A basic clutch adjustment is one that is done when you're unsure how, or if, the clutch was adjusted before you got the Brick, or if you've installed a new clutch disc, disassembled clutch components, replaced the clutch cable or done some other damned-fool, obsessive thing that possibly could have affected clutch performance. If BMW has its way with you, the clutch hand lever adjusting screw is used for one purpose—to do its part of the
basic adjustment. After the basic adjustment, as the clutch disc wears you'll be adjusting the free play gap using the clutch arm adjusting screw at the white arrow in the lowest photo below.
That means if you don't have a motorcycle lift you'll need to squat, kneel or lie down, adjust the screw then get up and measure the gap until the gap is the correct width—unless you have trustworthy minions to do this for you—every time, time after time as the clutch disc wears and time flows on, through the miles, past changes in lovers, after pre-nuptials, after court arraignments, after layoffs, after tax deadlines, after grandchild arrivals, after pet burials and home mortgage payoffs until the friction disc wears out, the pressure plate erodes, the diaphragm spring collapses, the clutch cable breaks, the clutch rod disintegrates, the clutch rod bushing seizes, the output shaft o-ring rots, the rear main seal leaks, or until you need a mobility scooter.
Must you exert yourself, or your minions, like that? No! Regardless of how you choose to adjust that free play gap when the time comes, the result should be that the clutch friction disc doesn't slip under load, that it disengages completely when shifting so the transmission goes smoothly into and out of gear and the disc doesn't wear out prematurely, and that gear oil isn't pooling on the driveway, garage or public byways because it's leaking from the clutch boot that wasn't getting enough pressure delivered against its piston by the adjusting screw's tip after your clutch adjustment.
Pay attention and
feel the effect of that free play in the clutch hand lever when you are shifting at speed.
Feel it, man,
feel it, but don't close your eyes while feeling it, at speed anyway; bliss might hit you, or you it, unexpectedly. You'll eventually feel the moment when it
needs to be adjusted, unless—of course—you're just posing on your cafe racer project with an abandoned, decrepit prison yard and its collapsed water tower as a background for a photo to use in an ad to sell your Brick because it never shifted well or even ran well despite the seemingly infinite time you spent consulting and theorizing with Internet Bricksters from all points of the compass, and after sending sizable donations to the worldwide consortium of BMW service and parts (new or pre-worn) vendors concerned with your well-being.
The following is from the 1988 BMW K100/K75 2V shop manual here at MOTOBRICK.COM. Note the differences in free play gap between the models, but daveson's observation is on target. My rider's handbook says 5mm for my K75. I'm unconcerned one way or the other because I've got that lovin' feelin' and it's not gone, gone, gone—
Wo-wo-o.
