Interested in a More Slick and Intuitive Quick-Shifter?? Mod Available !

[DaleGM]

Hi All,

After being the happy owner of a 2011/12 model S1000RR, and reading this forum and others, it seems that many riders find their quick-shifters a little hard to operate at times having it seems a little to much resistance. Sometimes they seem to operate quite intuitively and other times not. For those of you who 'may' not be that technically minded the quick-shifter mechanism is simply a spring-loaded plunger with a tiny magnetic/sensor attached. When you pull up hard(ish) with your toe on the gear lever you compress a special compression spring within the QS housing, this operates a tiny magnetoresistive sensor which passes a signal to the ECU to cut the fueling very slightly. As the fueling is backed off (in microseconds) the engine torque reduces and this unloads the gear meshing - the gear slips through - voila! However, as mentioned above, it seems that that the spring mechanism (which works in compression, not extension) is for some a little on the hard side to pull up and make a slick gearchange. I personally had an issue with mine which was exacerbated by a slightly weak left ankle due to a lower back injury several years ago. I have now used a spare quick-shifter as a mule, stripped it and had a few replica compression springs made of the same material used by BMW and stainless also, each having varying compression strengths. After trying a few different springs I have now the perfect and intuitive quick-shifter that changes like knife through butter, no more feeling that I need to exert a little more effort into the lever to make sure it works every time (i.e getting the he sensor engaged) it's now easy and every time bam bam bam.
If anyone wants this mod undertaken to their own then just get in touch: dale@themintons.co.uk.
If you remove the linkage rod complete (just two torx bolts) disconnect the wire (top end) and send to me I'll do the mod for you and send it back post inclusive for ?50.00. If you try it and want it with even less resistance then send it again and I'll modify it with a slightly lighter spring still for half price.

 

[bananaman]

Although the shift assist wasn't particularly good, I found it was more the agricultural box not engaging as smoothly it should hence multiple false neutrals.

 

[DaleGM]

I must confess that my box is as good as gold, whether I use the Quick-Shifter or roll off momentarily to shift clutch-less. The QS is a good bit of kit, sound in design, simple and effective 'when one puts enough effort into it' and that seems to be the general issue I keep reading about, and it's because it's a little heavy (read imput effort) it's not so slick and intuitive, with the modification mine now is, super slick with little effort. Knowing the way the box itself is manufactured I wouldn't would call it agricultural but I fully appreciate the tenet of your description if you're experiencing issues in the way you describe. I've had Honda Blades and Yams and the box on my S1000RR is an equal to those if not better. Obviously I don't know your gear changing style and technique. What model/year do you have?

 

[bananaman]

I must confess that my box is as good as gold, whether I use the Quick-Shifter or roll off momentarily to shift clutch-less. The QS is a good bit of kit, sound in design, simple and effective 'when one puts enough effort into it' and that seems to be the general issue I keep reading about, and it's because it's a little heavy (read imput effort) it's not so slick and intuitive, with the modification mine now is, super slick with little effort. Knowing the way the box itself is manufactured I wouldn't would call it agricultural but I fully appreciate the tenet of your description if you're experiencing issues in the way you describe. I've had Honda Blades and Yams and the box on my S1000RR is an equal to those if not better. Obviously I don't know your gear changing style and technique. What model/year do you have?

Was a 2010, 2nd engine in 2012 was the same. Tried all sorts, manual way, HM shifter, even HM couldn't set it to suit. Shift assist would cut ok but next cog was away on holiday. Gen 3 was lot better but not foolproof. My RSV4rf was silky smooth in comparison

 

[scooby]

never had any issues with the standard shifter on any of my gen2+3's (although do have an alpha/lohmann switch on my latest bike).think peoples main issues i've read is the amount of movement needed,not so much the force required.

 

[DaleGM]

Hi there, that's a pity, sounds like you've been unfortunate. It's a bit weird that the shifter would cut okay but the next gear was not there, operating the QS automatically exerts pressure on the next gear to mesh in and it does so when the torque gets released by the fuel cut, that you say that even then and with that pressure (and the fuel cut) it still wouldn't engage is weird. Could you change okay clutch-less or was also an issue ?

 

[bananaman]

Hi there, that's a pity, sounds like you've been unfortunate. It's a bit weird that the shifter would cut okay but the next gear was not there, operating the QS automatically exerts pressure on the next gear to mesh in and it does so when the torque gets released by the fuel cut, that you say that even then and with that pressure (and the fuel cut) it still wouldn't engage is weird. Could you change okay clutch-less or was also an issue ?

That's what I meant by being agricultural, notchy/stiff, if you didn't apply overly positive pressure than it wouldn't engage nicely, shifter or clutch less . 2 years on the previous bike (Suzuki thou) spoilt me.

 

[DaleGM]

Hi there, and thanks for the feedback. I also thought that the movement required was somewhat excessive but its not, it just can feel that way because of the force required (to overcome that spring compression rate). The internal sensor only has to move a tiny amount and less that you see when you look at the rod moving out from the QS housing. That's why when modified it just flicks through the gears easier and is more intuitive. The mod would suit anyone with the earlier bike 2009/2012 (I'm looking at the later model shifter over the next couple of weeks to see if the same mod can be applied to that also) who may find their QS a bit less than slick.

 

[DaleGM]

That's unfortunate, must have been a real pain. If there's one thing you need on bikes like these is a slick box, especially when you're a challenging road ride or track day.

 

[Zxcv12]

never had any issues with the standard shifter on any of my gen2+3's (although do have an alpha/lohmann switch on my latest bike).think peoples main issues i've read is the amount of movement needed,not so much the force required.

This sounds about right, moving the lever down a bit really helps with it too.

 

[DaleGM]

This sounds about right, moving the lever down a bit really helps with it too.

Hi there, I thought of this and tried that too to make it an easier and more intuitive change but the different leverage geometry didn't make any difference to mine, also, where the lever is set (in relation to the standard foot-peg position) is pretty good and plainly an area of the bike design that was developed and needed to suit most riders (vis-a-vis foot and boot sizes) and as such there is not much tolerance to move the lever down. Even with a small adjustment (down) the toe of your boot starts to catch the lever prior to sliding under it which I found a real pain and not what you want especially if your riding quickly and at size 8 my feet are not large and my Alpinestars boots quite slim at the toe end so it wasn't that I was finding it a pain because I possess big clodhoppers :chuncky:
Anyway, besides the mod that I've undertaken to my own QS which is now really slick I've now got hold of the later version of the QS (Gen 3 and beyond) and am in the process of modifying that in the same way. Bearing mind that the principle of its internal design has not changed then I foresee the same positive result. One this later model is done I'll post on here again as it may be of interest to those who have the later models also and find they're shifters like mine are slightly harder to operate than they really should be. The modified version of the later QS will be slightly more money than the ?50.00 suggested for the earlier models, this because there is going to be some tooling required to strip each out.