HELP - stuck in West Africa with a broken clutch

[Hansiger]

Hi all,

Stuck in West Africa with what seems to be a broken clutch of some kind; did some off-road as you would expect for this kind of trip, but nothing that warrants a broken clutch on a 10,000 mile / 16,000km bike.

Bad web here, so don't have time to search the threads and sort out transport to a big town...apologies if this has already been covered.

Diagnostics:
- I get revs, but no power
- Has been getting worse over the last 6 or 7 days (after getting stuck and revving hard in some soft sand for only about 10 mins - noticed it almost immediately when doing some water and trying to get onto a ferry)
- Was fine ish yesterday up to 4k rpm and then deteriorated to nothing but first and second gear this morning
- Can now barely get it to move, need to use manpower to get momentum and with a bit of a run up I can get it up to 10kph

Any thoughts?

Next steps:
- Busing it (can't wait to see it on top of a bus to be honest and no idea how they are going to lift a 250kg bike and baggage onto the bus - will post a pic) to Lome in Togo where there is a KTM dealer
- will get a diagnosis from here and the KTM place and then get parts sent out

I really could do with some advice to make sure I don't a) get the wrong parts sent out or b) get not enough parts sent out.

Any advice will be rewarded with beer at some point if we ever meet....promise!

Cheers,
Hans

All the way down and back again on the F800GS '08

[ToadRide]

Clutch springs? Bad batch? It seems these bikes have their intermittent bad batches of one thing or another. Good luck with the fix.

[kismetcapitan]

could be just the springs, but to be safe I'd have an entire clutchpack FedEx'ed in.

[Richard230]

You could also have a stuck clutch cable that has become jammed due to fraying, or because it is dirty. I once had a similar problem on my K100RS and it turned out to be a piece of debris lodged between the clutch lever arm and the transmission case, which was preventing the clutch lever at the case from closing fully.

[kismetcapitan]

hopefully that's the case for him! Would be a much easier fix, and easy to diagnose - just watch the clutch case lever move as someone squeezes the clutch handlebar lever.

[FredRydr]

I'm so used to the boxers that I almost suggested oil might be getting onto the disk! Ha!

Fred

[distributist]

Hi Hans,
I had my clutch go at 8000 km, and it got replaced by BMW "goodwill" (clutch is only guaranteed to 7500km). The service manager indicated they had seen it on a few F650GS and F800GS because of insufficient slack on the clutch cable coming out of the factory:

He had originally mentioned something about a shim plate, but yesterday said that applied to the 800S, not the GS. Another dealer he was talking to about the problem speculated that when the metal clutch plates heat up, they warp slightly, taking up excess slack. He suggested checking the clutch cable after 1000km (the heck with that; I'm checking it every ride), and that it was best to check and adjust it when it was hot.

Your symptoms sound similar to mine. A full description of my experience (and others') is in this thread: http://f800riders.org/forum/showthre...962#post327962

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Hugh

[Hansiger]

Hi all,

First off a massive thanks for all your input, it's genuinely appreciated and helped make me feel a bit easier about things so far from home or a language that I can speak with any confidence. Describing 'clutch' and how the bike feels with hand gestures and a pen and paper doesn't really cut it!

So, update:
- Cleaned the cable on the Burkina Faso border in the hope that was the problem. Some light 'grit' did come out, but it didn't help so was back to broken clutch diagnosis unfortunately
- Managed to get an

Bike on truck on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Bike on truck on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

in Togo where the KTM dealer is located. Awesome guys who even tried to help with the clutch, despite never having seen a motorbike with an 800cc engine - lots of sharp intakes of breath as they realised that it was 'a small car' as they called it
- Got to the KTM place and the mechanic there - Didier - opened the engine and immediately saw that the clutch was worn and and wasn't impressed (bit of KTM pride came out I am sure LOL)
- Went through the posts with him and he is definitely of the opinion that this is manufacturing and that the clutch cable didn't have enough play in it - lesson is to check the cable regularly I think
- Parts ordered and should be being shipped out by courier tomorrow, due for arrivel in 6 days

Thanks again for all your help and if you are ever in West Africa, the guys at the KTM place are awesome and know what they are doing.

Have fun on the road,
Hans

[ToadRide]

I rode my F8 go a good 8000kms before actually checking the clutch cable slack. Even tho I am fully equipped and qualified to take care of the bike, having owned and rebuilt dozens of them since I was a wee lad. And even tho my Spidey Sense was constantly saying, "Check your bike!", I sort of ignored maintenance for a while because, well, Jeesh. I just put out a good $17000 CDN out the door for a BMW renouned for its reliability.
I guess the moral of the story is"Never take anything for granted." Especially if you are in the middle of nowhere.
And, I guess you are aware that probably a good 50% of the people out there have had to fight with BMW to cover this issue. A bunch of them having to replace the clutch on their own because BMW wouldn't pick up the tab. Good luck with that.

[ebrabaek]

Originally Posted by Hansiger

Hi all,

First off a massive thanks for all your input, it's genuinely appreciated and helped make me feel a bit easier about things so far from home or a language that I can speak with any confidence. Describing 'clutch' and how the bike feels with hand gestures and a pen and paper doesn't really cut it!

So, update:
- Cleaned the cable on the Burkina Faso border in the hope that was the problem. Some light 'grit' did come out, but it didn't help so was back to broken clutch diagnosis unfortunately
- Managed to get an empty cement truck to bring me down to Lome in Togo where the KTM dealer is located. Awesome guys who even tried to help with the clutch, despite never having seen a motorbike with an 800cc engine - lots of sharp intakes of breath as they realised that it was 'a small car' as they called it
- Got to the KTM place and the mechanic there - Didier - opened the engine and immediately saw that the clutch was worn and and wasn't impressed (bit of KTM pride came out I am sure LOL)
- Went through the posts with him and he is definitely of the opinion that this is manufacturing and that the clutch cable didn't have enough play in it - lesson is to check the cable regularly I think
- Parts ordered and should be being shipped out by courier tomorrow, due for arrivel in 6 days

Thanks again for all your help and if you are ever in West Africa, the guys at the KTM place are awesome and know what they are doing.

Have fun on the road,
Hans

They have plenty experience fixing the orange ones......;)


Erling

[fiwi]

Thats my idea of adventure travel!

[NTBill]

Originally Posted by fiwi

Thats my idea of adventure travel!

Yeah, how's the quote go?
Adventure begins when things stop going to plan...