Clutch Concern

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Johnwrightph

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Hi everyone.

Took delivery of my R18 FE this morning.

Brand new bike: 0 miles

Put it in gear to take it into my garage and immediately felt a bumping/clicking coming through the clitch lever. This was audible too as confirmed by the dealership delivery driver.

Present in neutral while derpressing/releasing the clutch leaver but more noticable when releasing the clutch in 1st.

Can’t comment on any other gear as I only road it 20 yards onto my drive.

I immediately backed the bike to the dealership for further investigation (Can you imagine the sense of anti-climax?)

Just taken a call from my salesman who says “3 techs have investigated, they recognise the clutch clicking but have all stated that the R18 is like that when new and it disappears after a few miles”

Just want to check in with those of you who have had a zero miles bike to ask if any of you have experience with this ‘clicky/bumpy clutch”. If so, did it disappear or deteriorate?

Bike is coming back very soon and i’d live to hear your experiences before i roll over and put my trust in the salesman’s report.

John
 
Johnwrightph said:
Hi everyone.

Took delivery of my R18 FE this morning.

Brand new bike: 0 miles

Put it in gear to take it into my garage and immediately felt a bumping/clicking coming through the clitch lever. This was audible too as confirmed by the dealership delivery driver.

Present in neutral while derpressing/releasing the clutch leaver but more noticable when releasing the clutch in 1st.

Can’t comment on any other gear as I only road it 20 yards onto my drive.

I immediately backed the bike to the dealership for further investigation (Can you imagine the sense of anti-climax?)

Just taken a call from my salesman who says “3 techs have investigated, they recognise the clutch clicking but have all stated that the R18 is like that when new and it disappears after a few miles”

Just want to check in with those of you who have had a zero miles bike to ask if any of you have experience with this ‘clicky/bumpy clutch”. If so, did it disappear or deteriorate?

Bike is coming back very soon and i’d live to hear your experiences before i roll over and put my trust in the salesman’s report.

John
Click to expand...
Sorry about your situation.I guess hindsight is 20/20.Although,I am suprised the dealer did not do the PDI on your bike.I would certainly check the air pressure in the tires.Maybe they could give you another bike and change the paperwork since it has Zero miles.
 
I noticed something about the feel of the clutch when I first rode my bike too but it's disappeared. I don't know when it disappeared and I don't even remember exactly what it was. When you described the clicking that sounded vaguely familiar except it was more of a clicking feel than an audible noise. Good luck.
 
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Caveman said:
I noticed something about the feel of the clutch when I first rode my bike too but it's disappeared. I don't know when it disappeared and I don't even remember exactly what it was. When you described the clicking that sounded vaguely familiar.
Click to expand...
Thanks Caveman. Gonna do a short run tomorrow and see if it persists. The bike has 4 miles on the clock. I think it really might just be a running in issue 👍
 
Mine makes sometimes a small click only when I start it in my garage and suddenly release the clutch

That doesn't bother me and I try to gently disengage the clutch when cold
 
Johnwrightph said:
Hi everyone.

Took delivery of my R18 FE this morning.

Brand new bike: 0 miles

Put it in gear to take it into my garage and immediately felt a bumping/clicking coming through the clitch lever. This was audible too as confirmed by the dealership delivery driver.

Present in neutral while derpressing/releasing the clutch leaver but more noticable when releasing the clutch in 1st.

Can’t comment on any other gear as I only road it 20 yards onto my drive.

I immediately backed the bike to the dealership for further investigation (Can you imagine the sense of anti-climax?)

Just taken a call from my salesman who says “3 techs have investigated, they recognise the clutch clicking but have all stated that the R18 is like that when new and it disappears after a few miles”

Just want to check in with those of you who have had a zero miles bike to ask if any of you have experience with this ‘clicky/bumpy clutch”. If so, did it disappear or deteriorate?

Bike is coming back very soon and i’d live to hear your experiences before i roll over and put my trust in the salesman’s report.

