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shifting problems

6K views 36 replies 23 participants last post by  WiseBud 
#1 ·
:notworthy

Has this happened to anyone? Your at cruising speeds and you come upon a stop sign. You see the sign in plenty of time so you clutch and coast while slowing. When you get near the intersection, you begin to shift down from 5th gear to 1st. You click once and that's all you get. You keep shifting down but nothing is happening. When this happens to me, I have to release the clutch and then I can down shift. What do you think is going on?

Doug
 
#2 ·
Doug make sure your shift linkage is adjusted so that you release all the pressure from it every time you let up, also make sure the pivots for the shift linkage are lubed good. If they bind any at all they can cause that.

Max
 
#6 ·
Do you run Synthetic Oil?It help everything run a little bit smoother!It's probably just a linkage problem,but if you don't have it get it!:cool:
 
#29 ·
Yep that is exactly right. All of our transmissions do this.

As you slow the rear wheel, the primarary gear shaft slows also and the dogs that engage the actual gear can't find their way in. Th solution is to downshift while the rear whee is still moving fater than a few MPH. Or you can shift half way, release the clutch and shift the rest ofthe way in and repeat until you get to 1st.
 
#10 ·
mjw930 said:
With a sequential shift transmission you'll always have trouble moving through the gears when there's a significant speed difference between the input and output shafts. Here's a good article
Thanks MJW - its always good to know a little more about the "nuts and bolts" of our bikes.

As far as the original question posed in this thread: I would say that doing what was described (pulling in the clutch and coasting to a stop with the transmission in high gear) is a pretty bad idea. I was always told that you should come down through the gears as you decelerate, "blipping" the throttle just before the shift to match engine speed to transmission speed. You will end up with much smoother shifts (and according to the article, much less transmission wear.) By getting in the habit of "blipping" the throttle, you are also much less likely to "chirp" the back tire when downshifting into first gear.

Much as I am impressed by the qualities of synthetic oil, it cannot in this case substitute for proficiency or good practice.
 
#11 ·
Drew,
as a Ducati"Slipper Clutch" racer I have been spoiled no to have to worry about matching RPM and gear speed with the Throttle Blip.The V-rod on the other hand really likes it and saved the Dreaded wheel hop on aggressive stopping and Slowing procedures!:cool:
 
#12 ·
Super Kaz said:
as a Ducati"Slipper Clutch" racer I have been spoiled
For those of you who are curious about this, a "slipper" clutch is device designed so that when the the rear wheel starts turning the engine (as opposed to the other way around) the clutch releases, thus preventing overrevving of the engine or loss of rear wheel traction. Mostly it is for use on racing and "track day" big twin bikes. There is an excellent article about the subject here .

As Kaz points out, however, the V-Rod is not equipped with such a device - and as such, those of us who would like to go into corners in an appropriately low gear should practice our throttle blipping. With a relatively high-compression (for a Harley) engine, rear wheel "hop" can be a real hazard to the unwary V-Rod rider. For what its worth, I have found that being able to "blip" the throttle while applying moderate to hard braking force to be one of the most challenging, albeit rewarding, skills in all of motorcycling.
 
#14 ·
I have discovered that blipping seems much easier with the change to syn oil. It may also be that I am better at it, but it is fun do do right.
 
#20 ·
Ok, ok, ok

KAZ, I rode it at 5,000 or above for most of our lunch ride today, which meant I hardly got it out of first and second, since we did 80% twisties (found a new good little mtn pass!!). So, y'all are right that it's a whole lot more fun up there.

However...I can see this will cause marital discord. I was either riding up on (my) Crash's butt or leaving him in the dust on his RKC, depending on who was leading. Found myself wanting to pass him while he was passing the car in front of us, but got control of myself in time.

Maybe I'd better just keep it down to my normal 3-4,000 when we're riding together...
 
#21 ·
Please Val Grow some Balls Baby!:slap2: Why should you suffer if your OM can't keep up!:diablo:
 
#22 ·
I've always found that shifting somewhere near the appropriate gear/speed range makes for a happy shift. I don't believe clutch-in coasting to a near stop, then barking the gears is ever good. Blipping sounds good, but geez guys... we do, afterall have a decent transmission that behaves quite well as long as it's not abused. I tend to restrict my 'blipping' to waking up the blue hairs that fall asleep in the left lane if you know what I mean...
 
#24 ·
take it easy on the new people greg, everyone was new at some point and time. by the way, whats the best oil to use for my bike?
 
#25 ·
This thread WAS 8 years old.
I saw the date and had to tease the site to find out if anyone would bite. Having landed you, I have to ask why the forum keeps old threads open if not to use. Really... 105 pages of threads? Wouldn't it be more expedient to bracket the old, or as you said "WAS", threads to an archive link?:wazzup:
 
#27 ·
To add to this old thread. The gear shafts and gears need to be spinning to help the dogs on the sides of the gear to engage. When you can't change gear its because they are sitting on top of each other.
 
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