1995 K75RT > Low Torque in 1st gear

[almostordinary]

Hey gang,

My 95 k75 feels like it has less torque in 1st, I live in a hilly area in Los Angeles and have to immediately go to 2nd to get up hills.

Wondering if I am missing something, or if there's a way to check my gearing for the bike.

1st is fine on flat ground from a stop, but going up hill I've got to start in 2nd.

[Laitch]

You're describing the opposite of how hill-climbing should work. Your Brick should be able to start up and climb any steep hill in first gear all the way up to redline on the tach. It sounds like the clutch might be slipping. Do the revs increase but movement doesn't, or does it stall?

[almostordinary]

it stalls. it engages but falls flat once you really need it. starting in 2nd it grips and climbs without any effort.

[Laitch]

It's difficult to imagine somebody with your experience having a problem like this but technique lapses—both mechanical and operational—can occur, especially in the era of legalized cannabinoid brownies. 

  You should carefully check to determine if the clutch cable is binding as the lever travels. You should grease the cable pivot point within the lever. I suggest reviewing and performing all the basic clutch adjustment steps in the order they are published in the BMW K75/K100 2V Service Manual here. At the end of it, the clutch hand lever should have ≈4mm of free play from when the lever is unloaded to when it feels resistance as illustrated below. I check that resistance with one finger pulling the lever. Then when starting a climb, you should give it more fuel as you release the clutch into the friction zone then pour it on as it finally engages.

Maybe somebody else in the triage team will chime in before you drop the moto too many times. 

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Is it possible the gear position indicator is giving you the wrong information?  I mean, is it saying 1st when you are really in 2nd or even 3rd?

[almostordinary]

Yea my brain is fully occupied on this 87 911 that Im building from the ground up, so I definitely need to step back and look at the basics.

I did do the clutch cable travel work but can triple check myself.

The lunchbox is long gone, but one down is first, one up neutral... and so on.

Maybe w the rearset first is slightly a tooth off on the foot lever? hmmm I need to go back to square one and diagnose again.

Any other insights welcomed... I'll be tooling on the bike tomorrow afternoon after some calls.

Thanks,
Ian

[Laitch]

If you can travel on the level in first gear, it's in first gear regardless of rearset concerns or other angles of travel. You haven't indicated it jumps out of gear and needed to re-engage it; it just stalls. What happens if you're on the level in first gear, and while in motion turn uphill—it stalls then, too? That would be exciting!

Letting the fog dissipate and reviewing the setup is a good strategy.

[daveson]

I was going to ask that same question, and guessing the answer will be it doesn't lose power uphill if you start on level ground, and that you can't take off in first from stationary if uphill. In that case could it be that two gears are engaged because of a problem with the shift forks? That could be an explanation for the symptoms, but I've never looked inside a brick gearbox, so I'm not confident about it.

I've been known to suffer from wishful thinking, so I'd be looking at the shift lever shifting while on level ground compared with uphill.

[Chaos]

out of curiosity, if you're traveling in 2nd gear and downshift to first do the revs pick up?