| Author | Message | ||
     Kcbuell |
I am new to riding and recently purchased a 2003 Blast with about 4000 miles. I notice that sometimes it is difficult to shift to first gear - from neutral to first or when downshifting - it is NOT all the time - perhaps 20% of the time. The owners manual suggests that this may be normal because "transmission gears are not turning and shifting parts are not lined up to permit engagement". The bike was checked out by a BUELL dealer prior to purchase and they said all was OK. Does this sound normal? If not, any suggestions? Thanks! | ||
| Ezblast |
Shifting on a Buell Blast is a combination of practice and fine adjustments - a quick little blipping of the throttle while shifting can help, keep the shift firm, and that the shift toe lever is adjusted for your reach and ability to lift the peg, you have a short friction zone - practice with it, inner and outer adjustments are sometimes made - sometimes with results - you should be rewarded with a solid thunk when cold, and then when warmer, it gets quieter and clickier - lol - don't be afraid to practice - practice is fun! Believe me on that - working on smoothness is a very rewarding thing. EZ | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Okay, EZ is in the house! Shouldnt you be packing or moving? Anyway what I wrote as follows, before I knew EZ responded, concurs with EZ!: Welcome KcBuell! Normal. Making sure your clutch adjustments are correct will help, but its usually'normal'. Most often happens when cold. Pulling the clutch in once or twice with a quick 'blip' of the throttle will help. With practice you can reduce the crunch to zero. When downshifting, if its not necessary to get to first, wait until you are stopped or going very slow. Just jamming it down into 1st, dirtbike style, is not real kind to the tranny. However if going slow and need 1st to pass or accelerate (which would be going less than 32mph), with practice you'll find it wont crunch either. But I've found you rarely need 1st in this manner. (Message edited by gearheaderiko on May 26, 2008) | ||
| Swampy |
Down shifting to first should be done at very slow speeds. Also Making sure all the adjustments are correct. Especially the primary chain adjustment.(Looser than recommended is the word of the day) | ||
| Reuel |
I once changed my rear wheel bearings outside an Autozone. My wife followed me down there and supervised. After I was done, I got on, started it, shifted into 1st with the usual satisfying CLACK, and took off. When I got home, my wife told me she thought I broke something.  I told her it always does that. | ||
| Kcbuell |
Thanks! I will try the suggestions provided and let you know how it goes. Ezblast you are right - I sometimes get that solid "thunk" when it is cold. Reading the suggestions provided leads me to believe that what I have is more or less normal - which is comforting! Interesting about downshifting to first - the motorcycle safety course stresses getting to 1st gear as you slow down but clearly substantially before you stop - the concept being they want you to be able to "get away" if the car behind you does not appear to be able to stop without hitting you. But as Swampy and Gearheaderiko indicate, it appears you do need to be really slow before you can smoothly get to 1st! Thanks again for all the input! I anticipate that there will be other questions as i get more familiar with the Blast! | ||
| Reuel |
With the Blast, you still have the "get away" power when you shift into 1st at low speeds. My shifter peg came loose one day while I was going down the road. I was doing my best to downshift, but it didn't seem I got very far down. Came to a 4-way stop, had to warm up the clutch a little to get going, but it pulled out of the stop OK. Got home, found out I was completely unsuccessful in downshifting at all. 5th gear! I go into 1st at about 15 MPH. It's all about the torque.  | ||
| J2blue |
I'm very new myself, and when I went back and looked at the owners manual about shift points I noticed that downshifts are to be about 5mph slower than upshifts. For first gear that means 10mph or less. In every day riding I'm finding it useful to wait until I'm well under 10mph to try it, otherwise my heavy foot makes a clanking, grinding noise trying to force it into first. I try to avoid that noise unless very agitated.  Following the suggestions for downshift points between all gears is good practice. I've noticed that road speed, engine speed, and gear speed mesh well enough to skip the clutch sometimes. When I downshift from too fast a road speed the engine brakes in protest, something I never want to happen in a tight turn at high speed. I've mistakenly started off from second gear a few times already and if the incline isn't much the Blast pulls slowly but steadily away. | ||
| