K1200RS Transmission Repairs Started

Last weekend, my friend Chuck saw a K1200RS transmission on eBay with a buy it now price of $300 located in Norfolk, NE, about 80 miles from my home. Chuck is a pretty good mechanic. At his encouragement, I took my K1200RS and Clymers manual over to his house where he had recently obtained a motorcycle lift. Over the next 3 or 4 days, Chuck tore my bike down quick to find the problem. I was pretty busy and was not able to help. Chuck determined the transmission output shaft splines and the clutch plates where completely worn (as in nearly gone on the clutch plates).

From K1200RS Transmission Problems

From K1200RS Transmission Problems

From K1200RS Transmission Problems

I have had various problems with clutch and transmission ever since the dealer tried to resolve some broken seals on the bike when it had about 20K on it back in 2005. Over the next few years, a gear shift indicator was fixed, two clutches were replaced and a shift problem was resolved. After 65K and the second clutch, the bike was having problems at times shifting. After initially arguing that the problem couldn't be duplicated, the dealer finally agreed there was a problem, but explained to me that probably wasn't that bad and that if I had him tear into it while under my extended warranty and just wearable parts were worn, I would be responsible for labor and parts. Its a very expensive job, so I stupidly let my extended warranty expire without taking the bike back. I figured I would ride it until the clutch completely wore out again.

In late April this year the bike finally failed on the on ramp to Hwy 20 near home. The engine sounded fine, but when in gear it sounded like gravel had been thrown into it. I trailered the bike home and put off doing any additional repairs. I was thinking about trying to take it apart and fix it myself this fall.

Back to the top of this story. On Wednesday evening Chuck called with his diagnoses. We figured replacing the transmission was a lot easier then trying to fix it. Chuck contacted the eBay seller and got his contact information. Thursday afternoon I called the seller and made arrangements to visit that evening and take a look at it.

At about 6 PM Thursday, Chuck and I took off for Norfolk on a road trip to visit this Todd Dickie of PowerSportsNation.com. When we got there we found 3 K1200RS transmissions. Todd said we could have any of them for $300. They all looked good, but we picked the cleanest one with the best splines. Todd told us that bike had 1600 miles on it, so we basically got a new transmission for $300.

From K1200RS Transmission Problems

Todd is the owner of PowerSportsNation.com. His number was 402-371-7002. He and his wife were great. We plan on visiting with him again. His location was 84786 N Hwy 81, Norfolk, NE, about 4.5 miles north of town next to a large used implement dealer who he has a shared driveway with.

Iowa Girl Hits 5 Deer In One Year

Maybe a new record, but a girl in Conrad, IA (<- link to article... Is "What's Up" still in Conrad?), has hit five deer (we assume different deer) within a one year time span. Our corn-fed Iowa deer are becoming pretty dangerous. Not to be out done, one of my co-workers has had two different collisions with deer this year.

Our 2010 Summer Vacation Ride & Darth Vader GPS (funny)

L and I got home safe, but worn from our summer vacation last night. The family pets were very excited to see us. We spent eleven days riding to and from the 2010 BMW MOA International Rally in Redmond, OR. With nearly 10 days traveling in the saddle and just a little over one day at the rally, we were able to ride some of the best roads and even found a couple new roads to add to our favorites list. There are lots of photos; we spent a lot of time with old friends and made a few new ones, and we did battle with a plethora of weather and mechanical elements. I will post a day-by-day trip report and some photos in the next few days. It will be good.

To Funny - Darth Vader TomTom video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ljFfL-mL70