Clutch shudder isn't going away....anyone else?

by **soapkng** on Sun Mar 01, 2009 8:46 pm

With about 550 miles on my new K1300S, my clutch shudder when pulling away in 1st is the same as when it was new. What are others experiencing with this? Has any dealer dealt with this or heard from BMW on this 'issue'?

by **williecooke** on Sun Mar 01, 2009 11:42 pm

I have about 475 mi. on mine and it still shudders part time. The rest of the bike is so fine I could care less. Cannot stop smiling when using the shift assist while
accelerating hard. Makes me think of an F1 car.
Enjoy,
Willie

by **nemesis.ie** on Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:59 am

Willie, I presume you mean you "couldn't" care less. ;-)

I still have a little bit of it (630km or so I think) but it does seem a little better than at first. The vibration around 6k to 7k rpm seems to be improving.

I get the judder maybe 3 times out of 10 and the load does not seem to be a factor, uphill, flat, lots of power, little and smooth, whatever, it seems random and feels the same when it happens. My guess is that it is plate positioning, i.e. some particular alignment of the plates causes rattle against the basket or casing or other plates or whatever.

Cheers!

by **zx9rmal** on Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:41 pm

Mine's got a bit of it as well. Seems to be best when easing out the clutch using less throttle. No matter to me. It's not that bad. Nature of the beast.

by **jewilson** on Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:52 pm

The plates just site in the basket and are alignment by it, so design of the clutch system aligns the plates so that’s should not be a concern. It's possible that you could have a weak spring, or that the clutches plates were not oiled correctly before assembled. Having a dry slump system could actually make that worse if that factory did not do its assembly correctly. However the oiling problem should take care of it self but if it a spring it will have to be torn down and it’s not that complex.

Cheers
Jim

by **nemesis.ie** on Wed Mar 04, 2009 1:22 pm

So if it were a weak spring or bad oiling, would it not do it all the time?

by **jewilson** on Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:18 pm

nemesis.ie wrote:So if it were a weak spring or bad oiling, would it not do it all the time?

You know something happen that are not expected. It would not be bad oil it that BMW might nave not soaked the plates correctly before installation that has happen on other brands. The weak spring agin that depend on how weak the spring is and the other spings that perform the same function. Of course it could be something different altogether, I just making an educated guess.

Cheers

by **nemesis.ie** on Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:19 pm

by **mordygan** on Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:19 pm

just to comment, the only time my bike shuttered from taking off was when i forgot what gear i was in and took off from 3rd. gave me half a second of engine overrun, and that was it. otherwise, smooth as a baby's bottom.

by **dqrkstone** on Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:28 pm

Hi all - must admit that I've got a shudder very occassionally (tends to be when I've been riding either over very long distances or very very aggressively for an extended period of time). But no sounds, and no feeling of ever metal on metal or anything like that. To me its fine - its not an issue; But if you're considering telling the dealer to do something about it, I'd love to hear where you get with it

by **Che** on Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:35 pm

I read somewhere someone replaced the clutch basket? Was there a recall? Did this fix the shudder problem? :shock:

by **badger** on Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:47 pm

I get the shudder - pretty often; most starts. Also, I think at very low speeds in first gear I can also detect a little bit of the same thing? Not sure about that, but there is most defo a shudder when first taking off. Using different revs will mask it.

At this stage though I don't really care - it is not enough to worry about, and reminds me of an old VFR I had, which shuddered for all of it's very long life.

by **jewilson** on Thu Mar 12, 2009 7:42 pm

It just a new feature for the 2009 bike

by **nemesis.ie** on Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:41 am

At around 1500km (930 miles) on the bike now, I still get it, but it is down from 5 times out of ten to maybe 1.

I will leave it until maybe 2500km and see where it's at, if it is mostly gone, great, if not, words with warranty.

This appears to be problem BMW know about, it does not seem to affect all bikes, so it may well be bad assembly or tolerances are too sloppy.

If there were a 3rd part slipper clutch for ~€250 I would buy one in a 2nd but they are more like > twice that.

BMW: Please give us a warranty swap-out to a brand new slipper clutch.

by **Bernardo** on Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:48 am

[quote="nemesis.ie"] ......so it may well be bad assembly or tolerances are too sloppy. quote]

I think is possible that the cause is the rugosity of clutch's plates... I think you could try to repeatedly slip that plates in order to make it "brilliant". Obviously try it at medium RPM , like a person who made first steps in car driving when start movement .

