Fort Worth Motorcycle Riders

So I've noticed since I had my bike, it's been hard to find neutral. My '06 never had this issue, but my '13 seems to be really finicky. If the bike is warmed up, and I come to a stop, shifting to neutral is an exercise of going back and forth between 1st and 2nd without slipping in. If I'm rolling to a stop, before I stop, I can find neutral pretty easily.

If I shut off the bike, I can easily find neutral (i.e. no engine load). So, to me, it seems like a clutch issue. I don't get any creep (i.e. clutch lever pulled in but the bike wants to creep forward), and the rear wheel doesn't spin on the stand when in neutral or with the clutch lever pulled in (except the normal engaging into gear, but if I stop rotation with the rear brake then left off the brake, it doesn't start spinning again as long as the clutch lever is pulled in).

I personally blame that Rotella T6 shit that I put in my bike early on, and am beginning to wonder if I don't need to yank out the clutch basket and replace all of the friction pads. But, before I do that, I followed the manual to adjust the cable set screw (loosen lock nut, back out screw, tighten until meeting resistance, then loosen half a turn and tighten the lock nut back).

Has anyone else run into the issue, and if so, did you fix it or do you deal with it? The bike is fine, shifts fine, clutch acts fine, it's just really damned annoying when I come up to a stop light and then realize I'm going to be sitting there at a red light for 2+ minutes. Then it's "clang clang clang clang fuck shit clang dammit clang WTF clang" as I attempt to get into neutral. Sometimes, by the grace of God I find it, but usually this is about 2 seconds before the light turns green again.

You need one of these....

What's neutral? I thought that was a color or something...wait, I remember, it's what you do to your cat and dog, right?

Brakes, clutch levers, neutral...you guys are complicating things way too much.

It pisses me off my bike doesn't have gear position indicator sometimes...but I've never owned a bike with one, so I'm not sure why it bothers me so much.

LOL

I've been running rotella for...25k now. Mine has always been hard to find on those super hot hot days.

I personally think it's that stupid Rotella shit that gummed up my clutch. I'm about 99% convinced at this point changing the clutch pads will fix this problem. Just not something I am prepared to do... yet.

Try Mobil1 synthetic.
I have used Mobil1 synthetic (w/friction modifiers) clutch works great. Smooth shifts and no problems.
Then i was told that was bad. Went to Repsol oil. Not as smooth shifting, grabby. Then tried Rotella T6. Told that is bad.
Back to Mobil1. Won't change brands again.
While on vacation, day 3, popped out of gear a couple of times. (When I was depending on that engine braking).
Started finding false neutrals, clutch grabby. I was able to do an oilchange, drained out like water, old oil was done. Fresh Mobil1 and shifts like butter.
Try it.

Firewa11 wrote: If I shut off the bike, I can easily find neutral (i.e. no engine load). So, to me, it seems like a clutch issue. I don't get any creep (i.e. clutch lever pulled in but the bike wants to creep forward), and the rear wheel doesn't spin on the stand when in neutral or with the clutch lever pulled in (except the normal engaging into gear, but if I stop rotation with the rear brake then left off the brake, it doesn't start spinning again as long as the clutch lever is pulled in).

The FZ1 does this every once in a while, it is a clutch adjustment issue. I like to have the clutch adjusted very tightly, so that it starts to engage as soon as you start to release it from the fully-pulled-in position. One effect of that is that it only takes moving a bit out of adjustment for it to actually still be partially engaging, even when pulled all the way in, and it can cause the problems you described.

I adjust it so that when going from N to 1 with the clutch in, the wheel doesn't spin. It might just slowly go around part of a rotation when you engage gear, but if it actually spins and doesn't stop (without the rear brake), it needs to be readjusted.

For all of you Rotellaites...keep putting tractor oil in your bike, and it will run like a tractor.

