[laocius]

I am from Sydney
I have just picked up my K 1300 S motorsport variant from Brisbane and ridden 900km home.
The bike is 2016 model and made in late 2015.
First issue I noticed is when backing off the throttle, there's some engine vibration/grinding noise. As soon as I twist the throttle, the noise goes away. It is very noticeable when going 100km/h and above.
The other issue is the bike had some high pitch whistle sound. See video below.

The bike had 17999km on the dash and was sitting in the garage for a very long time. I can see from the service history that it was last serviced in September, 2019 at 16961km. So it didn't get ridden much in the last two years.
The registration already expired, I applied a temporary permit to ride it home.
As soon as I got home, I changed the oil and replaced the oil filter.
I tried to adjust the balancing shaft according to this video

But it didn't make any difference after adjusting.

I haven't tried riding it again since I haven't got it registered. There was indicator switch issue, which I have just fixed by replacing the switch. Hopefully I can get it registered next week and test ride it again.

I googled around the vibration issue and didn't find people having exactly the same issue as mine.
I want to get some advice first, taking it to the dealer would be my last option because here in Sydney, mechanical repair is really expensive.

 

[laocius]

I am from Sydney
I have just picked up my K 1300 S motorsport variant from Brisbane and ridden 900km home.
The bike is 2016 model and made in late 2015.
First issue I noticed is when backing off the throttle, there's some engine vibration/grinding noise. As soon as I twist the throttle, the noise goes away. It is very noticeable when going 100km/h and above.
The other issue is the bike had some high pitch whistle sound. See video below.

The bike had 17999km on the dash and was sitting in the garage for a very long time. I can see from the service history that it was last serviced in September, 2019 at 16961km. So it didn't get ridden much in the last two years.
The registration already expired, I applied a temporary permit to ride it home.
As soon as I got home, I changed the oil and replaced the oil filter.
I tried to adjust the balancing shaft according to this video

But it didn't make any difference after adjusting.

I haven't tried riding it again since I haven't got it registered. There was indicator switch issue, which I have just fixed by replacing the switch. Hopefully I can get it registered next week and test ride it again.

I googled around the vibration issue and didn't find people having exactly the same issue as mine.
I want to get some advice first, taking it to the dealer would be my last option because here in Sydney, mechanical repair is really expensive.

It doesn't have vibration when I pull the clutch. So it's not wheels/tyres.

 

[Capt howdy]

The high pitched whistle is normal. The attached video described a known source of vibration in the k12 and could be the cause of yours. I looked at that bike myself but didn’t want to part with my k12😁

 

[Gene Kennedy]

I have the same bike with almost identical milage.When I got it first I found it rough and vibtatory on the overrun.Its still the same now,I put it down to coming from a smooth jap r1.I put on grip puppies to help with the vibes but they didnt help much.I had a k12r a few years ago and that was even worse for vibes.Mine whistles just like yours too !

 

[chriscanning]

The biggest mistake anyone buying a K can make is assuming BMW knew what they were doing....because they didn’t...the 1300 should have been the bike that was launched in September 04 and developed from there.

Yes I did say September 04 the launch was such a disaster they all got shipped back to Germany and the golden rule with K’s is avoid the 05/06 like the plague...yea sure their will be some lucky folk out there but not many.

We got lucky here in the UK because we had a Sterling currency crash years back and European bike dealers rushed over here and bought anything with two wheels so early K’s are quite rare...thankfully.

The 07/08 was R&D on the hoof and by which time BMW realised their mistakes and were very busy both modding the motor and the fuelling.

Best solution for owners who want to join the 21st century... ditch the exhaust system...Akra headers and an end can of your choice and a modern day fuel map ie a PC or in my case I went went Rexxer but regardless my 07 1200 R Sport doesn’t vibrate....it did...but not now 😀

 

[laocius]

The high pitched whistle is normal. The attached video described a known source of vibration in the k12 and could be the cause of yours. I looked at that bike myself but didn’t want to part with my k12😁

Did you forget to attach the video?

 

[laocius]

This video says a bad bearing in the clutch basket can cause vibration when off the throttle.

 

[Capt howdy]

sorry i stuffed up and now can’t find the video. It related to the needle bearing where the clutch basket fits onto the crankshaft. It was of poor quality and caused the issues you described on the k12 but I’m not sure whether or not it carried over to the k13.

