Tall 1st Gear,.....Anybody Else Stall Now & Again?

[joejeweler]

Still trying to get used to my new ride,.......and i must say that even with the increased HP over my 850 Suzuki,.....the very high 1st gear can be tricky if i'm not paying attention.

In 300 miles of riding it i've only stalled it twice,.......but it's embarrasing! Once it was coming out of a hardware store parking lot and a cop car just went by. I was not paying attention (eyeballing the cop cruiser) to the engine revs and it stalled getting out on the main road.

Not dangerous as no traffic was nearby,.......just lucky the cop hadn't noticed as he could have hit me with "unsafe start"!

It's just SO much higher geared than the Suzuki. That bike is a 5 speed and i can go maybe 10 MPH in 1st on that one. But the RR climbs up to about 22-25 MPH before 2nd seems appropriate,........so it feels like i'm starting out in 2nd on a "regular" bike.

.............anyone else seem to stall on takeoff once in awhile??

[pneuby]

You're not alone in the perception of the gearing. My former Honda was screaming to upshift out of first before I could even get through the turn. In contrast, the Roadster could probably get by on a 3-speed tranny, LOL!

[yjleesvrr]

Joe - yup, this is something we all get used to in the early days of owning a Roadster. I stalled mine at a signal light five miles from my dealer while riding it home the day I bought it.

[rdsmith3]

Every once in a while, when I am not paying attention, I still stall it. Well, um, like this morning in stop and go traffic. I was listening to something on XM radio, you see, and ...

[sloopy_farklehump]

I stalled mine a half dozen times in a row within the first 5 minutes of ownership Fortunately, those days are behind me - knock on wood.

[joejeweler]

Hehehe,......thanks guys,.......now i don't feel so lame! Thought maybe it was just me.

I stalled mine a half dozen times in a row within the first 5 minutes of ownership Fortunately, those days are behind me - knock on wood.

[DJ Downunder]

I sometimes take off in second gear (when facing down hill)..and also often change two gears at once..these bikes have grunt..

DJ

[BigC]

Very easy to stall these if you don't slip the clutch a bit...especially when the bikes cold. I've almost gotten past that....almost.

I also have this habit of putting the bike in neutral, put the kick stand down and shut the bike off. Well on my Silverwing the kickstand lever is behind the foot peg, not in front of the gear shift. I have a tendency to miss sidestand on the beamer and kick it in to first thus stalling it and causing an awkward lurch.. Hopefully no one else suffers from that affliction, lol.

[Wayno28]

Please correct me if Im wrong, but me thinks the DRY clutch
contributes to this big time.

[yjleesvrr]

Please correct me if Im wrong, but me thinks the DRY clutch
contributes to this big time.

I think you may be right. It's certainly "grabbier" than the wet clutches in my Harley and Suzuki.

[ruddy]

Still trying to get used to my new ride,.......and i must say that even with the increased HP over my 850 Suzuki,.....the very high 1st gear can be tricky if i'm not paying attention.

.............anyone else seem to stall on takeoff once in awhile??

Hi Joe,

I too made the transition from my good old '82 Suzuki GS850G (bought new in '84) to my '03 'R, and yes, I've stalled it a few times getting used to the tall gearing and the dry clutch. After 3K miles, I'm finally getting nearly as smooth as I was on the Suki. I'm still working on smoothing out "blipping" the throttle for down shifts. I find the abrupt response more difficult to coordinate while I'm braking. The Beemer engine seems to drop to idle more quickly than the four banger, which complicates matters for me. I expected more flywheel effect from the twin.

[hirsty]

I find the abrupt response more difficult to coordinate while I'm braking. The Beemer engine seems to drop to idle more quickly than the four banger, which complicates matters for me. I expected more flywheel effect from the twin.

You're not kidding. I've not had any issues with stalling from takeoff, but I rode around nearly nutting the clocks for a couple of weeks after swapping from my '77 Goldwing GL1000 - perhaps the sticky carbs & excessive idle on that one also helped ...

The revs drop away very quickly on the Boxer, and there's more engine-braking than I expected, plus I wasn't co-ordinating my clutch / change / braking properly - leading to kangaroo slow downs

All part of the learning curve though.

[owldaddy]

Only once so far, sitting on a hill at a light................... how embarrrrassssing

[MikeCam]

No, but I stall my Kawasaki with a low first gear all the time! Opposite reason; same result!

[KHaynes]

My GS has a tall first gear like your R and stalling has happened twice on a cold motor and when I wasn't paying proper attention to RPM on takeoff.
Luckily, on both occasions, I had abit of forwrds speed to I was able to recover without the bike going down.

[tor1150r]

Yup....was inducted into the BMW 'Stall' of Fame shortly after taking delivery of it in 2004. I renew my membership at least once a year

Usually due to a brief attention drift.
I don't even get embarassed at this point...I just wave to on-lookers!

[dwayne]

Stalled mine on the way out of the dealership after just picking it up.