Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[thinwater]

Ok I know this might be getting old but, I'm bound and determined to do something about it, with a little help if possible.

2007 I had a Pingel shifter placed on my 02 Harley Road Glide, in July 08 I had to replace the Pingel Shifter cylinder at my cost, due to it being burnt out, with no phone as to why this burnt out.  Now here is it 09 of June and my Pingel shift is burnt again.  (before anyone states it's installed wrong, please keep those comments to your self, cause it was installed correctly).  I just made a purchase of the Kliktronic, going to give this a try at my cost of course.

Why real question is this...has anyone had problems with a Pingel shifter not shifting after 5 or 6 months or even less due to the cylinder being burnt out?

With this problem occurring this is putting me and others in harms way while riding, since it wouldn't let me down shift in a timely manner, or if I needed to down shift in a emergency.  The problem even started when I tried to up shift and the hotter the bike became the worst the Pingel became.

I want to see how many riders are having problems or did have problems and changed over to the Kliktroinc.

If I have any other problems with the new shifter, I'll be selling my trike and look at those pretty nice looking Ridley's thanks to Hot Wheels pics.  btw very nice Hot Wheels.

[Don]

There is absolutely no reason for the cylinder to heat up.  I have used both a Pingel air shifter and a Klicktronic electric shifter on my BMW sidecar rig and have never felt either even get warm under heavy use.  Seeing as the Pingel and Klicktronic electric shifters operate on the same electromagnetic principle, I do not see how you will get a different result with the new shifter.

I will say that my Klicktronik shifter has failed me only once.  It refused to downshift until I found one of the tiny Allen bolts connecting the swivel to the frame bracket had loosened, causing a just enough play in the system to mess up the shifts.

I cannot over emphasize the need to have the mounting be rigid and have the dimensions (as described in my post on mounting the shifter) to be exactly right.  You do not say who mounted the shifter.  Most shops do not understand the critical nature of correct mounting and take short cuts.

As to the Ridley, keep in mind that it is a rather underpowered bike compaired to what you are used to and very expensive.

Be sure to advertise your Harley on DRA.  I am sure one of us will want it.  Me, for example.

Don

[thinwater]

Thanks Don

My new Harley shop installer has talked to people from Pingel last year and they do understand how critical this is  in installing the proper way.

I'm really confused of why and how two shifters (Pingels) had gone bad in two years time.

Yes I noticed that the Ridely's are only 750cc.  And I being somewhat bigger, I really don't think the Ridley would take me up the PA and NY roads, unless I pushed it myself.......lol

Once I get the bike back on the road, I'll make sure to have pics posted and when I'm ready to sell, I'll give you first shot.  Although my Trike has a custom paint job it's black pearl with fire air brushed..............very nice.

[thinwater]

Don

I just re-read your reply.  My Pingel is electronic, not air shifter, that's makes a big difference as to what your saying.

Anyhow I now have my Kliktronic placed on my Trike, I can tell a big difference in the way the Pingel shifted and the Kliktronic.  The Pingel seem to lag or feel mushy when you tried to shift, were the Kliktronic has a much smoother shift.  This is from riding 2hrs. yesterday, so now I'll give it some time and ride further and longer.

[Desmo Demon]

(before anyone states it's installed wrong, please keep those comments to your self, cause it was installed correctly).

Ok....I won't say it.

My wife has been using the Pingel electric shifters for over three years now, and has logged around 60k miles with them. The first one was a used unit that we got off of eBay and installed on the wife's GSXR. Turns out that it was one of the earlier ones with a recall, and they rebuilt it for free to the upgraded design. They even paid for the shipping.....

The second unit was new and is installed on her Yamaha R1. After 30k+ miles on just that bike, one of the micro buttons broke. Pingel repaired the button for free....

The third unit is on her Ducati Monster and was bought used. While on a trip, the shifter module fried and would only downshift. She had to ride the bike 200 miles back home by upshifting with her hand and downshifting with the Pingel. Pingel replaced the shifter module for free. Since then, I picked up a new module off of eBay as a spare....

