Hard to shift to lower gears - what's wrong???

[bakernks]

So this man's R1150R was apparently assembled without the clutch spline receiving any lube. That's a scary thought to someone that just bought his second R1150R, and having had spline lube issues with the first one at 17,000 miles.
Without getting into any ethnic issues here whatsoever, BMW in Germany employs the average German, but also Germany has many immigrants from all over the area. Turkey, I understand, is a big labor source for the Germans. This is a Quality Control issue requiring corrective action, the bikes are not always being assembled correctly if his spline was dry and rusted, the clutch hub is being warranty replaced, all at less than 5,000 miles. You can spec-out a piece of hardware till the cows come home, but if the workers just don't follow instructions, don't understand them, aren't allowed to follow instructions by middle managers interested in saving a buck (Euro, in this case), or are rushed to the point mistakes are made and ignored, this is still a Quality Management issue. Unemployment in Germany is at 11%, so BMW can't be cranking out bikes so fast they are slipping up because they can't find enough help. If I was to hazard a guess, some sort of Lean Manufacturing program is in place, it's another place Manufacturers can squeeze a bit of money out of the process, but it can mean they trim too much, and stuff like this starts cropping up.

I'll elaborate. My '05 BMW F650GS is a wonder of single cylinder motorcycle design. There really isn't anything as advanced on the planet in the 650 thumper catagory. Fuel injected, heated grips, ABS (not linked or servo'd thank God!), 52 H.P., 3 year/36,000 mile warranty. I'm very impressed with how smooth my big thumper is, I rode it 500 miles the other day, all slab, never a hiccup, didn't use a drop of oil.

BUT...over the course of a year's ownership, I've experienced numerous, maddening problems to the point I'll trade this motorcycle off next Spring and very likely never buy another BMW. I discovered this bike had a torn, ruined airfilter in place at 2,000 miles. The airfilter element was just sitting in the airbox, wasn't filtering a thing. The oil drain plug has been replaced 3 times and still leaks. The low fuel light failed in the stuck on position the other day, and it takes a complete fuel pump replacement ($300, warranty) to fix it. All this on a machine that has less than 4,000 miles on it. My gut tells me if this was a Yamaha, none of this would be happening.

Conclusion

BMW is more of a car company now than motorcycle, just as Honda has become. The bikes earned a reliability record when the company concentrated on motorcycles, and the designs were much less complicated. The engineering on BMW is outstanding, but the execution of the designer's work is suffering in the company's quest to profit. They are not alone in this problem.
I love my BMW's, they really do get into your blood, they're wierd and wonderful both, but I've had just about enough trouble with my BMW's to warrant not buying any more. My R1150R has but 1500 miles, the one I just picked up. It is flawless, and I expect it to please for quite some time. I never skimp on the service they need or buy cheap oil, non standard filters or the like. They go now to a dealer I have confidence in, technically speaking, although it means a 200 mile drive to take them in. I'm letting/paying the dealers do everything except routine oil/filter changes and minor adjustments, just to see if the machines will be more reliable in this fashion. But the first time the new one craps on me, it's gone too and to BMW, so am I. There's too many fish in the Sea, dudes.

[bakernks]

For what it's worth, I just copied and sent the long winded post, with even more additions, above to BMW, NA., by e-mail. I have no illusions, I'll get the standard e-mail reply in milliseconds, "...thank you for your interest in BMW products,..."

la dee da.

I refuse to be silent about something I'm passionate about.

[Marcus]

There may be something more to this than poor quality control on BMW's part. I had a second conversation with the Service Advisor and got more info from him. In addition to the clutch spline, they did have to change out the clutch gasket because of a leak as well as the clutch master cylinder. There may have been a possible leak of clutch fluid into the clutch spline area thus removing any lubricant.

The SA mentioned he has seen hardly any bikes with this problem so it doesn't appear to be a chronic issue. For my part, I'm inclined to see this whole episode as a mechanical failure with the clutch gasket and master cylinder.

While I was initially miffed with having a fault on a new bike that I had paid a lot of money for, and tries to distinguish itself from the rest of the herd by it's claims to quality, I do understand that a complex mechanical product is prone to failure in some places. That's where excellent customer service comes in and thus far, BMW has done well and seems to do well for quite a few other owners. But I've only had the bike for 3 months and put 4500 miles on it so there's nothing conclusive as yet - we'll see a few years down the road.



Marcus

[mtnbiker1966]

Remember, the boxer engine and tranny at 4500 miles ain't even broke in yet. Run the hell out of her. Mine did the same thing--shifted like hell. My buddy said to keep the R's up and run it hard. Around 10k she started shifting fine.

Apply preload pressure on the shifter, half throttle half clutch.