in gear, it lurched forward and stalled - before I released the clutch.

That's probably just the clutch plate stuck to the flywheel through being in storage. Try starting it in gear with the clutch pullled in but beware it may lurch forwards if the clutch doesn't free up.

[Tony Smith]

I have a tired and true method of freeing BMW clutches, to use my method you need a friend and you need to live in a relatively quiet neighborhood.

Start the bike in neutral and warm it up. When warm have your friend push the bike (with you seated on it) up to a brisk walking pace.

Select 1st gear and ride away with the clutch lever pulled back to the bars. I have never had to ride more than a kilometre or so before the clutch freed up.

Over the years, either through developing skills or a lack of friends I have simply used the slope at the end of our driveway where it meets the road, you really do only need about walking pace and the with an idling engine 1st gear will pop right in and you can ride away.

[msbuck]

Success! I tried the wheel against the wall fix. Another friend suggested putting it in gear and rocking it back and forth until it breaks loose. I did both and at first didn't think it had worked, but went out this morning to move the bike and it was free! Yeah! Now I gotta redo my clutch adjustment that I screwed up.  Should have left that alone...

So I've read different variations on adjusting the clutch. I guess I don't understand the importance of just WHERE to set the knurled adjuster knobs on the handle bar before adjusting at the transmission. I've read the standard of setting it at 12mm and I've read another that says to start with it completely turned in. I'm thinking to go with what the BMW manual says (12mm between them), but it's pretty evident that MrBuck had used the other method as the knurled knobs are almost flush with each other.

I know it's important to have play at the handlebar to keep from wearing out the clutch. I've also read to adjust at the transmission until the play is correct at the handlebar. The BMW manual says to have a distance of 201 + 2mm from the lever at the transmission to the holddown point of the cable. Make sense? I'm not sure how to proceed at this point.

Any advice? Thanks!

[Tony Smith]

Clutch adjustment - the easy way.

First slacken off the handlebar adjuster (wind it in) nearly all the way, leave it about 1 to 1.5 turns out.

Secondly, adjust the clutch arm at the back of the gearbox so that it contacts the pushrod lightly, i.e. not enough to begin disengaging the clutch, and is at 90 degrees to the main axis of the bike. If you imagine a straight line drawn between the front and rear wheels, then the clutch arm is adjusted so that it is at a right angle to that imaginary line.

Thirdly, adjust your handlebar lever so that it firmly engages at about 1/8 of its available travel, check that the cable is fully slack when your hand is nowhere near the lever.


Done.


By starting with about 1.5 turns from bottoming you allow for wearing on the clutch plate that might otherwise tend to tension the cable and cause further slippage. Also take care that the cable is not kinked or restricted at any point of its run.

Do not lose the ferrule/nipple that retains the clutch cable in the lever - this is another complex and expensive solution to a non-problem, brought to you by the elves of the black forest. I carry a spare  but in reality I've usually ended up giving them to people at rallies and the like who have lost their own when the cable snapped.