The I noticed the gearshift was getting stiff and notchy about a year ago and, on the advice of local BMW friend Charlie Parsons, I added some 85W-140 hypoid gear oil to the gearbox. That seemed to smooth it out, but the implication was that the bike had somehow leaked a bunch of gear oil over the years.
I had added the oil sparingly, not wanting to overfill it. The tool that serves as a transmission oil dipstick was strangely absent from the K75S toolkit, but I knew I had one in the toolkit left over from my '91 K100RS after I parted out the bike a few years ago.
Wayne Garrison introduces Maria to her K75S at the late, lamented Revard BMW Motorcycles in Indianapolis in 2000
The problem was, I couldn't find the K100RS toolkit. It finally turned up last week, under a painting dropcloth on a shelf in the garage tool closet.
So I added more oil on Sunday - emptied the rest of the quart bottle from last year - and still needed more to register on the dipstick. So I got another quart from Advance Auto Parts and brought it up to the proper level.
I had to meet Maria near downtown Jonesboro last evening, so I decided to ride the K75S to see how much happier the oil made the gearbox. It shifted smoothly and seemed just fine.
Until I stopped at the light at Hilltop and started smelling burning oil.
By the time I reached my destination, it was clear the bike was bleeding gear oil badly and it was dripping onto the hot exhaust pipe.
After we finished our business in town, I phoned Charlie, who lives on the north side of the city, and arranged to drop the bike at his place rather than leave an oil trail all the way up to our house. Besides, Charlie has a well-equipped workshop and if I'm going to attempt repairs, that's the logical place.
So my K1200GT is now the only bike in our garage and I have a new project.
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