BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

When I start my 12000 mile 2015 r1200rt from cold, the clutch bites as soon as I move the lever outwards. This has always been the case over the

2000 miles I have ridden since buying the bike last September.

As soon as the engine gets to normal temperature, the biting point gets further away, and stays there consistently.

The clutch is smooth, with the usual slight chatter at idle .

Is this normal , my old K100 car type clutch action never changed whilst the engine was warming up.

Bob

No not normal the biting point should stay the same

I have known issues like this simply being down to the clutch fluid needing changing so I would try that first

I had the same thing on my 2015 R1200GS 6 years ago. Got to the point where I couldn't put it into gear when cold.
Fine when warmed up. It was fixed under warranty with a new clutch slave cylinder.
Dealership told me that it was a known problem on that year of bike (if I remember correctly).

MikeS wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 8:49 amDealership told me that it was a known problem on that year of bike (if I remember correctly).

Your memory does serve you correctly Mike. I have read, (can't find it again) but there was a clutch slave cylinder service campaign/technical bulletin at the time.

Whilst looking for info. on the RT's, some owners have experienced the clutch biting point changes from engine cold to hot, whilst others haven't.

Found what I was looking for again on BMWSportTouring, https://www.bmwsporttouring.com/topic/8 ... ngagement/ might be of interest for RT owners.

Thanks for the replies.

This appears to annoy some folk, some delve into the mechanics, and some leave alone and put up with it.

As long as it stays consistent, then I will put up with it.

Bob

It appears mine has started to do this too

OMFG I have been complaining about this issue (2018 R 1200 RT) and no matter how I describe it to my local BMW dealership they think I mean the clutch is slipping. The exception is that my clutch takes forever to engage no matter the temperature of the engine. Whenever I stop on a hill (I live in San Francisco) it's a 10 on the sphincter scale since there is literally a fraction of a millimeter between when the clutch engages and fully engaged leaving no room to feather. Have any R1200 owners experienced that?

moto.patrick wrote: ↑Sun May 21, 2023 2:37 am OMFG I have been complaining about this issue (2018 R 1200 RT) and no matter how I describe it to my local BMW dealership they think I mean the clutch is slipping. The exception is that my clutch takes forever to engage no matter the temperature of the engine. Whenever I stop on a hill (I live in San Francisco) it's a 10 on the sphincter scale since there is literally a fraction of a millimeter between when the clutch engages and fully engaged leaving no room to feather. Have any R1200 owners experienced that?

Yes! You need some new leavers with more adjustment

I went for the wunderlich ones and I can get the bite point just off the bars rather than almost at full stretch

Look here viewtopic.php?p=64626&hilit=Wunderlich#p64626

I have been having some issues with this recently and it appears that its once things warm up and start to get hot the bite point moves out

I can only put this down to the fluid heating up and expanding!

On a recent trip to Wales we hit some road works and sat with the bike in gear waiting for the lights to change once they changed I went to set off and the bite point was really far forward! to the point that when I went to set off the bike never moved at its usual point which gave a bit of a wobbly set off bit scary on a hill fully loaded up with the missus on

I changed the clutch fluid at the weekend! what a pig of a job that is! no wonder they say its maintenance free!

I am going to attempt to get stuck in some traffic to get some heat built up in and replicate the situation and see if anything have improved