Here we discuss everything related to riding, maintenance and gear.
Rules:
On most bikes, neutral is a "half click" above first, where you have to be pretty deliberate to find it.
On mine I sometimes struggle to find neutral when i want it.
Try being firm when you shift into second, and if that doesn't work, you'll just have to learn the feel of getting past into second.
All bikes are a bit different, so it's less about getting good, and more about learning the machine.
When you shift, do you bring your leg upwards or just tilt your ankle?
Again depends on the bike. I have big feet, so it's really nothing more than a flick of the ankle to change up, and changing down is a tap similar to tapping your foot to a drum beat.
You never want to take your foot off the pegs / floor boards when operating the controls.
Looks like I need stronger left ankles then!
I had an old bike that would do this, and even sometimes find the false neutrals between the other gears. Depending on how bad the issue it, the problem is somewhere between just needing to put a bit more force into it to needing to rebuild the transmission. Its hard to say without knowing what bike, how old and measuring the force needed to shift.
It’s a brand new Honda CB500f so chances are the clutch doesn’t need to be rebuilt. Guess I need stronger left foot power.
What bike?
All bikes are different, some require a more authoritative shift from first to second.
Some have a wider range of speeds where it'll permit a shift to neutral (the mechanics of the transmission only permit neutral when you're "stopped"). Some bikes just have a wider range of "stopped".
Also, how does it shift otherwise? You may need to adjust the shift mechanism. I've had to adjust the shifter on every bike I've owned.
Edit: Looks like the CB500 doesn't have a neutral prevent like Kawasaki. I'd look into 2 things - your shift technique (being more intentional) and adjusting the shifter.
Appreciate the advice! Im going to look into adjusting the shifter and stomp this thing.
It's a matter of practice. With time you'll develop a feel for ths shifts and you'll get a lot better at discerning the half-step from first to neutral and then the meatier thunk into second. Just keep an eye on your display for a few rides until you start to consistently nail shifting out of first
I’d say every 10 shifts or so I mess it up from 1-2. I’ve ridden about 3500km so far so you’d think by now this wouldn’t be an issue…
That's all? 😁
I've been riding for decades and still do this occasionally.
You just need to remember to be more authoritative for 1-2 shifts.
Also, don't worry about it, it'll go away.
Yes that’s all at the moment 😆
Pretty brand new to riding in general. My previous bike was electric and my cars are hybrid so I have zero experience with a clutch (aside from the mandatory msf course required for licensing in my province).
I’ll try putting my authority face on while shifting from 1-2. Glad to know it still happens to experienced riders though!
Yeah that's fine, that happens. Keep riding, keep an eye on the shift display before you accelerate, you'll get around it
That’s a good tip. I hadn’t really considered eyeing the dash for those shifts. I usually just glance at it to check my speed and rpm. I’ll try that later today! Thank you
When you shift are you moving the shifter like it owes you until it stops moving?
On my old bike the transmission was kinda sloppy and I occasionally had a missed shift where it didn't shift out of the current gear because I hadn't moved the shifter far enough. I never accidentally shifted into neutral on that bike, it was almost impossible to put it into neutral.
I guess I’m more sort of tilting my ankle from down to up so it doesn’t have much power behind it.
I’ve also gotten a phantom shift where my dash just shows a “-“ instead of 2. What kind of bike was it?
Tilting your ankle sounds right, that's what I do. Just tilt firmly until the shifter stops moving, release your foot, then release the clutch and ease back on the throttle.
I've never had a bike that told me what gear it is in, the old bike was a 1997 Suzuki Katana.
Perhaps you need to adjust the lever down so that you have more leverage?
I didn’t even know the lever could be adjusted! 🫣 now to look this up
My bike (dr650) will do this sometimes if I dont boot it up hard enough. It'll go into 2nd briefly and then drop back to neutral and I'll accidentally rev bomb 😅
Other commenter is correct. Just gotta kick it up hard enough. Some bikes are more prone to this than others.
On some bikes, I got in the habit of lifting the pedal, and holding it up while releasing the clutch to keep it from slipping out of second.
I've been riding for 2 years and it still occasionally happens, especially when I'm accelerating hard.
Good to know it’s not just a noob thing :)
I never had much of a problem with that on my Aprilia. It could be a little tricky to do the half-shift up into neutral without thunking into second.
I traded that for a Ninja, and a bullet point on its sales brochure was some mechanism that would prevent it from going into second when stopped, so with the back wheel stationary, just lift the pedal from first and you're in neutral. I've not had that mechanism apart so I don't know how it works, something about preventing the shift drum from doing a full turn, but I think because of that mechanism, they didn't have to put as much room between first and second, and so while in motion getting it all the way into second feels as definite as shifting into third.
I tried to shift that bike into neutral while moving and just couldn't get it to go.