PerogiBoiI keep finding neutral
b0thvarWhen you shift are you moving the shifter like it owes you until it stops moving?
On my old bike the transmission was kinda sloppy and I occasionally had a missed shift where it didn’t shift out of the current gear because I hadn’t moved the shifter far enough. I never accidentally shifted into neutral on that bike, it was almost impossible to put it into neutral.
I guess I’m more sort of tilting my ankle from down to up so it doesn’t have much power behind it.
I’ve also gotten a phantom shift where my dash just shows a “-“ instead of 2. What kind of bike was it?
Tilting your ankle sounds right, that’s what I do. Just tilt firmly until the shifter stops moving, release your foot, then release the clutch and ease back on the throttle.
I’ve never had a bike that told me what gear it is in, the old bike was a 1997 Suzuki Katana.
Perhaps you need to adjust the lever down so that you have more leverage?
Perhaps you need to adjust the lever down so that you have more leverage?
I didn’t even know the lever could be adjusted! 🫣 now to look this up
On most bikes, neutral is a “half click” above first, where you have to be pretty deliberate to find it.
On mine I sometimes struggle to find neutral when i want it.
Try being firm when you shift into second, and if that doesn’t work, you’ll just have to learn the feel of getting past into second.
All bikes are a bit different, so it’s less about getting good, and more about learning the machine.
When you shift, do you bring your leg upwards or just tilt your ankle?
Again depends on the bike. I have big feet, so it’s really nothing more than a flick of the ankle to change up, and changing down is a tap similar to tapping your foot to a drum beat.
You never want to take your foot off the pegs / floor boards when operating the controls.
Looks like I need stronger left ankles then!
Are you wearing motorcycle footwear? They have a reinforced sole and usually a reinforced upper that is far more rigid than a regular shoe to aid in shifting and also safety. Using the foot peg as a fulcrum point it shouldn’t take much force at all. I’ve seen people ride in flip flops but it’s harder.
The other thing I’ll mention is shifting should be a short deliberate action. Pull the clutch and tap(I don’t really like this word but as an over exaggeration ‘flick’) the shift lever upwards. Some people have a tendency to ‘press’ into the shift lever for way longer than needed.
Yeah I’ve got the right footwear for it. I’m pretty sure it’s my technique. Might be going too gently.
My bike (dr650) will do this sometimes if I dont boot it up hard enough. It’ll go into 2nd briefly and then drop back to neutral and I’ll accidentally rev bomb 😅
Other commenter is correct. Just gotta kick it up hard enough. Some bikes are more prone to this than others.
Captain AggravatedOn some bikes, I got in the habit of lifting the pedal, and holding it up while releasing the clutch to keep it from slipping out of second.
I had an old bike that would do this, and even sometimes find the false neutrals between the other gears. Depending on how bad the issue it, the problem is somewhere between just needing to put a bit more force into it to needing to rebuild the transmission. Its hard to say without knowing what bike, how old and measuring the force needed to shift.
It’s a brand new Honda CB500f so chances are the clutch doesn’t need to be rebuilt. Guess I need stronger left foot power.
It’s a matter of practice. With time you’ll develop a feel for ths shifts and you’ll get a lot better at discerning the half-step from first to neutral and then the meatier thunk into second. Just keep an eye on your display for a few rides until you start to consistently nail shifting out of first
I’d say every 10 shifts or so I mess it up from 1-2. I’ve ridden about 3500km so far so you’d think by now this wouldn’t be an issue…
Yeah that’s fine, that happens. Keep riding, keep an eye on the shift display before you accelerate, you’ll get around it
That’s a good tip. I hadn’t really considered eyeing the dash for those shifts. I usually just glance at it to check my speed and rpm. I’ll try that later today! Thank you
That’s all? 😁
I’ve been riding for decades and still do this occasionally.
You just need to remember to be more authoritative for 1-2 shifts.
Yes that’s all at the moment 😆
Pretty brand new to riding in general. My previous bike was electric and my cars are hybrid so I have zero experience with a clutch (aside from the mandatory msf course required for licensing in my province).
I’ll try putting my authority face on while shifting from 1-2. Glad to know it still happens to experienced riders though!
I never had much of a problem with that on my Aprilia. It could be a little tricky to do the half-shift up into neutral without thunking into second.
I traded that for a Ninja, and a bullet point on its sales brochure was some mechanism that would prevent it from going into second when stopped, so with the back wheel stationary, just lift the pedal from first and you’re in neutral. I’ve not had that mechanism apart so I don’t know how it works, something about preventing the shift drum from doing a full turn, but I think because of that mechanism, they didn’t have to put as much room between first and second, and so while in motion getting it all the way into second feels as definite as shifting into third.
I tried to shift that bike into neutral while moving and just couldn’t get it to go.
It’s a Kawasaki thing. Pretty much all their street oriented bikes have them. It’s called a positive neutral finder. It’s essentially 3 ball bearings spaced 120 degrees. If the bike isn’t moving at least one of the ball bearings drops and blocks the movement of the gear. When the shaft starts spinning the ball bearings are flung outwards and removes the restriction.
Looking at the right side gear. There is a hole on the right of it that holds the ball bearing. The oval indent to the left of it is where it can fall into and blocks the shift to second. This transmission is disassembled so it’s not really as close as it would be normally.
Just echoing other comments in that it is mostly a matter of practice. Neutral is meant to be a half step above 1st, so when in doubt give it a harder flick up than what you’re currently doing and it should work.
What bike?
All bikes are different, some require a more authoritative shift from first to second.
Some have a wider range of speeds where it’ll permit a shift to neutral (the mechanics of the transmission only permit neutral when you’re “stopped”). Some bikes just have a wider range of “stopped”.
Also, how does it shift otherwise? You may need to adjust the shift mechanism. I’ve had to adjust the shifter on every bike I’ve owned.
Appreciate the advice! Im going to look into adjusting the shifter and stomp this thing.
I’ve been riding for 2 years and it still occasionally happens, especially when I’m accelerating hard.
Good to know it’s not just a noob thing :)