The fourth unit is on her Ducati ST2 and was bought used. We've only logged about 300 miles with it, so far, but we haven't had an issue with it....

I have also installed a Pingel on a friend's Suzuki SV650 and haven't heard a complaint out of him about the unit....

Our Pingel units have been used in 32-105 degree F temps and for thousands of miles of riding in rain and on wet roads. We really don't have any complaints about the units and have gotten nothing but terrific support from Pingel.......and the only way I can consciously see a shifter solenoid frying is because the shaft is binding, but that's only my opinion.

[Don]

Thinwater,

When I made my reply, I realised that your Pingel shifter was electronic, not air.  My main point was that there is no reason for it to heat up under normal operation.  As I said, both the Pingel and the Klicktronic electric shifters operate on the same basic principle and my shifter doesn't even get warm to the touch.

Don

[thinwater]

Wow Desmo Sounds like your one lucky person dealing with Pingel, all I can say is congrats to you and your wife and keep rolling around.  Maybe just us Harley owners have many problems with Pingel, someday I'll share other remarks of Pingel owners, it might surprise you.

Don, again I never said it was hot to the touch, I said the cylinder burnt out, a better state would be the electronic componets stopped working, as for why I still have no idea, but I will get to the bottom of this.

[Desmo Demon]

Wow Desmo Sounds like your one lucky person dealing with Pingel, all I can say is congrats to you and your wife and keep rolling around.  Maybe just us Harley owners have many problems with Pingel, someday I'll share other remarks of Pingel owners, it might surprise you.

Maybe I just have a way with words that make people feel like being nice to me.  ;)



There may be some type of issue with the transmissions, clutches, or shift linkages on the Harleys compared to the Suzukis, Yamaha, and Ducatis I've installed the shifters on. I know that with all the wear in my shifter components on my Harley, I probably wouldn't attempt to install one on that bike, and I've already replaced every shift linkage component on that bike....it's still sloppier than any of our other bikes.

Come to think of it, our Pingel shifters do not have the engine kill installed, the clutch is used for all shifting, and the bikes are not drag raced.....I wonder if this may have an affect.


I'd be quite interested in what other Pingel owners say about their shifters. In the four years I've been around the units, I've run across very few people who have used them, and most of the ones who have them ride less in a year what we tend to ride in two weekends......if there are so many dissatisfied owners of the Pingel units, I'm surprised I haven't seen more for sale on eBay. I'm always watching out for a good deal on a used one.

[thinwater]

What I have seen on ebay were for racig type bikes.  My bike 02 Road Glide, I'm still at a lost as to why these two shifters took a dump on me, which is not a good thing in  my case, since I have no legs.  Theres not one thing I can do to stop the bike other than slam the brakes on the handle bars, which is not a good feelings when you need to have that downshift.  ANy way I'm gathering material on Harley owners that used or have a  Pingel,  I'm tghe type of person that wants answers, not Bull shit, and turn the cheek.

I do like your replys Desmo, Don's all I get are look at my post from times before, sorry Don, your not even close to what I'm talking about.  I can't compare apples to oranges.  You stated you had one problem with your Kliktronic, something about welding a nut and bolt, not sure where that fits into my pingel being burnt out twice in 2yrs times..with 3 months on each one, and that was riding everyday.

Ok sorry I went off...later all

[Desmo Demon]

What I have seen on ebay were for racig type bikes.  My bike 02 Road Glide, I'm still at a lost as to why these two shifters took a dump on me, which is not a good thing in  my case, since I have no legs.  Theres not one thing I can do to stop the bike other than slam the brakes on the handle bars, which is not a good feelings when you need to have that downshift.  ANy way I'm gathering material on Harley owners that used or have a  Pingel,  I'm tghe type of person that wants answers, not Bull shit, and turn the cheek.

My first used shifter came off of eBay and was from a drag-racing ATV. The second used unit came from a local guy who had used it for 200 miles on his wife's Kawasaki Ninja 250. The third came off of eBay and was pulled from a Suzuki Boulevard cruiser trike. I've missed several used units that were off of Goldwing trikes...there seems to be a fairly large demand for those, so the prices go much higher.

