BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

I arrived at a junction on my R850R and wasnt able to select 1st or neutral I was able to pull away in what feels like 2nd or 3rd and I seem to be able to get 4,5th etc but no 1st or neutral.Prior to this the bike has been shifting sweetly enough in my opinion or as sweetly as a BMW box can.

So I got to work and with a tin of WD40 and the bike on its centrestand I gently rotated the back wheel back and forth as much as it would move with it being in gear. Then I pulled the gearlever up and down whilst dousing it in WD40 and it went into neutral. I took it round the carpark once going from first to second and it seems ok.

I also noted the gear lever is not hard to move but if you push it down it sticks there. I have got everything crossed that it was just corrosion problem on the outside components and the problem is not within the gearbox. I am holding on to the thought that it cant be gearbox failure as it would have just failed wouldnt it ?

Previously the bike had a history of being used all year round but the last owner has done next to no miles on it and I wonder if it is corrosion and lack of use ?

There's probably nothing wrong with your bike. You may not be used to shifting BMW motorcycles. This topic comes up often. See this thread on the R1200R forum; there are a number of others along similar lines. Basically the transmission needs to be spinning to select 1st gear.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=25007

Solved it guys fortunately not my riding or the gearbox but basically the gearlever is not springing back. This is because the plastic bushes in the gearlever expand due to heat from the cat and also the grease dissipates.Then the inside of the bush housing corrodes causing the lever to stick. So I just got to strip it all down take out the bushes N09 in the parts list and rub down the inside of the housing.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=23&fg=41

Known issue here in Germany.

Brgds
Oliver