Is there ANY warning for the input shaft failure
 

One of the problems with having too much time on my hands after my daughter goes to sleep is I occassionally stumble onto something on this forum that make me worry about my decision to buy my '99 R1100s,

Last night I read several posts about the input shaft/clutch failure, and the associated costs to fix it. I'm starting to think I should park mine (16k) and sell it next year before something happens. The problem is, I love riding the damn things SOOOO much that I just can't bring myself to get off it. Friday after work (12p) I rode about 260miles up into Virginia and back. Tomrrow it's going to be almost 70 degrees and I have a day long hall pass from the wife.

Short of taking it apart to inspect it, is there any signs that mine may go sooner than later.

I'm worried because my bike is like a lot of the stories I read (before I got it) it was ridden a average of 1,286 miles over a 11 year period. I'd hate to be several hours away from home and the old girl stop on me. Plus, the misses would be livid if I had to drop $1300 into a bike I only paid $4500 for.

A very hard downshift into 2nd and 1st is one tell tale. Especially if it hangs up and a throttle blip on the downshift alleviates the notchy shift.

Thanks. I've only had it 2 months and I've put 1800 miles on it. I usually only get to ride on Fridays after work. The weekends are family time.

I just don't know of any other bike that I'd really want. I guess I could get a Triumph Sprint ST or a VFR800, but damn I love this (my second) BMW

On my 2004 I was just cruising along in 4 gear about 60 mph.

BAM!--> nothing. Like a false neutral. But I had over 45K on the donkey then.

Fixed better than new on "good faith" out of warrantee. Sierra BMW. Sparks Nevada.

No warning what so ever

Chit happens. You could have a brand new Honda and something go amuck. Not all have this sudden neutral problem. My '99 11S came with an old clutch disc and a input shaft that hadn't failed yet; but, they were getting there. If it fails, grab a wrench and go after it. It's just a motorcycle. If it does fail and you part it out, can I have dibs on the headlight assembly?:D

Enjoy your bike... You can pull the starter off and inspect the clutch splines for wear with a flashlight if you want...

Hello, I have a 99 Mandarin R1100s with 74,000 miles and the tranny has never been pulled. Bill is right, you have a good view of the clutch hub when you pull the starter. I am going to try something this winter and will let you know if it works. Have a can of industrial synthetic lubricant, mono spray for use on running bearings in mill to prevent down time. Says on can "stays in place without slinging... solvent carrier dries quickly leaving a tacky coating excellent for high temperature. Will make a long nozzle and lub through starter opening, the trick is not to drip on clutch. I will post the results. Might save a tranny removal. Hoping to get one more week of riding before I store for the winter. Thanks for all the good info on this site.

I'd be the last to proclaim the R1100S (or BMW's in general) to be some paradigm of motorcycle reliability, but that doesn't mean they're blowing up right and left. As but one example, I've been on six or eight organized tours where BMW's were most of the bikes on tour and most were beat within an inch of their life and very few problems occurred. And the problems that did occur were not major failures - they were the typical little electrical, cable, instrument, luggage, etc. annoying problems. I took 20+ tours on my 1999 all over the place and had a few minor problems, but nothing that every left me on the side of the road or even interrupted the trip. I sold the bike, but my main riding partner these days has a GS and he pushes that bike HARD. He's never had any major issues. Sure, he could have the final drive failure or the tranny shaft failure, or the hall effect sensor failure, or the oil window failure. But neither he or I are worried about it - the bike just keeps running mile after mile without a hitch.

Ride your bike. Read forums less. Stuff happens, but the odds are with you.

- Mark

Thanks again for all the input/advice.

I will ride it the remainder of this season, hopefully that's a few more times, and when I park it for the winter I'll pull the start and take a look see. Hopefully, everything will look good and I can just dream of the next few enjoyable riding seasons.

At the rate I'm going now, I should expect to put almost 11k a year on the bike. That would mean at the end of the 2012 season I should be just over 38k. If she hold together that long without needing more than routine maintenance I'll consider myself lucky.

