BMW R 1250 RS, What's with the Clunky Quick Shifter?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ส.ค. 2024
- If you don't own a motorcycle with a boxer engine from BMW, you're missing out. It's a wonderful engine design for performance. Some don't like the cylinder heads that stick out, but that keeps both cylinders evenly cooled out in the wind. However, the clunky nature of the quick shifter leaves some people scratching their heads while others embrace the characteristic of the boxer's gear box.
IF YOU HAVE A MECHANICAL EXPLANATION FOR THE CLUNKY NATURE OF THE BOXER'S GEARBOX, PLEASE COMMENT.
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Qucikshifter works just fine if you know how to use it. Typical ride short shifts with throttle cranks 50% or more and this causes the shifts now to be smooth. If you’re easy on the throttle it’ll shift smooth on low rpm. If you’re on it then don’t short shift it. What I do is crank it to accelerate fast, back off on throttle a little and use quick shifter to upshift (if I wanna keep rpm’s low). Works like a charm
Thanks for your insights and suggestions
My GSA quick downshifts flawlessly. Amazingly good rev matching, and smooth as butter. I don't even bother trying to use it on upshifts, 50% of the time it will miss 2nd to 3rd entirely, whether you're moderately accelerating, or pushing at higher RPM's.
Thanks for checking out the video. I very much appreciate you sharing your experience with your GSA shifter.
I agree with the points, but 😊
I’m not sure there many large twins with smooth quick shift. Very strong torque pulses from twins may be more difficult to deal with. Just thinking.
Thank you for watching and commenting. I’m going deeper into my channel’s back end and found I missed many comments apologies for not messaging sooner. I test ride a Moto Guzzi V100 which is an 1100 transverse V twin. It’s quick shifter is butter smooth. There’s something much different about the boxer’s gear box.
I found at the end of last year that if I pull the shift lever up slowly and wait, the upshift is much smoother in lower gears. It sounds counter intuitive for quick shifting, but if you just put up pressure on the lever and wait a bit it seems to work really well. I think that if you really pull up suddenly, it kind of forces it in to gear before the bike gets a chance to rev match. Downshifting works the same, but wasn't as bad to begin with anyway. Ripping through the gears racetrack style would be pretty sweet, but there aren't many places on the street I would do that. Slow upshifting with the quickshifter is a bit faster than shifting the manual way and takes less effort, not that manual shifting is difficult on this bike. Give it a try and let me know if you have the same results.
Thanks for checking out the video and commenting. Giving the gearbox a chance to find its sweet spot kind of defeats the purpose of “quick”. However I get what you mean and will give it a try next time.
My experience on my '22 R1250RS is about the same as T2T's. I can get a sorta smooth 1-2 quickshift, but only at serious throttle opening and higher rpm. 2-3 quickshifts also want nearly full throttle and high revs. 3-4 quickshifts not so much - they're smoother and medium accel and medium rpm. 4-5 and 5-6 shifts are very smooth at nearly neutral throttle and lower rpms. Auto-blip on downshifts works great. My 2016 S1000XR was pretty much the same during accel in lower gears - you really needed to be going. Was great for passing a line of slow movers going over Stevens Pass (Hwy 2 in Washington State). In summary, I'd say that the quickshift on my '22 R1250RS is just as good as the quickshift was on my 2016 S1000XR.
Hwy. 2 can really get backed in the summer, so any advantage one's bike can have to manage that issue is worthwhile. I don't use the QS on my '20 R1250R too much, but I can see how it could be awfully handy in that scenario.
Thanks for checking out the video and contributing your insights on the RS and XR. Interesting to hear the XR wasn’t much better. I have two friends that have XRs and they say it’s better than the boxer.
OK, here's the the deal with clunky shifting on big twins no matter the manufacturer. Big twin power pulses are larger than a multi cylinder engine smaller power pulses per cylinder. A twin has larger pistons (600cc per piston) versus the 266cc from the K1600. When those larger pistons fire, they put out a larger power pulse on the clutch and transmission versus the smaller pistons on the K1600. Think of it like using 2 large hammers hitting a single point (drivetrain) versus 6 smaller hammers hitting that same single point. No matter how precise the gearbox and transmission is the power pulses from a large twin are extremely different from the power pulses from a multi cylinder engine. Ride a Yamaha Vstar or any Large displacement twin and you'll notice how clunky gear shifting can be and Yamaha is known for amazingly precise gearboxes. Driveline lash and shaft drives can amplify this but it really boils down to the power pulses a large twin makes versus the power pulses from the smaller pistons on a multi cylinder engine. Every large twin from Honda Super Hawk, RC51, Ducati Race bikes, BMW, Harley twin to KTM, Yamaha Vstar, Suzuki M109 all have clunky shifting gearboxes versus their multi cylinder counterparts (3,4 and 6) The quick shifter isn't going to change that.
Thanks for the comment and expert insights. I understand your explanation, but here’s an add on perhaps stupid question. Why is it going from 2nd to 3rd at 3,000 rpm clunkier than changing 2nd to 3rd at 5,500 rpm on my RS?