If it's only problem of mechanizing the clutch will fix across the time, if not, sorry

, call your dealer.

by **nemesis.ie** on Fri Mar 13, 2009 2:18 pm

Bernardo wrote:
nemesis.ie wrote: ......so it may well be bad assembly or tolerances are too sloppy. quote]

I think is possible that the cause is the rugosity of clutch's plates... I think you could try to repeatedly slip that plates in order to make it "brilliant". Obviously try it at medium RPM , like a person who made first steps in car driving when start movement .

If it's only problem of mechanizing the clutch will fix across the time, if not, sorry , call your dealer.

Exactly - or do a lot of "around town" riding - I did this yesterday as it happens and things were OK, so I think (like the BMW brake pads) the BMW clutch needs a bit of bedding in .... although some people do not seem to have seen the problem at all which is the odd thing.

by **soapkng** on Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:15 am

I admit, as I did on another post, that my judder seems to be diminishing. I'm up to about 800 mi now. It's still there, but less...so I am hoping it keeps getting better (ie - less judder). We'll see.

DF

by **jewilson** on Sun Mar 15, 2009 2:15 pm

soapkng wrote:I admit, as I did on another post, that my judder seems to be diminishing. I'm up to about 800 mi now. It's still there, but less...so I am hoping it keeps getting better (ie - less judder). We'll see.

DF

Oh some burn-out will help :lol:

by **Che** on Sun Mar 15, 2009 7:11 pm

Will the clutch from the K1200s fit the K1300s? :shock:

by **nemesis.ie** on Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:35 pm

The burn out might help the clutch but not the rear brake. ;-)

by **gmon750** on Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:01 am

Che wrote:I read somewhere someone replaced the clutch basket? Was there a recall? Did this fix the shudder problem?

I'm on my third clutch replacement for my 2006 K1200S. I just hit 26K on the odometer too! It's the one issue I've had with my bike that sometimes has me wanting to throw this thing in the trash heap. Rest of the bike is great. Here's the history of my clutch drama:

1) Clutch replaced after 6 months of purchase. Had really nasty banging noise. Dealer kept saying it was normal. Brought it in for warranty service, after picking it up the dealer mentioned they replaced the clutch as well. Apparently, some mechanic there raised a stink without my saying anything that the loud banging noise was not normal. Each bang of metal also affected the idle too.

2) Grinding noises began to be heard about three weeks after the replacement clutch. A year later, the noise would get so loud that passengers would ask me if something is wrong. Again, the dealer said it is normal. I "ordered" them to take the clutch apart to examine it for debris, shavings, etc. Nothing was found. I reluctantly accepted the grinding noise as crappy design. A month before my 3-year warranty expired, I took it in for servicing at a different dealer. Since I had it there, I decided to ask the mechanic for an opinion on my clutch. Before I handed him the key, I started the motor and engaged the clutch halfway. At that point, the clutch made a really nasty grinding noise and I saw the mechanic's face squirm and asked me to turn the bike off. I told him that was not a "normal" noise for a clutch to make and he confirmed it. They replaced the clutch (again) as my last warranty job. After replacement, the mechanic informed me that the new clutch was updated to the most recent '07 design spec which supposedly did away with the problems that clutch had.

3) About a week later, the clutch started grinding again. And it shudders pretty bad when cold. It does not grind as bad as the other one but it is there and audible.

I've ridden a 2007 K1200S in Germany for a week and that bike had none of the personality traits that mine had. So I can only say that I must have a bad apple. I've accepted it. BMW was of no help.

Other than that, the bike is great in every other area. I do eye a K1300S though... but from what I'm reading, it seems to inherit some of the 1200 traits. Will wait and see...

by **Ed F K** on Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:26 am

Does the noise on the K12S clutch go away when you pull the clutch in?

by **jewilson** on Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:34 pm

I just got my K1300S today and the clutch shutters too. What it feeling like is that it goes to full engage at the beginning of the lever travel. So I believe the clutch is slightly out of adjustment. Also, be by design to have a little more slack in the setup because of the quick shifter requires some slack. But it feels like it really does not fully engage till the begin of the level and that's wrong it be about 10mm.

My K1200s clutch never did this however it did not have a QS either.

Cheers

by **Bernardo** on Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:05 pm

Hi!

My clutch is Ok..

1300 Km. and work smooth and precise.

by **Jordan** on Sat Apr 18, 2009 3:22 pm

Hi guys it seams to me that BMW might of fixed the clutch problem as production went on. Just like the steering wobble in 2005 on the first K1200S's. They will deny that they ever had the problem but every one knows that did, so they fixed it with out saying any thing as production went on. I'm getting my new K1300S in May so ill let you know if i get the same problem. My bike is an April production check when you bike was made and that may give you the answer to why only some of you have the problem. I would like to know to see if thats what they did.

RIDE HARD GUYS :twisted: