Clutch Replacement... It's Not Pretty

I must be rough on the equipment. Parts wear out. Parts must be replaced. In September 2006 I had flown home from Columbus, Ohio to retrieve the Police Bunny Bike to ride back north so as to have something fun to do on weekends. I had joined the Buckeye Beemers BMW Club in Columbus and attended many of their events and meetings which included Wednesday dinners at rotating locations and the weekly Sunday morning breakfast at the Flying J Cookery Buffet in Delaware, OH. The bulk of the membership arrived on two wheels while I arrived on four. It's like bringing a knife to a gun fight... the guys with the guns have all the fun. I wanted to have fun too. Each month the Buckeye Beemers headed out for a day ride after Sunday breakfast.

I had secured a storage unit for the BMW based upon the recommendation of a fellow Buckeye Beemer. All was set. I flew from CMH to BHM on Southwest where Mrs. Bunny picked me up for the final leg of the journey to the Bunny Cave. After a few quality days at the Home Cave, I fired up the Police Bunny Bike and headed north to Columbus. As I took the exit ramp to I-65 north in fifth gear accelerating to interstate speed, my engine started spinning faster than the drivetrain. The clutch was slipping. This was not good. I'm ten minutes into a ten hour journey and the clutch is taking a dumper. I tried that fifth gear roll-on a second time with the same results. I didn't do that again. There was no similar slippage in lower gears, so I pressed on to Columbus and safely to the Columbus Bunny Cave with no further mechanical excitement.

I had no prior service-related dealings with the two BMW motorcycle dealers in Columbus. I tend to work with folks I know and I knew Oscar and Mike at Miami Cycle Works in Cincinnati. They had hired BMW mechanic Greg after the Cincinnati BMW dealer closed. Miami Cycle Works eventually took over the building housing the former BMW Of The Tri-State. I had a major service done at Tri-State during the May 2000 Skyline Chili Presidential Lunch and Greg did some of that work. I called Mike and scheduled a clutch replacement along with the installation of new clutch and throttle cables. I rode from Columbus to Cincinnati early on a Saturday morning for an all-day sit-and-wait. The clutch replacement on a BMW Oilhead involves the complete removal and separation of the rear half of the motorcycle. It's an eight hour task... four hours off, four hours on. It's not pretty. Greg did a great job and the Police Bunny Bike has performed flawlessly for the past two years.

I thought to write this because the other BMW in my garage, the R1100RS, is exhibiting the same clutch slippage at high speed and high load. With less bodywork to be removed, a clutch and cables replacement for the RS should cost slightly less than the $1200 I spent for clutch, cables and labor on the Police Bunny Bike. While the bike is apart, it's a good opportunity to replace the cables which stretch and wear out over time. Having to replace the cables separately would require billable labor time to disassemble bike parts which are apart already for the clutch work. Why pay twice?