Kevin (aka HellFishTat)

I too have a '99 S. I have read all the issues that you have read. When I voiced concern to a local, trusted, BMW mechanic about the spline failures he looked at me funny and said " not on a 1100". I told him about the postings and he said "ride the bike and quit reading the forums". That is what I intend to do. I love my S to much to let her go. I've had those rock solid, no maintenance Jap bikes and although they have few maintenance issues, they also have no sole. The S has sole or what ever it is that makes it special.

If you listened to the world out there, you wouldn't ride a motorcycle because you could get hurt, but you choose to ride because it is unlike anything else you will ever do. It feeds your sole. Keep the S because it is unlike anything else you will ever have. It truly has sole.

If your handy, that takes less than 20 minutes, and probably worth it for piece of mind.

Search around there is a thread here on how to lube the shaft without disassembly, that might be worthwhile, especially is slight wear is evident.

A flt tire can strand you miles from home too, like others said, ride it and enjoy it, many with lots of miles and NO problem.

I think your concern is valid, Kevin. You're running a risk of a (relatively speaking) catastrophic failure, cost-wise to the value of the bike. If you have ABS, there's another similar risk as well. Mark and Bill's advice is good, as always, so consider that. If the inspection shows no damage, you're probably good to go for a long time. If not... that's a tough situation. You will have already taken your loss, on paper anyway (assuming you would disclose it to the next buyer or repair it). I'm thinking $1,300 isn't enough to have a pro do it.

Here's my two cents. Sell yours, get an '04. It sure seems to me the '04s have this happen a lot less frequently. The prices are pretty flat and it shouldn't cost that much more, especially if you don't have to pay sales tax on used bikes in NC. Or get an '07 R1200S. Twice the money, but less risk of $1,500 failures. And a lot more bike, if you like the looks of it. If your wife likes to ride with you, then forget it. But ricky racer is right- these bikes have a lot of soul. But you knew that when you had the R90S.

That's a dang scary avatar...

Just call me Lars. And yes, I do scare myself a bit.

One deciding factor for my trade from a 2000 r1100s to a 2007 r1200s was that (at the time) there seemed to be a rash of spline failures and ABS failures. Probably only one or two really, but reading the forum you start thinking these are common. They aren't, but on the other hand a dealer saying they don't happen is naive. I was just looking for a push probably, perhaps you are too. Flat tires and sudden battery failure are much more common...

EXACTLY.

In these forums U tend to hear the worst.

But U also get some good advice.



"JUST RIDE!"

You run a far greater risk of being hit by a cage that "doesn't see you" than having a catastrophic failure of the clutch spline. Maybe some strobe lights or those iridescent green led lights I see on the big cruisers.

Slowgo...what brand of product. That is a good idea.

I agree with some of the responses on here about failures being over blown and over talked about. You don`t get to hear from the other 100,000 bmw motorcycle owners that are happy and that have not failed.

Lane

My older brother is a professional mechanic. He's owned mostly harley's but we've both owned a '76 R90s. I went riding with him today and he agrees that a quick inspection through the starter is in order. He agrees with Slowgo that some (proper) lubricant on the spline should ease my mind and help avoid any damage.

Lane, the stuff I got was thru my father in-law. He was a supervisor for a lumber mill and spent a lot of time researching and having lab tests on lubricants to prevent costly down time. Not sure where to buy it, says LE Lubrication Engineers Inc on can. I will test it this winter when I do my bike maintenance. Let me put a few miles on it and will pull starter again and see if it stays in place. Guessing any similar lubricant will work. PFFOG wrote about a earlier thread "lube the shaft without disassembly", will check it out. I asked the BMW dealer in Spokane WA and they said never saw a clutch spline failure in their dealership, but recommended lubing the spline of any high mileage bike just because of the dirt issue. They wanted $900 with tax, so that's why I am trying to lub thru the starter. I ride about the same miles as Hellfishtat - 11,000 per year, don't want any breakdown if I can prevent it.