I adjusted it yesterday but haven't had a chance to ride it yet. I just did the adjustment as the service manual described, unlocking that lock nut, loosening the adjustment screw out, turning it back in until it meets resistance, then backing it out a half turn and locking it down.

I put it on the rear stand to ensure I didn't do anything unexpected (like, you know, the clutch not disengaging and I go flying into the neighbor's garage when I start it up). One thing I tried this morning is the 'bike in neutral push it forward', and this time it did not catch like it did before. I'm crossing my fingers that is all it is.

U-Turn wrote:Then i was told that was bad. ... Told that is bad.

99% of the people who offer opinions on oil recommendations are doing so without any data to offer as evidence (e.g., "and I've never had any problems."). There is a saying in science that states that the absence of evidence does not represent evidence of absence. In other words, just because one has "never had any problems" it does not mean that there aren't any (not yet realized or currently asymptomatic) problems occurring (that one is unaware of) or that are about to occur. Different bikes have different engines, and are being ridden by riders with different riding styles that translate into different demands on the engine, which can also affect engine wear differently, even between two bikes of the exact same model. If you really want to know which oil is best for *your* bike, then you need to do a few used oil analyses, and compare different types of oil that way. This will also allow you to find the perfect oil change interval for your bike, given one particular type of oil. If you don't want to be bothered with that approach, then your best bet is to you use one of the premium oils (Mobil 1 4T Racing, Amsoil, Silkolene, Motul, etc.), which are consistently performing strongly in used oil analyses, and call it a day.

LonestarCBR wrote:For all of you Rotellaites...keep putting tractor oil in your bike, and it will run like a tractor.

I've always thought that using a substandard oil in order to save a few bucks on an oil change (which most riders barely do 2-3 times a year) on a performance motorcycle that they spent thousands to purchase is ludicrous.

Striple wrote:99% of the people who offer opinions on oil recommendations are doing so without any data to offer as evidence (e.g., "and I've never had any problems."). There is a saying in science that states that the absence of evidence does not represent evidence of absence.

god does not smite me when I cuss and pick up hookers, therefore god is ok with cussing and hookers, fact, spread the word

Striple wrote:99% of the people who offer opinions on oil recommendations are doing so with data to offer as evidence (e.g., "and I've never had any problems."). There is a saying in science that states that the absence of evidence does not represent evidence of absence.

Ignore that guy, I'm telling you change your oil with friction modified shit.

We put synthetic in my bike since we had to change the stator cover anyway and I can tell a difference in shifting. It's smoother upshifting, but downshifting it always "hits" neutal before first. I can't bypass it quickly like when I had dino in it. Not a complaint, just an observation and a very minuscule annoyance. Perhaps overtime it will change but so far, to me, it seems that when you mess with different juices you get different outcomes and they all vary.

Boobies. Just cause they make everyone smile.

I will be sending off the amsoil from my bike to get analized. When I get that back you will have a direct comparison between the T6 and Amsoil. As for the neutral thing I cant say what it is to be honest but I had the same type of problems with the 14 and still have them with the S1000RR. Just figured it was all sportbikes had a hard time finding neutral.

DemonDuck wrote:I will be sending off the amsoil from my bike to get analized. When I get that back you will have a direct comparison between the T6 and Amsoil. As for the neutral thing I cant say what it is to be honest but I had the same type of problems with the 14 and still have them with the S1000RR. Just figured it was all sportbikes had a hard time finding neutral.

There was a race at TWS a few months back that featured a Le Mans-type start, where the riders are positioned opposite of their bikes at the start of the race. I'm a pretty quick runner, so I was actually one of the first riders to get to their bikes, but when I jumped onto the bike I must have inadvertently knocked it into gear, and that R6 still requires you to be in neutral in order to start the engine. It took me just a second to figure out that it was in gear, but after that I couldn't get it into neutral to save my life: too high, too low, too high, too low, too high...$^*%$%*!! Finally I took off, along with the slowest starters on the grid. Good times.