BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Hello everyone. I just bought a 2007 R1200R...this bike is AWESOME! My only regret is having to sell my '99 F650 which I just drove from Virginia to California on. Anyway, is it normal to get the "clunking" sound when you change gears?...especially going from second to first. I think all bikes make some kind of noise when you switch gears, but I thought I read somewhere that the R1200R is supposed to be "smooth" when changing gears.

Anybody live near Charlottesville, Va want to meet up for a ride?


Thanks.


...ron...

Ron,

It's normal. Especially from 1 to 2. The 2 to 1 gets softer the slower you go.
BMW transmissions are not know for the buttery-soft engaging of gears.
The R1200R's shifting is soft when compared to older transmissions that have been described by some as "agrarian"

There are tricks to get around this and I'm sure some of the others will give pointers, but I found it does not bother me.

Oh I forgot to say: Welcome aboard! Stick around and you'll find plenty of info.
If you want to make friends wait a couple of post before you ask which oil is best

Hi Ron, I PM'ed you about a ride. Im in Madison. Phil

I'm new here (just sold my 2000 Hayabusa and bought an 08 R1200R). The R1200R is what my old Buell S3T aspired to be. I love it. (needs a windshield though)

Back on topic, preload the shifter a little with your toe before shifting. It'll take the slack out of the shift shaft, usually allowing a butter-smooth *snick* shift. However, I haven't been able to smooth the downshift to 1st *clunk*.

+1 on the preload trick. Combined with a QUICK, almost partial, activation of the clutch lever, I find I can "snick" almost every shift.

It's almost as if our Teutonic masters envisioned riders who were light-of-touch, quick, and precisely deft in their operations, and reward the so-skilled with a nice butter shift, but ruthlessly punish the ham-fisted lead-footed Neanderthal bikers with a living hell of eternal clunking for the rest of their bitter and sorrow-laden days.

(And downshifting into 1st clunks most of the time. I just use the sound to remind me of all that fine, hardened Solingen steel in there.)

More often than not, I'm a *clunk* Neanderthal. I (continually) aspire to German *snick* robotic precision, more to keep my wife's helmet from hitting mine, than anything else.