Has anyone had this experience? R1150r 2001 UK

[Corbow]

I took my bike out for the first ride of the season one month ago.Its done 15000k, and has been serviced as it should be. A glitch that the bike has, is that sometimes when changing up through the gears, it would kind of hit a neutral, then suddenly engage the gear. I had always assumed that this was a BMW thing. Anyway, I got on the motorway, and it did the same thing, but this time did a front and rear wheel snaking, which I thought was going to throw me, but it settled down.I decided to take a slow pace and come off at the next exit 3 miles down the road, and check things out, so I did about 40mph, and proceeded to take the next exit. I had checked the rear view, and there was nothing behind, just one car in front. The next thing I know is, I'm gazing up into a guys face, and I say "what happened", He said that he found me in the road with the bike on top of me, and that he'd called an ambulance, and also my wife. within a minute the ambulance had arrived and he was gone - never found out who he was. So one month later I am having physio for a dislocated arm, and broken collar bone. The bike has been inspected, it has a fault in the gearbox, and the rear wheel is locked. I am interested to know if anyone has has the same experience ? Meanwhile, I am awaiting the return of the bike which is being cosmetically repaired on the insurance, however, they say that the insurance doesn't cover the gearbox problem. Once I have it all sorted I shall sell it...end of my love affair with motorcycles sadly.

[Rog(UK) - Yorkshire Dales]

It sounds as if you are lucky to be alive; I'm glad the injuries aren't more serious.

I wonder if there might be two issues here. Obviously if the gearbox locked, that would certainly be one reason for your accident, but I'm also wondering if the tyres had very little air in them, which would certainly account for the snaking. It's an easy thing to overlook until one is actually riding and I'm certainly not the world's best at checking tyre pressures

Low tyre pressures could easilly account for your being thrown off. It's only a long shot, but is it possible that when you were thrown off the bike, your foot forced the gear lever and somehow seized the gearbox? - I don't know, but I think it is a very rare occurance.

I had quite a serious accident eight years ago when a Range Rover pulled straight across my track at point blank range and I suffered comminuted fractures to my wrist and elbow, necessitating a bone graft. At the time, I swore that I would never ride a bike again, but......yes, a couple of years later, I bought myself another.

On a day like today, there's nothing better than getting out on the bike and exploring the Yorkshire Moors or Dales (unfortunately, today, I am stuck inside trying to finish fitting a kitchen in my new house, but I will certainly be packing all my camera gear and heading out tomorrow).


Rog

[Corbow]

Thanks Rog.
Appreciate your comments for sure, but the tyre pressures were fine. The gearbox has a problem , as it has been inspected by an insurance mechanic,and it has been certified as having problems. So until get the bike back from the garage, and get my own mechanic to inspect it, I won't know for sure what the problem was.

[Boxer]

Lucky indeed. In the 8 years or so of being on this forum for R1150R, I don't recall hearing about the gearbox seizing up like that. Glad you didn't suffer greater injuries, and I for one would be very interested in the outcome of the mechanical investigation.

[b12bandit]

Blimey. Sorry to hear about your 'off'. Glad your injuries were not worse.
Mine's an 02 1150R with 35k on the clock. Gearbox and transmission have been fine.
I too, would be interested in the result.

PETE

[Corbow]

Thanks Pete, and everyone.
I'll let you know the outcome once the bike is back. Also, as others have said how totally reliable their R1150R's have been, a couple of years back at about 8000 miles, the rear wheel bearings gave up the ghost, fortunately, I was just arriving at the BMF bike show in Peterborough, and help was at hand, had the bike transported home. Really strange though, these failures, but, on two trips, one through the Alps, and the other across Europe to Poland, it never missed a single beat! How odd........

[omg1010]

This is indeed a very rare case. Never heard of in any of the 1100/1150 series. I would get the gear-box inspected by a technician as it could be a case of product liability (see http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies ... dex_en.htm).

The only cause I can imagine would be dedentition of a gear wheel. I had such a case back in the seventies on my Honda SS50.

Brgds
Oliver

[gregor]

The snaking is still puzzling. Hard to imagine a direct connection with the gearbox problems until a seizure took place.
The nearest accident I've heard of is of a stone jamming between the chain and gearbox sprocket and locking the rear wheel (not on a BMW obviously) .
At least you are still able to talk about it.