Shifting Tips...

pokey074

pokey074

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Anyone have any shifting tips? I'm having a heck of a time getting smooth upshifts. I'm not new to bikes but I DID just come from a Harley. Bike before that was an ER-6N so it's not my first naked/sport/metric bike.

When I picked it up from the dealer on Wednesday, it did have what I considered to be excessive throttle play. Got that reduced to a few millimeters but I'm still having problems. Not sure if I'm just not used to it in general, or if it's the clutch and/or throttle I'm not used to.

Now that I get to thinking about it, I wonder if it may be my clutch technique. On the Harley I would pull the clutch all the way in to shift. On my previous (metric) bikes (ER-6N, KLR650) I would only pull the clutch in slightly.

Ideas?
 
Is the bike brand new? If so it takes a little while for it all to settle in. By your first service it will feel a lot better. After the first service with the new oil it will be even better. Mine was a bit stiff & tight for the first 800km or so.
 
They can be a bit clumsy on the upshift as they have a fair bit of engine braking. It takes a while to get used to it , I find it better if you dont let the throttle drop right off when you shift , takes a little practice but worth it ,
 
You might also need to adjust your gear lever so you're not 'reaching' too much with your foot. These types of simple adjustments can make all the difference.
 
As previously mentioned, preload the shifter. Don't let the throttle all the way off; just back off it enough that you don't pop your front wheel on upshift. Don't pull the clutch all the way in, just pull back on it slightly until the preloaded shifter jumps in to place. Try to shift over 6K RPM. That's all I got...
 
Ginger Meggs said:
You might also need to adjust your gear lever so you're not 'reaching' too much with your foot. These types of simple adjustments can make all the difference.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. A shifter that's not adjusted properly will lead you miss shifts or make it harder to shift.

Also as others have mentioned it's a relatively new bike so give it a few hundred miles for the shifting to improve.
 
pokey074 said:
Anyone have any shifting tips? I'm having a heck of a time getting smooth upshifts. I'm not new to bikes but I DID just come from a Harley. Bike before that was an ER-6N so it's not my first naked/sport/metric bike.

When I picked it up from the dealer on Wednesday, it did have what I considered to be excessive throttle play. Got that reduced to a few millimeters but I'm still having problems. Not sure if I'm just not used to it in general, or if it's the clutch and/or throttle I'm not used to.

Now that I get to thinking about it, I wonder if it may be my clutch technique. On the Harley I would pull the clutch all the way in to shift. On my previous (metric) bikes (ER-6N, KLR650) I would only pull the clutch in slightly.

Ideas?
Click to expand...

If you have longer legs you may want to lower your shifter a bit. That will allow you to get more pressure on the lever when up shifting. Longer legged riders tend to have their feet angled down lore than someone like me with short legs. Get that lever to match.

** EDIT ** I should have ready the whole thread. ;) What they said!
 
I'm familiar with preloading the shifter, which is what I do.

Rode a bit today and it seems it's gotten a little better. I noticed that I was also preloading on downshifts which caused it not to reset on multiple downshifts (coming to a stop). Looks like I may need to lower that lever.
 
Update: adjusted the shift lever downward tonight and went for a ride. Doesn't seem to make any difference. Shifter is still very notchy and it feels like I really have to force it.
 
It may be worth changing the oil & filter for a good spec ,, it can make all the difference ,, most can tell when its due by the feel of the box
 
Good suggestions so far. Also try shifting no lower than 3000 RPM. 4K and up seems to be best for me but 3K is about the lower limit for a smooth transition from 1st to 2nd. That is what smoothed out my shifting on this bike.
 
Another update: when I got back Thursday night I lowered the shift lever even further. Went for a ride Friday and it seemed better. I really concentrated on my technique and I think it's a combination of two things.

#1. Spending a year on a Harley has made me lazy/slow with my upshifts. I found that when I sped the process up it was much smoother.

#2. The stock shift lever is awfully flimsy and has a lot of flex. I think some of what I was interpreting as shift effort was really the shift lever flexing beyond the shift point.

Running Shell Rotella-T (which I've run in most of my previous bikes) until the 600 mile service when I'll switch over to Rotella full synthetic.
 
pokey074 said:
Another update: when I got back Thursday night I lowered the shift lever even further. Went for a ride Friday and it seemed better. I really concentrated on my technique and I think it's a combination of two things.

#1. Spending a year on a Harley has made me lazy/slow with my upshifts. I found that when I sped the process up it was much smoother.

#2. The stock shift lever is awfully flimsy and has a lot of flex. I think some of what I was interpreting as shift effort was really the shift lever flexing beyond the shift point.

Running Shell Rotella-T (which I've run in most of my previous bikes) until the 600 mile service when I'll switch over to Rotella full synthetic.
Click to expand...

Well in my experience i;'s not the actual shift lever that flexes, but the mounting point of the whole rearset.

Here's a quick and easy mod to "fix" it and it will improve the shifting...

http://www.998cc.org/forum/fz1-technical/1204-stiffen-rubber-mounted-rearsets-cheap-fix.html

I went with the Home Depot ss washers instead of turning the stock ones around as some suggested.
 
NJFZ1 said:
Well in my experience i;'s not the actual shift lever that flexes, but the mounting point of the whole rearset.

Here's a quick and easy mod to "fix" it and it will improve the shifting...

http://www.998cc.org/forum/fz1-technical/1204-stiffen-rubber-mounted-rearsets-cheap-fix.html

I went with the Home Depot ss washers instead of turning the stock ones around as some suggested.
Click to expand...

Discovered that the other day when I got down to ground level and started pulling on things. I'm going to have to try that, thanks!
 
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