Arrrgghh !!

 Rebuilt the speedo, rebuilt the ignition advance, got
the carbs right. Two blocks away from home, the
bike stuck in second gear and refused to come out.

I believe I've encountered the infamous airhead broken
pawl spring problem. $300-500 labor to replace a $5
part buried down in the guts of the transmission.

Borrowed the appropriate special tool from a friend
and I'm in the middle of stripping all the crap I
need to pull the transmission.

I suppose that given a 23 year old bike with 190,000
miles on it, run about 15,000 miles a year and maintained
by an amateur mechanic this really shouldn't be too
surprising. It's the $5 part sitting down in the guts of
the machine that I find really galling.

If I could find anybody who could take it in and have it out by
next week, I'd probably go for it. As it stands, I guess I'm the
only one who has half a chance of getting it back on the road
in the next two weeks.

 Rob Kleinschmidt wrote:

  Some Harleys have that same problem . Fortunately , one of the very
talented people we know has come up with a way to replace that spring
without pulling the whole tranny . That trick also works to replace the
shifter shaft ... both are new in my bike because of a stripped spline
earlier this year .
  Good luck , hope you can get 'er fixed !
--
Snag
Learning keeps
you young !

 


Not feasible on a BMW, unfortunately. AFAIK.

 
Heh. Happened years ago to a friend, on his way to the Bol d'Or
endurance race in southern France, only he was in fourth gear and two-
up. Amazingly, he made it the rest of the way down there, and all the
way back home (roughly 800 miles each way).

The bike was under warranty and BMW replaced the spring on his return.
Oh, and the clutch :-))

 
One of the more bizarre roadside fixes I've heard of involves
turning the bike upside down so that the pawl will drop back
by gravity. This supposedly allows you to get to second gear,
which is considered the optimal gear for limping home.

Glad I didn't have to put this to the test.