This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Cluth Adjustment?

Joined Mar 2013
3K Posts | 161+
Naples, IT
Need some moto-Gandolf wisdom here:

I have slight drivetrain engagement when clutch is fully disengaged and in gear. Neutral is fine. I spent some time today working the secondary clutch adjuster under the frame fairing. I think I reached the bitter end on the frame adjuster, and with the suggested 2-3 mm lever play, I still have slight engagement when fully disengaged in gear.

If I adjust so the clutch grabs with almost no play, I can almost get no grab when disengaged. Just wondering if this is normal or really bad. Bike runs normal: shifts fine, find neutral pretty easy. It does clunk pretty good on the Nuetral-1st dump, but has since new.
 
From what I've been told, this is normal. The clutch plates have viscous oil between them and don't fully disengage when the clutch is pulled in. Probably better when warmed up, but not much. I don't think this is unique to the motard.

This is why I've started shifting to neutral when starting the bike - to take some of the strain off the starter.

The clunk into first is also sop for bikes. MC Garage has an explanation for this.

So my vote is it's all normal. If not, we both have a problem.
 
Cool. I almost always start in neutral. My bike is on the center stand 90% of the time and I fiddle with gear while it warms.

The 1st gear clunk didn't have me worried. What I was worried about is the driveline strain when sitting at a light and what not with the lever in.
 
I took my 939 back to the dealer when I first got it because I the same "problem". They told me this was normal.
 
It's normal for ****** bikes to work like **** :)

Both of mine do this too. I've adjusted til blue in the face.
 
^^^ beef ****.. you feelin' ok? I sense a little anger towards these bikes at the moment.
 
I've always shifted into neutral when coming to a full stop (as opposed to a feet-up 'California' stop). It's mandatory on old bikes with Amal carbs and dodgy ignition; cuts down the time it takes to do a kick start if it stalls. Not to mention the chance of a clutch cable failure at a bad time... think I've heard of that on this forum.
 
I've never noticed this, but it's entirely possible I'm not particularly observant. I always start my bike in neutral out of habit (all my other bikes have been carbureted) but I do sometimes sit in gear at lights, particularly if I'm splitting traffic and I've never noticed anything.

Every bike I've ridden made a noticeable thunk when shifting into 1st, so I never gave that a second thought. I have found shifting and finding neutral get easier whenever I change the oil, so there's that.

-- Nathan
 
Hard to judge the normalcy with my extended period away from riding and the early generation HS clutch reviews. But, I've spent a lot of time trying to find the sweet spot of my preference of friction zone and ease of finding neutral. They're connected in a bad way. I could feel the drive train grabbing when I select 1st with full clutch at a stop. Like I noted earlier, it would run to 7+ mph on the centerstand like this. The more I fiddled with less neutral engagement, the less "clunk" I get. The sacrifice being I hate the friction zone/ feel.