Rear tire locked up while riding.

[Armo]

So my 02 r1150r and me are going down the road about 30-40mph slow down and down shift for a slight turn, accel and go to shift up when the whole bike like seizes up an the back end starts going out from under me. I pull off to the side and notice that the bike is actually turned off. Shift into neut an start back up, check the rear tire to make sure i didn't have a blowout, and check the spot where i left about a 5 foot skid mark to make sure i didn't hit any oil on the road or anything.

I slow boat it home ( 2 miles or so, thank goodness i didn't get the 50 miles to work) and put it on the center stand a check the tire, the side to side give, but I can't find any real reason for what happened. I didn't hit the rear brake with my foot i don't believe, it would take quite a bit of force to do that to the rear.

Does anyone have any insight as to what could have happened?

its an 02 with 17k miles.
@ 12k i changed all of the fluids
I need to get a new rear tire this off season but nothing that could have contributed to this...

awww geez, any mod, could you please move this thread to the R1150R thread, sorry.

[Oilhead]

I'm assuming this is a non-ABS bike?
If so are you sure you didn't touch the rear brake pedal by accident? I have the same bike and the rear brake is the most sensitive of any bike I have ever ridden in 25 years of riding. It practically locks up if you look at it.

[Armo]

correct, no ABS.

I suppose its not out of the question that i hit the rear brake. It just REALLY freaked me out lol. Riding it back home everything seemed just fine like nothing had happened. And thinking about it more, if i started to hit the brake and the bike starting to drastically slow down, reaction would probably be to tense up hitting the brake more causing the lock up...

[Armo]

OK, well after getting home from work i can say that it was'nt me hitting the break unless i also caused the clinking, clunking noise and vibration coming from the transmission/drive shaft.

*sigh* Now i gotta tear it down and determine what exactly broke. But this might be the end for my 1150r =\ this is not the first time i about ate asphalt from stuff like this.

[sstein]

I'm looking forward to hear the outcome of your investigations, Armo. I have an '02 with about same mileage and when I put the bike on center stand and engage first gear there is a constant clanging and clunking noise which doesn't sound right to me. The bike rides great, but I noticed lately that my gas mileage is down to 30-32 MPG. I don't like those noises - like there is something loose somewhere in the drive train. Makes me nervous.

Good luck. Keep posting.

[riceburner]

It's quite possible that the bike's engine did actually stall as you were changing gear.
It's happened to me in the past, yes, while riding - exactly what happened to you, when the bike has been ticking over when hot at a relatively low speed (1000rpms tops), as you go to change gear you drop the revs for the higher gear and the engine drops to tickover, but stutters and then stalls.

I'd check your tickover isn't too low - it should be at around 1100rpm minimum (imo).

[riceburner]

I'm looking forward to hear the outcome of your investigations, Armo. I have an '02 with about same mileage and when I put the bike on center stand and engage first gear there is a constant clanging and clunking noise which doesn't sound right to me. The bike rides great, but I noticed lately that my gas mileage is down to 30-32 MPG. I don't like those noises - like there is something loose somewhere in the drive train. Makes me nervous.

Good luck. Keep posting.

That'll probably be the play in the splines , there's, what, 3, 4 spline engagements along the drive train. They'll all have a "bit" of play. When you run the bike with no load (ie in first on the centre stand, rear wheel spinning freely), there's no load on the system whatsoever, and all the sections with play in will jump about because there's no load to keep them engaged.

[Gonzo49i]

I had the same problem when downshifting to a stop. I didn't realize the bike had stalled until I looked down saw the red lights had come on. This happened on more than one occaision. I thought that there was a short in the kill switch or the side stand. I raised the idle up to about 1100RPM and haven't has the problem since.

[gsmonkey]

Nothing strange really. The lock up would almost certainly be caused by the bike stalling for whatever reason. The big pots mean that you have *big* engine braking as you already know. When the bike stalls the rear wheel will lock rather than spin the engine. Try riding along, engage neutral, hit the kill switch then let out the clutch (slowly) and you'll see.

As for the bike rattling when in first on the centrestand, again all perfectly normal, all due to the backlash in the gear train. Only worry if it makes a bad noise during normal running.

[Armo]

Well as a little update I have some one more knowledgeable about this kind of thing working on it. Tore it down and came to the conclusion that the issue is not the drive shaft and the grinding noise is coming from the transmission (dun dun DUUNNN).

He did some preliminary transmission check going through the gears and looking for any metal shavings in the case but nothing. He is going to break it down and do some more inspections of the transmission.

[michelsmith]

Typically it is caused by over heating. The bike gets hot, the piston siezes, the rear wheel locks up and you come to a sudden stop. You get off our bike, scratch your head, curse and wonder what the F. After a while you give it a try (it has now cooled down and the piston is free), it starts up and you ride off still scratching your head.

[riceburner]

Typically it is caused by over heating. The bike gets hot, the piston siezes, the rear wheel locks up and you come to a sudden stop. You get off our bike, scratch your head, curse and wonder what the F. After a while you give it a try (it has now cooled down and the piston is free), it starts up and you ride off still scratching your head.

In a 4-stroke?? I'd be doubtful.... in a stoker yes.

I'd still go with the stall/too-low tickover theory.

[Armo]

Typically it is caused by over heating. The bike gets hot, the piston siezes, the rear wheel locks up and you come to a sudden stop. You get off our bike, scratch your head, curse and wonder what the F. After a while you give it a try (it has now cooled down and the piston is free), it starts up and you ride off still scratching your head.

you wont want to ride for very long given the noise that's coming from the transmission. lol.

[sweatmark]

Armo - did the rear wheel lock-up occur just the one time you've documented, or was this symptom repeated?

[CycleRob]

Armo, The engine stalling on an upshift seems unlikely but is possible. In 2nd or 3rd gear, letting out the clutch with a stalled engine can and will lock up the rear wheel.

Another possibility is that the transmission shifted into 2 gears at once. That is possible with bent shift forks and would make the "clinking, clunking noise and vibration coming from the transmission/drive shaft" you mentioned. Shift forks can be bent by partial shifts that pop out of gear under power, falling over on the shift lever or some wiseguy maliciously using it for a kick starter. The popping out of gear is the most likely cause as the ejection bending forces are huge and happen very fast. After that, as you upshift, one gear pair is still engaged while the bent fork tries to engage the next gear pair. The 2-gears-at-once event also agrees with the engine being off when you skidded to a stop.

I assume it is the BMW dealer that is checking it out?

FYI, 2-gears-at-once does some serious damage . . . bending the countershaft and mainshafts' and damaging 2 gear pairs of engagement dogs, besides the bent forks. A very pricey repair, compared to a used tranny from Beemer Boneyard.

We all hope it just stalled on the upshift.