Occilating Vibes
 

I recall someone posting something about an oscillating vibration that seemed to come from the rear end.
I was riding home thru traffic yesterday and the bike seemed to be doing a strange oscillation, almost like an out-of-balance feel around mid-revs at steady speed.
Hard to tell what was going on with the traffic noise, winds, and helmet muffle.
Is this some kinda sign?
I'm thinking maybe I should find a dealer and have it looked at before doing triple digits again.
The storey aboutthe guy locking up the raer end at speed last week scares the beejeesus outta me.
Never worried about this kinda crap on the /7...ever...
Input please.
:eek:

Yeah that's what she said...

Gee, thanks for the feedback...have a nice holiday kids.

A bunch of us have had this problem. It seems somewhat inherent in the beast and several have speculated that it might have something to do with the phasing and angles of the rear u-joints.

I don't know if anyone has associated the noise with a reliability issue. Mine comes and goes, although it seems worse since I replaced the shocks. Currently, I have it fairly consistently in 4th gear between 3K and 3.8K RPM. Get out on the road in sport riding and I never notice it. I'm about to fit a shorter paralever and am hoping that this solves it.

I'd monitor it, but not get too excited.

- Mark

I don't believe it's the drive shaft/ uni joints, as it goes away when you pull the clutch!!!!!!

good vibrations
 

Hi all,
Mine has done that since i got the bike,its a fourth gear thing only.I get around it by not cruising in fourth gear,as when giving it some through the gears you dont notice it.Dont worry i'm sure your bike aint gonna fall to bits on ya!
GUS

yeh, mine has done it since new also. I got the same diveshaft/uni's out of phase response from the wrench, but he couldn't find anything/didn't make it better when he pulled the shaft and re-aligned it. Still does it now, but only notice it when you are watching the speedo as you pass the speed cameras. Did I forget to mention that it goes away when you pull the clutch???????????????????????????????????????????? ?

I’m with BMW Motorrad USA. I’m sorry to read about your problem with your BMW. If you want our assistance, please phone us at (800)831-1117, Option 4.

The first thing I would do is run it on the centerstand, confirm that the tire is running true.
Has anyone had the driveline apart recently, if so I would question phasing of the two U joints
Check the rear swing arm pivot and rear wheel for play.

My 99 did the oscillation thing more than the rest of the S's i have
owned. Haven't noticed it with the 04. When i was doing Tranny recalls last fall I noticed that the R1150 GS Adventure has a notch on the rear driveshaft/universal. The rear universal can only be installed into the driveshaft one way. Both front and rear universals are in line with each other.

TJS

Anyone phoned BMW USA customer helpline yet?What kind of help your getting?
regards gus

I haven't yet. Riding this weekend though, I noticed it constantly in the 3-4K rpm range. This is somethng new. Bike has 14.5 K on it.
Kind of a thrum thrum vibration. It seems to be coming from around the clutch and tranny area.
Is there a possibilitie of an out-of-balance clutchplate?
Hmmm....

My 2000 S does the thrum-thrum in 4th gear. My dealer fitted a so-called soft shaft. It significantly reduced the thrum-thrum but didn't completely remove it. The soft shaft supposedly has a much heavier rubber damper. The new shaft had the same part number as a normal shaft. He also checked the alignment of the U joints but apparently they were Ok.
Dave

It has also been stated that it could be a failing output shaft bearing.

Mine has been doing it for about 2000 miles now.

Mark