[Rich Moran]

Yesterday, after fueling up, I was straddling the bike. I pushed the starter button, and the bike started and lurched forward, then died. The neutral light was on while this occured. When the bike died, with the key still on, the neutral indicator light went out to reflect the bike was in gear. I had not put the bike in gear, and can't figure out how the starter would engage if it was in gear.

Then, riding home on the freeway, at 70 to 80 MPH, there was a buzz in the left footpeg that was not there previously. My 02 usually would have a slight buzz from about 65 to 75, then would go away at higher speeds.

I am wondering if the tranny is having some issues, and with the shift linkage mounted to the left peg, is telescoping the problem into the pegs.

I checked the oil, and it is full up.

The bike has 15,500 miles on it.

Anybody have a like experience or opinions about this?

 

[OKIE]

Weird stuff. My 02 has always cranked in gear. That suprised me but I have never asked. Is this not right?

 

[Rich Moran]

Weird stuff. My 02 has always cranked in gear. That suprised me but I have never asked. Is this not right?

Okie, I am no sure if the bike is supposed to start in gear or not. I always look for neutral, and be sure it is in neutral whenever I stop. The only time I will leave it in gear is if the bike might be on a downhill/roll issue.

I do know if you disengage the clutch, the starter will start the motor. The increased drag on the started spinning the clutch engaged does have a noticable effect on the starter. I am not sure if it causes damage, but always, I am sure to go to neutral before start up.

 

[Greg687]

From what I know, Harleys do not have a neutral safety switch... you CAN start them in gear.I dont know why they dont follow the rest of the world and fix that... should not be tooo hard.

 

[VrodG]

The bike can be started in gear and if you have shifting problems and vibrations in the left pegs??????? I would check that left peg to see if it is tight.

 

[VrodG]

Rich ... what did you find out?

 

[african paul]

Yesterday, after fueling up, I was straddling the bike. I pushed the starter button, and the bike started and lurched forward, then died. The neutral light was on while this occured. When the bike died, with the key still on, the neutral indicator light went out to reflect the bike was in gear. I had not put the bike in gear, and can't figure out how the starter would engage if it was in gear.

Then, riding home on the freeway, at 70 to 80 MPH, there was a buzz in the left footpeg that was not there previously. My 02 usually would have a slight buzz from about 65 to 75, then would go away at higher speeds.

I am wondering if the tranny is having some issues, and with the shift linkage mounted to the left peg, is telescoping the problem into the pegs.

I checked the oil, and it is full up.

The bike has 15,500 miles on it.

Anybody have a like experience or opinions about this?

Rich, I hope I'm wrong but I had a similar problem.
My neutral light suddenly started bullshitting me, then within 20 or so miles the shift lever wouldn't lift into 5th. Then it wouldn,t go into 4th & so on.
I ended up stuck in 2nd gear.
I had to split the motor to get to the box, turned out the cage mechanism on the end of the selector drum had loosened & turned.
It was a press fit & had turned on the boss.
I took it to the dealer for a warranty replacement & the replacement was under a different part number, although I couldn't see any difference between the items.
I put a roll pin in the thing to secure it before I put it back.
This happened at about 7000 miles.
Hope this isn't what's happened to you. :hmm:

 

[Rich Moran]

VrodG, Nothing so far. The bike is still running fine, no shift problems with it. I checked the foot peg, not loose either. African Paul, did you start getting more vibration on the left peg as this was occuring?

I hope I don't have to do a teardown. But if i do, it will be time to send the motor to Zippers for the big bore kit. It'd be a bummer, cause I'd be without the bike for longer cause summer is on us already, and Zippers gets waaayyyy behind on projects during this time of year.

I will let you know as I run the bike more what happens.

 

[african paul]

VrodG, Nothing so far. The bike is still running fine, no shift problems with it. I checked the foot peg, not loose either. African Paul, did you start getting more vibration on the left peg as this was occuring?

I hope I don't have to do a teardown. But if i do, it will be time to send the motor to Zippers for the big bore kit. It'd be a bummer, cause I'd be without the bike for longer cause summer is on us already, and Zippers gets waaayyyy behind on projects during this time of year.

I will let you know as I run the bike more what happens.

I didn't notice the vibration, if your neutral light is behaving normally now then I don't think it will be the selector drum. If it lies to you again, take it to the dealer. I was lucky, another few miles & the cage would have come adrift in the box & made a real mess or seizure.

 

[Rich Moran]

African Paul,

I'll keep my eye on the neutral indicator and where the shift selector is at. One thing I have been conscience of is not to slam the gear shift selector hard. It has been shifting quite easliy, with the only quirky issue of finding neutral.

If the bike is in first, in heavy traffic, and I miss a light change, finding neutral is kind of hard. I usually have to shift up to 2nd, and then back down into neutral.

Other than that, no issues. I think the vibration part was me just being overly conscience of something happened, and now a vibration seems not to be right.

Riding today, at 80 MPH, it was smooth as it should be, no mirror vibration. From 55 to 75 or so, the mirrors tend to vibrate a bit.

 

[Greg687]

Rich, I think the "sneaky neutral" is pretty common with HDs. at least ours. since I changed out pipes I have noticed more vibration too... perfectly in sync with the pipes keep us posted.
Greg

 

[african paul]

African Paul,

I'll keep my eye on the neutral indicator and where the shift selector is at. One thing I have been conscience of is not to slam the gear shift selector hard. It has been shifting quite easliy, with the only quirky issue of finding neutral.

If the bike is in first, in heavy traffic, and I miss a light change, finding neutral is kind of hard. I usually have to shift up to 2nd, and then back down into neutral.

Other than that, no issues. I think the vibration part was me just being overly conscience of something happened, and now a vibration seems not to be right.

Riding today, at 80 MPH, it was smooth as it should be, no mirror vibration. From 55 to 75 or so, the mirrors tend to vibrate a bit.

Mine's the same, was then, is now & I expect ever shall be.