John
Click to expand...
My Classic had 2 miles on it when I picked it up. There have been no unusual noises in the 70 miles since. The particular thing I noticed was how smooth and slick the gear change was compared to my HD.
 
Johnwrightph said:
Hi everyone.

Took delivery of my R18 FE this morning.

Brand new bike: 0 miles

Put it in gear to take it into my garage and immediately felt a bumping/clicking coming through the clitch lever. This was audible too as confirmed by the dealership delivery driver.

Present in neutral while derpressing/releasing the clutch leaver but more noticable when releasing the clutch in 1st.

Can’t comment on any other gear as I only road it 20 yards onto my drive.

I immediately backed the bike to the dealership for further investigation (Can you imagine the sense of anti-climax?)

Just taken a call from my salesman who says “3 techs have investigated, they recognise the clutch clicking but have all stated that the R18 is like that when new and it disappears after a few miles”

Just want to check in with those of you who have had a zero miles bike to ask if any of you have experience with this ‘clicky/bumpy clutch”. If so, did it disappear or deteriorate?

Bike is coming back very soon and i’d live to hear your experiences before i roll over and put my trust in the salesman’s report.

John
Click to expand...
When i start my bike in neutral and i have my clutch engaged and when i disengage my clutch, i hear a chattering noise. So when the clutch is engage, it sounds normal. When i disengage it that’s when i hear the unusual noise. I didn’t notice this before when it was new. My bike currently have 18k miles…
 
When mine was new when I put the clutch in with the bike in first gear there was a definite clunking noise and I could feel it in the bars and esp through the clutch lever.
Never had a bike do that.
Went away little by little with passing miles.
Felt normal after about 150 miles or so.
Bike runs great now....
I think the engine was really tight or something, IDK.
About 1100 miles now and bike runs strong.
 
I felt a solid click thru my clutch lever at the beginning as well. My bike had 5 tech prep miles on it, no test drives allowed. Dealership states it’s somewhat normal - but it freaked them out when they first started putting this bike on their floor. They thought they effed up their bike prep, contacted higher ups, and found out it’s not a problem. Mine must have gone away - I’m at 800+ Miles and I don’t remember feeling it recently.
 
Hutch said:
When i start my bike in neutral and i have my clutch engaged and when i disengage my clutch, i hear a chattering noise. So when the clutch is engage, it sounds normal. When i disengage it that’s when i hear the unusual noise. I didn’t notice this before when it was new. My bike currently have 18k miles…
Click to expand...
It's because these bikes have a dry clutch. Perfectly normal.
 
Hi all. Must share my experience. Took an R18 for a test and alongside the salesman with his R18. Audible knocking when the clutch was disengaged whether in gear or not. The knocking could be heard and felt through the bike. The sales guy was bemused and later reported that the tech guys said this was normal although his bike didn’t do it. There was, as well, a coarse clutch engagement when taking off from a standstill which wasn’t consistent in degree of presentation. The worrying aspect of this is that the clutch complete with whatever mechanism it contains is available only as a complete assembly at over $1000US. This includes the flywheel, pressure plate, spring and friction plate. Only the screws are available as seperate parts; what is logic behind that??? Is there some torque limiting device like a slipper clutch included in the assembly? Who knows? The sale guy said there was but didn’t seem convincing when describing it. The BMW parts diagram is not very clear and doesn’t show all the individual parts. A concern is at the moment BMW doesn’t seem to be acknowledging that the experience of members here is a problem and whether the noise and the mechanical action that causes it are going to wear out some components earlier than an owner would be happy with and will this become a warranty argument. Will it become an acknowledged warranty issue if a component in this nebulous clutch component group fails and causes an accident like the shaft drive problems in the GS series does. Over a grand for a new clutch that may have an inherent design fault or manufacturing issue plus the labour cost to install is a big swallow for an owner or retailer/manufacturer. Time will tell perhaps. I will apologise up front to all those who are devoted but given all this I’m glad I found the R18 the least enjoyable bike bar one that I have ever ridden and that purchase longevity gamble isn’t one I will have to make. Good luck to you all.
 
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