K11 Owners Group

[leecow]

I've built and maintained more than a few cars but never spent time wrenching on a motorcycle. I suspect there will be others like me so as the mood strikes and I remember to grab the camera on the way to the garage, I'll post what will hopefully be informative tidbits that enhance what a new K11 owner may find in the BMW or Clymer shop manuals.

When I picked the bike up from Rodger he mentioned that he had installed a new clutch disc and that it may yet need some adjustment. The next morning this was confirmed when the clutch started to slip while hoping on the freeway in 4th gear. As I've seen in other posts clutch slippage will generally appear first in the higher gears. After looking at what Clymer had to say I also came to realize there was no (as in zero) freeplay in the clutch lever. Seemed like a good place to start.

Adjustment at the clutch lever
Screwing the adjuster into the handle loosens the cable. Unfortunately it was already screwed completely in so time to crawl around and find the adjustment at the other end.



Adjument at the tranny
Pictures in The Book are a bit too close to offer any realy landmarks for locating the adjustment mechanism so here's a little wider shot to get your bearings.



The lock nut on mine is 13mm and is easily reached using a deep socket. The adjustment nut is 10mm.

Loosened the lock nut, backed out the adjustment bolt (definitely in too far) and finger tightened per The Book. Snugged up the lock nut being careful to not allow the adjuster bolt to tighten up in the process then back up top to see how we did.

Measurements
1.6mm of freeplay (green arrow below) with the lever adjuster all the way in. This is in spec for a K75. K100 seems to want more and I couldn't find the spec for a K11 so we'll see how it road tests. I would prefer to be in spec with the adjuster backed out a little bit so will probably revisit this later. Short on time this morning.



Road Test
Road test confirmed that all is right with the world. Give the throttle a twist and rather than polishing the clutch plate she does a bunch of giddyap. Could be my imagination but the ride seemed noticeably smoother on the way into work. Could a slightly out of adjusment clutch cause vibration?
_________________
Lee
'93 K1100RS

[SugarHillCTD]

Hey, nice write up. You have a really good future here.

No, IMHO a clutch adjustment should not cause or correct a vibration- just like an automobile clutch.

Others- correct me if I'm wrong.
_________________
John & Cathy

'92 K100RS4V Pearl White SOLD
'04 K1200GT
IBA Several-SS1k, BBG, 50CC NYC to S.F.

[hfxrzw]

I don't know if you started at the right end

First you adjust the bottom part (you could even leave the cable out of the handle at the bars. Make sure you have 75 mm (3/10th) between the cable sheet and the coupling arm. You adjust this with the bolt on the end of the clutch pin (at the back end of the gear box, on the rubber booth). If that is done, then you adjust the clearance of 2 to 4 mm at the handle with the adjustment screw at the handle. Hope that helps.
_________________
Cheers, Rene

Greetings from Florida.

BMW K100 '85

[leecow]