Clunkiness -is that a word?

If I down shift several gears and especially if I go down to 1st with while holding the clutch lever all the way in the trans seems to clunk into gear. Is this normal?

I get smooth shifts up shifting or down shifting one gear at a time (the manual does say one gear at a time) but down shifting one gear at a time is not always possible or planned very well by my inexperience.

Is this normal or do I need to adjust the clutch?

 

Are you going fast while downshifting? Meaning faster than you should be going for that gear?? If so, it will bang in. I am not sure the exact reason, I just don't do it.

When I downshift it's:

pull clutch, rev a tiny bit higher, downshift, release clutch. Perfect rev-matching, no clunks..

Don't downshift a few gears at a time unless you're going slow enough to warrant it..

 

To me the trans is just soft, mine sometimes won't go into 1st gear. I have ridden this bike hard but nothing like I have put 20 Honda's through. Never had an issue until now and I think I will have to go through my transmission soon or sell the bike, selling it is looking better all the time.

 

Experienced similar problems at times.
Downshifting seems better since switching from Valvoline 20W-50 to Rotella 15W-40 oil?

 

I think I know what your talking about... If you shift down to fast at a high speed you simply are reving the **** outa the trany very rapidly as you down**** each time, and this creates a "clunk" in the form of increased resistance... Just a guess.

I noticed that as long as I am downshifting respective to my speed; I have no problems.
Confident shifts help too.

Edit: The ratio for 1st gear is obviously much higher than that of any other gear, this most likely attributes to the rapid "clunk" as well... due too the very rapid increase in rpms.

 

I am sure that if I watch my speed when shifting it will make it less pronounced.

Yes first gear will not engage at times and I think this is a know thing. If you let out the clutch a wee bit it will get into gear however.

Thanks everyone. A lot of this is just getting better driving/shifting technique.

 

CousinLarry has the technique I use most the time. But when I really need it, I'll shift up or down without the clutch. It's good to learn how to do this.

 

Can you elaborate on this?

 

did that few times when i was getting use to riding this moto...even with the clutch in...if you match your speed to the gears, should be fine....it's little sensitive going from neutral to 1st...i kind of feel for it with slight pressure as i drop it down to 1st if i'm coming to a stop, but light changes green...the "clunk" usually happens if you are going too fast for 1st....

motorcycles or manual cars...there is always a sweet spot where the gears will snap in without the clutch...cars..you can kind of gently find it by giving light pressure to the stick...for motorcycle, you use your feet...it's usually at a specific rpm...little higher rpm for smoother....but, if you force it too early...can get little jerky....when it is at the right time, even little pressure and it'll just "suck" it in to the next gear..up or down...

 

^ exactly.

Manual cars have syncro gears. Our bikes are different. There are sweet spots, but not nearly as hard to find.

Practice downshifting w/o clutch when the revs drop down. I think around 3K rpm would be a good place to start. Drop from 4th to 3rd, or 3rd to 2nd. You can also place just a little pressure on the shift lever as the rpms are dropping and see if it just slips down once the sweet spot is reached. Once you get the hang of downshifting, work on going up. I found its easier to learn at lower rpms, but you'll get the hang of it and be able to work your way up.

I usually use the technique more on the dirt when a very fast shift is needed for one reason or another.