I was thinking about your issue of burning up solenoids, and I'm assuming that you are using one of the Pingel kits that is specific for your model Harley? If this is the case, I would figure that there should not be any binding of the shaft since it is their kit. You can still have an issue with bottoming out the rod, but I am not too sure it would burn up the solenoid. I'm not sure if the rod bottoms on the electrical components and can damage them or what. I've never seen one of the units disassembled.

If the solenoid is not binding or bottoming out (both are easy to check for), then I would.....I would almost have to assume that there is an issue with the windings in the solenoid and you are getting an internal failure for some odd reason. I'm not the best with electrical systems, so I'm not really sure. No matter though, as you say Pingel is not warrantying the units. Have you had to buy a whole kit or just a repalcement solenoid? Did they offer to rebuild the one you had?

Is there much side-to-side slop in your shift linkage on your bike? Do you have the engine-kill box hooked up?

[thinwater]

My pingel was made for my model and type of bike, so yes it was a kit, the 2nd time around they sent me just the solenoid at my cost 300.00+, they told me, they would be calling me with what the problem was, but never did, till I called them 3 weeks ago to let them know about the product and I was having the same problem and gave them a little advise about disabled riders, not sure if he heard me or ignored me.

The pingel unit was sitting in horizontal postion (both were) they worked great for about 2-3 months, than I noticed that when I tried to downshift I had nothing, I had to pick my leg up (artificial leg) and drop it on the manual shifter to get it to down shift, not a good feeling.

Now my Kliktronic is setup like a piston up and down motion, it's smooth, I can hit neutral pretty easy when needed.  Time will tell in 2-3 months.

[Desmo Demon]

The pingel unit was sitting in horizontal postion (both were) they worked great for about 2-3 months, than I noticed that when I tried to downshift I had nothing,

I wonder if this may be a cause. All of ours are mounted vertically. Any chance did you ride in the rain previous to the Pingel units going out. I can't see that really being the issue, but maybe it got some water in it and shorted out the windings in the solenoid.

What did you do with your Pingel when you bought the Klicktronic?

[thinwater]

Yes I rode in the rain, not that I wanted to, if you know what I mean.........lol

I still have my pingel.

As for rain getting into it, that means it happened twice, again if that's the case, than Pingel needs to come up with a better concept, I'm going to post a pic of the Kliktronic and how it's setup.  I'm really not sure if I have any pics with the Pingel, if I do I'll post those also.

[Don]

Living as I do in Western Washington, I ride in the rain all the time.  Up here, in the soggy northwest, you either ride in the rain or you don't ride much.  As you can see in the pictures I posted elsewhere, my shifter is mounted vertically.  I have never worried about rain damaging the Klicktronic shifter system.  Only the electronic control box is hidden out of the weather (under the seat). It seems to me that any motorcycle component, not sealed away should be able to handle getting wet.  After all, even riders in sunny Southern Cal. wash their bikes.

I have experienced failure of the shifter switches on both my Klicktronic and my Pingel shifters.  I assume that is just a result of wear after tens of thousands of shifts.  I replaced the Pingel up shift switch with a cheap momentary switch from Radio Shack.  Now that the up shift switch on my Klicktronic unit is starting to fail, I will be heading to Radio Shack again.

PS: My mistake, I thought you meant the thing was heating up and binding.

Don

[Desmo Demon]

As for rain getting into it, that means it happened twice, again if that's the case, than Pingel needs to come up with a better concept,

I actually wouldn't expect water to get into the solenoid, and I believe they have a seal around the rod where it goes into the solenoid. If you took the solenoid apart, you may be able to get a better idea what went wrong. Even with a good seal, though, I simply do not like the open end of the solenoid facing forward. Here's a picture of the kit installed on your type/model bike from the Pingel website...




I prefer them vertical (actually angled a little rearward)...just for peace of mind.

This is the one on my wife's Suzuki...


and her Yamaha...