I find that if I'm just cruising and want to upshift, I have to give the throttle a quick twist coordinated with the shift. If I do that it's reasonably smooth even in lower gears.
Thank you for watching and commenting. I’m going deeper into my channel’s back end and found I missed many comments apologies for not messaging sooner. I’ve come to terms with my clunky shifter.
Most modern chain drives have cush pads in the rear hub .... versus the BMW shaft drive which has none. Cush pads are there to dampen the "jolt" when shifting.
Thanks for checking out the video and commenting with your insights. Good to know.
I only bother with the quick shifter in high rpm situations. Most of the time I just use the clutch. While a quick shifter may be an advantage in a 4 cylinder bike, big torquey twins less so.
Seems that’s the case that twins with strong low end torque have trouble being smooth in the lower gear changes.
Quckshifters are generally not meant for short shifting. Also 1st to 2nd is never smooth on boxer engines. The rest is fine.
Thanks for checking out the video and commenting. Rumor has it the new boxer engine on the R 1300 GS is much smoother than the current boxers. Also I noticed after doing a tune on my bike the quick shifter is also a bit smoother, but not nearly as smooth as an in-line four or the K 1600 in-line six
About the only time I use the QS is merging onto freeways. 40 years of riding has created too much muscle memory to make a QS intuitive, and honestly my shifting at this point is nearly as fast and smooth.
Thanks for checking out the video and commenting. The first year I owned my RS, I used the quick shifter probably 20% of the time and mostly only switching from 4th to 5th and 5th to 6th. Now I’m probably doing about 60% of my shifts both up and down with the quick shifter. I’ve become accustomed to its intricacies and enjoy using it on a more regular basis.
@@Texas2Tires I’m very satisfied with the quick shifter on my ‘21 GS. I’ve learned the idiosyncrasies now. Not smooth like my old Tiger 1200 XCa but still great.
@@roybenjamin Thanks for checking out the video and commenting. You hit the nail on the head. The boxer quick shifter you have to get to know well before enjoying it. Like a good friend, the relationship develops with time. 😊
My up shifts are ok but the down shifts are crunchy and vague, sometimes spongy. It's got worse as the weather got warmer..... through the winter it was smooth as silk up and down. Very odd.
Thanks for checking out the video and commenting. That is strange, metal does expand under heat but the gear box and engine are hotter than surrounding temps regardless of season. So again that’s odd. Mine has always been smooth down shifting all the way to first and smooth going up past second using the quick shifter. From what I’m hearing, the new R1300 boxer engine has a redesigned engine and gearbox making it smoother than current models.
It's 'Character'. It's why you buy a boxer engine bike 😁
Thank you for watching and commenting. I’m going deeper into my channel’s back end and found I missed many comments apologies for not messaging sooner. The bike certainly has character how’s your character running these days?
On my '14 r1200rt I don't mess with 1-2, or 2-1. If I roll off/on with the shifter pedal preloaded it slips right in. There's a sweet spot much like rev match shifting without it. Sometimes I wonder if that's all I'm doing and if it's even working. Lol
I think every boxer owner has their own unique experience with the BMW shift assist. Thanks for checking out the video and commenting.
I had an f850gs that was also clunky in lower gears. In fact the new 2023 r1250 gs that I have is smoother than the 2019 f850.
Yes the newer beemers are better especially once you learn the sweet spots for up shifting. Thank you for watching and commenting.
Shaft drive has to have something to do with it. When I accelerate hard, the up shift is pretty smooth. Otherwise, 3 to 4 and above upshift is ok. Downshift is pretty much fine. Minor issue for an otherwise great motorcycle.
Thanks for checking out the video and commenting. Very true, it’s an awesome bike.
Hi sir, good work! I own a GS 1250 2022 and use my clutch from 1st to 3rd gear. If I understood you well, I could use the quickshifter at higher rpm for these first 3 gears. What is the ideal rpm…according to your experience with your RS? Thanks! Marc, Quebec, Canada 🇨🇦😉🏍
Thank you Marc for watching the video and commenting. For my bike, using the quick shifter from 1st to 2nd then 3rd smoothly is about 5500-6000 rpm. I’m guessing every bike is different, so practicing how best to address this is by important
Say Tex2T what was that brand of silicone engine guards you got for your bike? I made a note of it when you previewed them but now I can't find my note! 😂
Hi Norrin Sorry for the delay. They are from a company called MachineArtMoto: machineartmoto.com/
@@Texas2Tires thanks man!!
there really is no need to have a QS unless you are on a race bike ...we all grow up changing gears with the clutch anyway so I don't bother using the QS on my BMW...its just an added cost and complexity hardly needed on a tourer
Thanks for checking out the video. However have to disagree with you here. I use my QS all the time. It’s very helpful and after flashing my ecu with BrenTune it’s much smoother and enjoyable.
BMW wants there customers to except that explanation after shelling out the dough for the motorcycle. The engineers should figure out a way to make it smoother.
Thanks for checking out the video and commenting, appreciate it.