Neutral, and its elusiveness

[Loudo]

I'm happy with my new clutch (thanks, LM) and the bike is running well. Starts instantly, idles fine, charges like a bitin' sow. I'm still having trouble finding neutral consistently when coming to a stop. I can get there maybe one time out of ten. I note that when my bike is up on the center stand with the rear wheel off the ground and pull in the clutch and drop it into first, the rear wheel turns slowly, maybe 30 rpm. I can stop it with my foot, but I guess I was expecting no movement at all. I've tried all manner of clutch adjustments and no matter how far I adjust the clutch in the "more" direction I still experience some wheel movement even though at this point I have to let the clutch waaaay out before 1st gear grabs. So...I assume that a very slight amount of clutch grab takes place even with the clutch normally adjusted. If so, I have a theory that the best shot I have at shifting the bike into neutral is when my wheel speed is the same as the speed I see when the bike is up on the stand. Sort of like the "double-clutching" my dad showed me how to do (news flash: I'm old) on cars to match the speeds of the gears on both sides of the tranny before synchronized transmissions.

The bike idles fine at a stop in first gear with the clutch pulled in anyway, so it's not a big deal. I guess I'm just trying to find out if my bike's behaving normally.

I'd like to hear about the experiences of others on this topic.

[LOUD MOUSE]

You are experiencing what the bike/engine did when new as far as neutral at stop. The cure is to get to neutral as you coast to a stop. Not to worry about the wheel spin when in neutral and on the stand. If ya can as ya say stop it with your foot then things are OK. The gears/shaft/clutch and any other parts I don't mention will usually turn the final drive shaft just a bit if for no other reason than the OIL has viscosity. .........lm

I'm happy with my new clutch (thanks, LM) and the bike is running well. Starts instantly, idles fine, charges like a bitin' sow. I'm still having trouble finding neutral consistently when coming to a stop. I can get there maybe one time out of ten. I note that when my bike is up on the center stand with the rear wheel off the ground and pull in the clutch and drop it into first, the rear wheel turns slowly, maybe 30 rpm. I can stop it with my foot, but I guess I was expecting no movement at all. I've tried all manner of clutch adjustments and no matter how far I adjust the clutch in the "more" direction I still experience some wheel movement even though at this point I have to let the clutch waaaay out before 1st gear grabs. So...I assume that a very slight amount of clutch grab takes place even with the clutch normally adjusted. If so, I have a theory that the best shot I have at shifting the bike into neutral is when my wheel speed is the same as the speed I see when the bike is up on the stand. Sort of like the "double-clutching" my dad showed me how to do (news flash: I'm old) on cars to match the speeds of the gears on both sides of the tranny before synchronized transmissions.

The bike idles fine at a stop in first gear with the clutch pulled in anyway, so it's not a big deal. I guess I'm just trying to find out if my bike's behaving normally.

I'd like to hear about the experiences of others on this topic.