Does the 1200 have clutch spline issues?

[Dale_K]

I was reading the long post in the 1150 area about clutch spline failures and wondering if the 1200 is susceptible to the same problem. Certainly looks like a bad situation on the earlier bikes. A failure stops you in your tracks and thousands of dollars to fix.

[thepeacebullgrunt]

I don't know if my clutch will fail but at 9K I am amazed at how my gears are shifting smoothly...once in a while mainly because I forgot something or didn't process well, they act cranky and make noises but I repeat it is very rare.

[parkec]

Not mine. I have the dual cluthc gear box with shift paddle option.

[thepeacebullgrunt]

Well !

me I have the Ice Cream fridge option right under the seat...

can't have all in life.

[bobw]

The 12 is better. I am sure it could happen, but I wouldn't be concerned. I research my "next" bikes for a year or more and am comfortable with any problem areas or quirks they may have (they all have em). The RR is SOLID and benefits from a couple model years of working out the bugs and the overall improvements made to the 12 series in general. Look at the 12 postings here, it's a non issue.

Cheers

Bob

[deilenberger]

I moderate the "hexhead" (1200's) forum on the BMW-MOA forums, and hang out in a number of other 1200 series bike forums. So far - I've heard of one clutch spline failure on a 1200. Strangely it happened to Paul Mikahla (a former senior tech at Bob's BMW), who also has experienced the same failure on his K75 and his 1100 oilhead. Seems he's unlucky that way.

Other than that one - out of probably thousands of people who own them and frequent these forums - no mention of ANY other failures. I believe BMW may have put that problem to bed with the 1200's (and hopefully the rear-drive problem with the initial 600 mile oil change.)

[Dale_K]

I bought my first modern BMW from Paul at Bob's - a 1992 K75S. I remember his K75 had something like 200,000 miles. I also saw the post on another forum where he mentioned his troubles but I couldn't find any similar threads from other owners. I guess it doesn't merit worrying about the spline problem and there's nothing an owner can do to protect themselves in any event.