Baker's Half-Dozen A 10,000 Mile Test Ride on Baker’s Six Speed
If God rides a Harley (and we know that he does), chances are good that He runs a Baker six-speed tranny. Simply put in this reporter’s opinion, there is no other single product you could purchase anywhere in our world that could and does change your ride like Baker’s fabulous six-speed.
Lots of magazines might show you the innards of a transmission and fill you in about the gear ratios, but here at Easyriders we feel that unless a product works in the real world, it’s about as useful as teats on a chicken…or something. That’s why we decided to slam a new Baker’s six-speed in a ’92 Harley bagger and put 10,000 hard miles on it for a real world test.
Vee-Twin Racing owner Kirby Apathy donated his skills, wisdom, and time to this project to install and then inspect our six-speed. The next call was to Bert Baker who had a transmission on the way that day.
The Bakers are Lisa and Bert with four ankle-bitters swarming the household. Graduates of Michigan State University, Bert and Lisa both studied and secured degrees in engineering. Bert admits that college was sort of a playground while Lisa maintained and graduated with “Honors” status. At age 22 Bert had his mechanical engineering degree and joined forces with Oldsmobile and GM at the transmission plant in Lansing, Michigan.
Bert had been riding motorcycles since the tender age of nine and had long wondered why the motorcycle industry had not designed a six-speed transmission for Harleys. In 1995 he set about to change that. The purchase of the H-D Softail in ’94 with a subsequent trip to Daytona in ’95 became the gestation period for the Baker six-speed.
After his Softail was stolen, Bert decided to build a new one incorporating an S &S 103 cubic-inch motor and an OEM five-speed tranny. The first ride of his home-built motorcycle introduced Bert to a world of vibrations directly into his hands and feet. “The damn thing gave me mostly monkey butt; my feet, my hands, and my ass all fell asleep.” It was time to get the drawing board out again and design a six-speed. The first Baker-designed prototype installed to replace the OEM five-speed worked. Lisa says Bert’s face on the return from that first successful ride told the story from 100 yards away. The difference was more than extraordinary. In Bert’s words, “It was really a beautiful thing. I was doing 75 miles per hour, shifted into sixth for the first time ever and the entire ride changed. All of a sudden all the vibration was gone…I couldn’t frickin’ believe it!”
Bert logged thousands of road miles with his longtime partner Schmidt, and the six-speed just kept on working flawlessly. Several productive discussions through ’97 launched secure investments with suppliers. The Bakers decided to leave GM and devote themselves to building the six-speeds full time. In the fall of ’97 Lisa and Bert paid a visit to John Andrews, showed him the prints and prototype and a batch of gears, and asked Andrews to make the gears to their specs. K Bert had also formed a relationship with TP Engineering and early on TP helped with making the side doors of the tranny.
Baker had hundreds of hours tearing three prototypes apart to change pitch on the gears for smoother, quieter results and Andrews was his choice to trust his design of these special gears and shafts. The aluminum side doors, shift forks, the shift drum, etc. are all American-made and the sources are somewhat confidential. Assembly and shipping is done by five full-time employees all in East Lansing, Michigan.
Installation
How does the Baker hook up? As mentioned early on, this is where I enlisted the expertise of Kirby Apathy of Vee-Twin Racing. Kirby installed the six-speed on a ’92 Bagger. Installation time was about four house with the obvious stuff first: remove the exhaust, pull the inner and outer primary, clutch and chain, drum, forks, and trap door/gear set assembly.
With the OEM stuff gone, Baker provides some pretty easy-to-follow steps. Consider what year machine you’re dealing with because from ’94 and new the OEM fifth gear has a quieter, better pitch than ’94 and older models. Baker has coordinated his gears and shaft to co-exist with the OEM gear #5 which serves a hue amount of time and energy if you are comfortable leaving that gear alone. The decision is obviously yours and related to the miles you have on your scooter. The point is, the Baker stock six-speed comes in two makes, the 3.24 and 2.94 first gear, comes with an OEM H-D fifth gear. The difference is the 3.24 is more for running two-up or for heavier bikes like baggers or hauling loads. The 2.94 version is recommended for hot rodders. Bert says the gear ratio between the 3.24 and the 2.94 equates to about a 10% difference in first gear.
JIMS Machining plays an important roll in ease of tranny removal as they have designed two individual tools just for more friendly removal of the main gear bearing and seal. JIMS’ special puller for the primary drive inner race provides much less hassle.
Baker uses four shift forks verses three in the stock OEM transmission. Sifting fork #4 slides your machine into the unbelievable smoothness of sixth gear. In addition, all of the shift forks are made of bronze, as Bert feels that self-lubricating metal works better.