 

[cstumpf750]

It absolutely carried over to the K13. The sad thing is when Riccardo did the re-engineering, the spec’d a ground race bearing to replace the formed cup race to prevent this problem. But the bmw bean counters decided they knew better.

 

[Capt howdy]

found it

Relevant info from about 6 min 25sec.

Also re the centre bearing

 

[laocius]

Took it to the dealer and after several guy tested riding it. They told me that it's normal with this type of bike, some worse, some less. A client from a few years ago had the same issue on his brand new bike and they tried all sorts of things instructed by BMW and none worked and they end up replacing the whole engine.

 

[cstumpf750]

Normal is just an excuse. They should not vibrate, it’s the crap bearing in the clutch that allow it to flop around Causing vibration. It’s one of the reasons BMW only replaces the entire clutch on these bikes, never just plates.

 

[laocius]

Normal is just an excuse. They should not vibrate, it’s the crap bearing in the clutch that allow it to flop around Causing vibration. It’s one of the reasons BMW only replaces the entire clutch on these bikes, never just plates.

Have you had same issue? How did you fix it?

 

[cstumpf750]

Yes, my bike has a vibration that has gotten progressively worse. It did not have any vibration when it was new. I have the upgraded bearing for the clutch, but have not installed it yet. All of the K12 and K13 bikes have this problem as BMW used a cheap, unfit for use bearing in the clutch. Even the manufacturer of the bearing that BMW used says not to use a former cup bearing in an application like this, only use a hardened, ground race bearing as the cup will deform and change shape under the loads of the large spinning clutch and open up the tolerance inside the bearing, which allows it to flop around, which makes it progressively get worse.

 

[laocius]

Yes, my bike has a vibration that has gotten progressively worse. It did not have any vibration when it was new. I have the upgraded bearing for the clutch, but have not installed it yet. All of the K12 and K13 bikes have this problem as BMW used a cheap, unfit for use bearing in the clutch. Even the manufacturer of the bearing that BMW used says not to use a former cup bearing in an application like this, only use a hardened, ground race bearing as the cup will deform and change shape under the loads of the large spinning clutch and open up the tolerance inside the bearing, which allows it to flop around, which makes it progressively get worse.

Which upgraded bearing did you get? I saw in other threads people getting ina nk35/30-tv-xl

 

[cstumpf750]

TV or TV-XL works. The XL is supposed to be a longer life bearing, but I doubt you will see a difference in practice.

 

[richtea]

All of the K12 and K13 bikes have this problem...

That's quite a sweeping statement. Are you sure? There are a lot of clutch variants (9 supposedly), so I think BMW solved it at some point around 2010-2011.
My 2015 K1300S has no problems at 35k miles, and my previous K1300S didn't either ( 2011 model, 38k miles when sold).

There is some vibration when coming down the revs (around 70mph in 6th if I remember rightly - whatever that equates to in revs), but I've found that smoothes out with higher mileage - say 18,000 miles onwards. However, the OP is already getting towards that mileage so that may not be the same problem.

 

[cstumpf750]

That's quite a sweeping statement. Are you sure? There are a lot of clutch variants (9 supposedly), so I think BMW solved it at some point around 2010-2011.
My 2015 K1300S has no problems at 35k miles, and my previous K1300S didn't either ( 2011 model, 38k miles when sold).

There is some vibration when coming down the revs (around 70mph in 6th if I remember rightly - whatever that equates to in revs), but I've found that smoothes out with higher mileage - say 18,000 miles onwards. However, the OP is already getting towards that mileage so that may not be the same problem.

Well, they never changed the bearing, so the problem persists through all bikes in all model years. Some will be worse than others due to variations in manufacturing and operating conditions, but unless the bearing is changed to a better one then the problem will exist.

I’ve ridden several example of varying mileage and the higher the mileage the more vibration, it is most noticeable on deceleration, but it is always present. Mine is a 2014 and has the problem. I came across a 2016 with the same issue. So if they fixed it, how is the problem still occurring and if the fixed it why are they still using the same shitty bearing?

 

[richtea]

Maybe I'm lucky.

I’ve ridden several example of varying mileage and the higher the mileage the more vibration...

Roughly what mileage are you experiencing this - just so I know to keep a lookout?
Thanks.