Blue Ridge Beemers

FROM THE RALLY CHAIRS:

As you may know the BMW Riders Association is holding their annual rally in Boise, Idaho this July.
The dates are July 6 – 9th.

This rally is open to all BMW riders and their guests. We have many superb events and seminars planned. Check out www.bmwra.org for all the details.

Details also on the attached brochure. We want to make sure every BMW Rider knows about this rally. We hope you will join us too.
All the best!

Greg and Jerome
2006 BMW RA Co-Rally Meisters
July 6 – 9, 2006
Boise – Idaho
rallychairs@rarally2006.org

Meredith and I will definitely be going out for this one. I'll be holding some sort of Oilheads tech seminar. I also might be joining or leading some sort of ride in Colorado on the way there or right after the rally, although I don't think I'll hang around for Paonia. I'll probably take the long way home, going across the Dakotas and across the UP.

Haven't really planned specific dates for any of this, though. Yet.

Butch and I are planning on it, too. Maybe hit Hyder while we're in the neighborhood.

Well, we made it to Hyder, but I barely made it out. After passing through Stewart, BC (Hyder's twin across the border), the GS lost drive. Clutch splines possibly -- engine OK, tranny shifts OK with engine off, some scraping with gear engage and engine running. Great trip up to now. We left the rally Sunday, headed up scenic byways to US 12 over Lolo Pass, then up to Glacier NP, Waterton Lakes NP, Banff NP, and Jasper NP. Hyder is just a 650 mile shot across BC from Jasper. We rode up the 35 Km well graded gravel roade from Hyder to the Samon Glacier. Well worth the trip when you're in Hyder. Sorry I can't post pictures. Quite spectacular and said to be the only glacier that can be reached by "road" in Alaska (but its actually in British Columbia -- just no customs at the border).

The adventure begins.

Wow. Chuck, you have some inherent problem in the bike. There's a thread on BMWST showing how some bikes have machining issues which cause misalignment between the crankshaft and the transmission. If you have failed clutch splines again, DON'T just let them put it back together. While the tranny is apart, have them bolt the cover to the engine and check for axial alignment as shown in that thread. I really wish that bike were here so I could measure it myself.

OTOH I hope it's something else that's easily fixable but I doubt it.

Thanks for the tip, Anton. It didn't feel like clutch spline failure and talking with Jason at Hammersley, we suspect clutch slave cylinder failure. The New Brunswick dealer that made the clutch spline repairs probably should have replaced the slave cylinder while they had the tranny off at 70,000 miles. It has 97,417 now and about the life expectancy of some slave cylinders (per Jason).

But, the bike is on a truck to Argyll Motorsports in Edmonton, AB. It had to be trucked anyway and based on my experience with non-BMW shops in NB, this seems the most straight-forward way to get back on the road. They said they could get started on it Monday. (Vancouver dealers said two or more weeks before they could get to it!)

August First Sunday is coming up. Anybody have a suggestion on location? I hope to be there!

Turned out it was the clutch splines. Agyll Motor Sports in Edmonton replaced the clutch disc and tranny input shaft and had me on the road late Tuesday afteroon. According to the Agyll tech, the clutch was put together with no lubrication last time this happened in NB ("dry" clutch splines).

I arrived in Bridgewater Sunday at 3:30 PM. 8,089 miles for total trip (missed the 800 or so miles from Hyder to Edmonton) and the rear Anakee still has usable tread. All that constant speed running on flat, straight roads between the Rockies and West Virginia, apparently.

Do you have the old input shaft? Did it look the same as the previous one?

I have the input shaft and clutch disc for you. As best I recall, it looks pretty similar.

Chuck wrote:Well, we made it to Hyder, but I barely made it out. After passing through Stewart, BC (Hyder's twin across the border), the GS lost drive. Clutch splines possibly -- engine OK, tranny shifts OK with engine off, some scraping with gear engage and engine running. Great trip up to now. We left the rally Sunday, headed up scenic byways to US 12 over Lolo Pass, then up to Glacier NP, Waterton Lakes NP, Banff NP, and Jasper NP. Hyder is just a 650 mile shot across BC from Jasper. We rode up the 35 Km well graded gravel roade from Hyder to the Samon Glacier. Well worth the trip when you're in Hyder. Sorry I can't post pictures. Quite spectacular and said to be the only glacier that can be reached by "road" in Alaska (but its actually in British Columbia -- just no customs at the border).

The adventure begins.

Yo Chcuk. sooo that was your unsigned post card from Bear Glacier. Sorry to hear 'bout your clutch issues.... I been busy with family and just got back from Honduras - hope to make it down your way in the near future....

Well eap, I didn't mean to be anonymous, just a little hurried and missed the sig.