NEWBY: SHIFTING and Oil consumption

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am a new owner of a 1982 GS100G with Vetter fairing and bags and sidecar. I come from a background of BMWs, old ones and just sold a K75RT to buy this hack rig.

I have a couple of questions about this bike which has 100K miles + and came with a log of all service and parts added over the years. It was owned by two people over all tose years and the sidecar was just added about 2500 miles ago.

First is that it is hard to shift out of first gear to neutral when stopped. Releasing the clutch a little does not appear to help, moving the bike a little with the feet does not. It needs time and a lot of force to get into second, then find neutral from there. Any comments? I see no work on the tranny or clutch in the logs, in fact the engine has had really nothing done. I think that the clutch is sticking a little causing this problem. When hot, it also drags when starting, in other words it moves a little even in first gear with the clutch pulled in.

Now to the dreaded OIL question. The guy I bought it from has owned it since 199 and only ridden it 2500 miles. He uses castrol GTX 20W50 (which is my preferred oil in BMWs, but they have a dry plate clutch) and before I change the oil and filter I was wondering if that oil and/or sitting around for two years would make the clutch behave this way. Coming from a dry plate clutch world where engine oil hopefully never sees a clutch plate I need a little advice on what to use here.

Third thing is that in the logs the owners listed every cc of oil they added over all those miles, as well as conditions and nloads. For example, they pulled a trailer and often in hot weather. From new this thing used oil, maybe 250cc to 500 cc a day on long trips. Is this normal for the GS1100G under heavy loads and 500 + mile days? Over the years this oil consumption did NOT increase, which surprised me.

From what I have read this seems to be a bullit proof bike with the exception of the charging system. I like the power band, and so far it is a solid bike. My first ride was about 70 miles in 95 degree plus heat and it was a little hot behind a Vetter fairing with lowers. I pulled the lowers so I'll see how that chages the distribution of air off the engine unto my legs.

Thanks in advance for sharing your GS knowledge with me.

I am located in Southwest Virginia near Roanoke in great bike riding country. We often have a place to stay and wrench on bikes as well as a cup of coffee and suggested mountain roads to ride, so keep us in mind if visiting this area.

Ron

 

[Jeff Tate]

First thing I'd do is make sure the clutch cable is adjusted correctly. But I'll bet if the clutch is original and the oil has been sitting in there for 2 years, this is your problem.If the bike pulled a trailer then you can bet there was a good amount of slipping the clutch to get going. Buy a set of new clutch plates and clean the metal plates of all the old gummy oil and install.
As for oil...Can of worms time again LOL. Castrol GTX is fine for awhile but remember bike trannys use the same oil as the engine and being run thru gears can break it down pretty fast. If you decide to use a full or semi- synthetic you can extend drain intervals and usually the engine runs a little cooler, but... it costs more. Stay away from any oil that has a "Fuel Conserving " label on it. From what I hear those have special friction reducing modifiers that may ruin your clutch. Also, try useing a lighter oil, like 10-40 unless you ride in hot weather alot.
Go to your local bike shop and find a motorcycle specific oil and stick with it. You'll get as many different opinions about oil as there are brands of it. I just don't like to skimp on something that important.

 

[focus frenzy]

I have a 1980 1000g and have a performance kevlar clutch in it, and it does the same thing, drags, neerly imposible to get in neutral while sitting still. is there any thing in the log about the clutch plates beeing changed?
(your bike will have 10 friction disc)
these bikes use some oil, I average about 1 quart (950cc) every 2000 miles but if it gets hot it uses a pretty good amount, One time I got stuck in heavy road construction traffic jam and the bike got very hot.
the next day I checked the oil level and it was about 300cc low.
oil consumption on these bikes is closely related to engine temperature.

so if a previous owner pulled a trailer around in hot weather it is safe to say it was most likly running on the warm side.
If it does not already have a oil cooler, I would sujest that you install one, especialy with the bike having to pull a side car around.

 

[Jeff Tate]

My 1100 never has to have oil added between changes, but I have had an oil cooler on it for years and have used synthetic oil too. Maybe this is just a side benefit of keeping the engine cooler.