General topics » The Gear Box Thread

In the previous forum, I had posted a lengthy tale concerning my issues with the Gear Shift Assist Pro (aka GASP) on our 2015 demo R1200RS. Ultimately we traded that bike in for the current 2017 R1200RS. In that deal we shrunk the fleet size from 3 to 2 bikes. The Mrs rode a R1200ST when I had my R1200RT DOHC and the R1200RS. Put her on the RS some weeks before the trade. She quite quickly fell in love with the RS. That being said, it did hurt her tough when we traded her loyal R1200ST in for this R1200RS. Ration told us: what is the use of 3 bikes when we can go on trips with only 2 bikes... Emotion told us: the ST has deserved a place in our stable, regardless how often we would use her as the Mrs has grown accustomed with the R1200RS. Ration won.

So, how is the improved gear box holding up so far? Remarkably well. But I've heard tales that getting the right gear box is sort of like participating in a lottery. Apparently, we drew the right straw. Apart from the f#ck ups going from 3rd to 2nd gear where the previous RS too often ended up in a genuine Neutral, including the "0" gear indication and the green "N" light, riding the RS was a dream come true. And to this day I'm still amazed every time I ride it's successor. It is actually even better than the previous one. Something I regarded as virtually impossible. But it really, really is. Yes, I like my RT. Mainly when it rains or when temperatures have dropped. On all other occasions (as in: from roughly the end of March until mid November) I definitely prefer the RS over the RT. Such an agile bike. Such an accuracy. With such ease.

So, the GASP performed as good as flawless so far. It did have an occasional blank indication in the gear indicator, using clutch and shifting once more solved that problem. It has never ended up in Neutral uncommanded however. A reassuring thought.

The Mrs told me she does not appreciate my USER setting. That is Engine Mapping in Dynamic and traction control in RAIN. She wants the engine mapping in RAIN as well. So I showed her how she can reset the mode back to RAIN when she finds the bike in USER. Indeed a somewhat friendlier way of being launched than the freaky jump the bike makes while set to USER (a freaky jump I have come to highly appreciate...).

Should things change, and I believe if so, only for the better as the bikes gets worn in gently, I will keep you guys updated!

My '16 also changes gears flawlessly and I have never paid much attention - I just shift, using the GASP for virtually every gear change from 1st up and from 6th down. The only time I use the clutch for a gear change other than from a stop is if I forget! :) Never had any issues or weirdness with it. It appears, as J suggested in the original post, that there is considerable variation from bike to bike though why that should be the case, I have no idea.

My May 2015-build 2016 RS continues to shift well both up and down using the GASP system, other than a hard bang between first, second gears and third gears when using heavy throttle, which makes me cringe to think of the stress being placed on the drive components when this happens. The shifts all remain clean (especially down-shifts, which are perfectly executed) and I have never missed a gear using the GASP. However, I should mention that my bike first shifted poorly using the GASP when I bought it, but a firmware update during the summer of 2015 put the system back on track.

Just keep in mind that there is a lot of inertia and heavy parts flying around inside that big boxer engine and that it takes a certain amount of time to for those parts to match up with the rear wheel's road speed when shifting to a higher gear. This is apparently resolved when down shifting due to the engine auto-blipping and also likely by the action of the slipper clutch - slipping. But these two functions are not in operation when up-shifting, thereby resulting in a noticeable jerk up-shifting from the lower gears when there is a big change in engine speed vs. road speed.

The GASP system likely works much better on the BMW 4-cylinder S1000-series engines as their moving parts are much smaller and lighter.