Please help!

[made2care]

Some great knowledgeable and helpful people here and would like to see if you can figure this out.
My apologies as this is regarding a 1978 bmw r100/7 airhead.
I can shift up just fine but not down unless I shift slightly up then down. I have set the clutch cable to spec and still no luck.
Any thoughts on this is appreciated.
Thank you

 

[mcgovern61]

Not sure, never worked on a Beemer. If the clutch and cable are adjusted correctly and you can easily put it into gear and still roll like neutral, than it might be a shifting fork issue or the gear just isn't synchronizing.

 

[julimike54]

I don't know about your problem but I found some info that might help?

https://vintagebmw.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16558
https://advrider.com/f/threads/airhead-tranny-problems-or-is-it-normal.160170/
It sounds like the tranny in those is a bit bothersome or fiddly by nature, from my short perusal.

 

[made2care]

I think I have the clutch cable adjustment pretty close now. She’s shifting much better.
2nd problem..... my front tire is bouncing. The tire appears in good shape but shows it’s 9 years old. Also, the lines on the sidewalls close to the wheel rim appear a little off, so..... wheel or tire might not be round.
Thoughts?

 

[D-50Dave]

I think I have the clutch cable adjustment pretty close now. She’s shifting much better.
2nd problem..... my front tire is bouncing. The tire appears in good shape but shows it’s 9 years old. Also, the lines on the sidewalls close to the wheel rim appear a little off, so..... wheel or tire might not be round.
Thoughts?

Put a new tire on it. I wouldn't trust 9 year old rubber, no matter how good it looked. (1,000th post )

 

[kerryb]

I have a friend who is an expert in that vintage beemer, I'll ask him. Our trip to michigan in August resulted in me bringing an R69S transmission home in my aspencade topbox to be repaired!

 

[kerryb]

So...I talked to Glen at the beemerbarn, he said 2 things to check. 1. The spring on the shifter mechanism may have gotten weak enough that the shift linkage isn't returning all the way to "center". 2. The bearing (bronze bushing) #13 in the attached fiche pic, may have worn enough that the linkage is sloppy, thus not letting the shifter arm move far enough to finish shifting. Is your lever bumping into the exhaust pipe below it?

 

[made2care]

So...I talked to Glen at the beemerbarn, he said 2 things to check. 1. The spring on the shifter mechanism may have gotten weak enough that the shift linkage isn't returning all the way to "center". 2. The bearing (bronze bushing) #13 in the attached fiche pic, may have worn enough that the linkage is sloppy, thus not letting the shifter arm move far enough to finish shifting. Is your lever bumping into the exhaust pipe below it?

Thank you for checking on this. The shift lever is wobbly and will check it.
Also, I have set the beemer aside for now as I just started a goldwing rebuild. Thanks again

 

[kerryb]

You're welcome, I too have set my beemer project aside for now, wings are more fun to work on.