Prior to Baker gears being installed into either an OEM case or any aftermarket case, Bert recommends setting the door gasket in place to check for mechanical interference in two specific areas pointed out in the directions. Kirby found no problem with ours so applied a small amount of trans oil to relube the main shaft and the Baker gear slid right in with very little effort. Kirby quickly and meticulously reassembled stuff, assembled the shifting forks, added the Baker bracket that mounts stock pipes out about 1/2 inch to adjust for the 3/16 wider transmission.
As I learned, changing transmission cases on a rubber-mounted bike adds hours and hours to this task including swingarm removal, dropping the motor, and much more expense. Mr. Apathy reminded me that there were limitations to his free time so I kept it simple with an OEM case. Kirby has installed quite a few Baker transmissions now and with the help of JIMS’ tools, continues to send accolades Baker’s way for the user-friendly installation.
Why is this transmission so good? Certainly 30 years between Lisa and Bert at GM as transmission gurus plays some part. Also, Bert’s meticulous research efforts have redefined gear pitches, shaft tolerances and shifting fork designs into a transmission unparalleled in the American motorcycle market. In addition, Bert was not satisfied with is first 50 units and constantly studied the geometry of the shift drum unit. With his engineering genius, he created a roller detent system with a geometrically perfect neutral trough that allows you to find neutral every time. The roller detent shift system makes this six-speed shift smoother and quieter (significantly reduced clunk) than any Harley I’ve ever ridden.
Some have been confused that there is both a Baker six-speed and also a Baker/JIMS six-speed currently on the market. What’s the difference? Well, actually what we have here is a pretty cool royalty arrangement deal. Basically, Bert and JIMS worked things out financially and JIMS makes a JIMS six-speed per Baker specs. What we then have for the retail market is a Baker transmission with Andrews gears OR a Baker/JIMS transmission with JIMS gears. The prices of the six-speeds are the same and the design is the same. Bert Baker is the originator of the design. Some riders have used Andrews stuff for a lifetime and some riders have gained loyalty toward JIMS. It becomes your choice.
Warranty on the tranny is 12 months-12,000 miles. As you read this, I will have run this transmission past the warranty in less than 3 months. Approaching more than 2,0000 units out there installed and massaging the highway, Baker has replaced a total of 10 units and most of those were very early on.
The 10,000 Mile Test
With over 10,000 miles and some 10 state-boundaries crossed on our Baker bagger, it has been impossible for me not to sing the praises of the Baker tranny to Bikers I’ve met on the road. At 75 to 78 mph the rpms are right at 3000. When you shift into the true overdrive of sixth gear the machine smoothes into an incredible ride beyond anything I’ve experienced the past l37 years in the saddle. The bike becomes quieter, rpms drop like you have a lead weight attached to the spindle of your gauge and the motor relaxes.
I purposely abused the tranny in every way. Coming out of New York I was westbound into a torrential downpour and 30 mph headwinds. During a100 mile stretch of impossible visibility I ran 55 to 65 in sixth gear testing torque into major headwinds. At 55 I have to shift to fifth, at 65 the Baker would pull the machine and still allow me to throttle on and pass 18-wheelers al the way to 105 mph. I continuously ran 600 to 800-mile days and my style of riding is fast and hard with early departure times. When the day is dedicated to the ride I love to leave at 3:00 a.m., which allows a constant 80-mph plus under relatively safe conditions, such as traffic and few problems with speed traps. By 8 a.m. I have 300 miles under my belt and a damn good start on a productive 800-mile day. With the Baker tranny kicking my power plant along, my gas, my ass, my back and my life on the road improved in every way.
The only problem I ever had with the Baker was that in the first few thousand miles I would forget to shift into sixth. The “gone forever” clunking of he OEM shifting placed smiles all over my face. With 180-190 miles between gas stops, the automatic ease into neutral as you coast into the pump for the proverbial fill-up, became a ritual of sorts. For whatever reason years ago, I got into the habit of turning off the motor and coasting he last 20 years into my landing pad. Occasionally the lack of neutral cooperation would screw that up…not once did that happen in 10,000 plus miles with the Baker tranny.
I shifted 200 times or more without the clutch, operated through Virginia in 100 degree heat for 12 hours and ran the original transmission oil in her for 10,000 miles. Thee were minor signs of some shavings when I made the change on the magnet, but nothing significant. Thank you Bert for the consistently better mileage I receive as I was paying over $2 per gallon in Chicago and major cities and $2.50 in Canada.
Is this transmission for everyone? Not if you never get out on the highway, no, it is not. If you’re a TT rider and don’t leave the county, don’t buy a six-speed. However, if you take one 500 mile trip a year, you can bet your sweet ass my advice would be to make the purchase.
New for 2001, Baker introduces their new Sportster Baker six-sped and also a new Roller Shift System with perfect neutral trough geometry for all five-speeds. Sure enough, for $169. You can hook up your five-speed with Bert’s technology and literally take away all the clanking your baby ever had.
Michael “Balls” Farabaugh |
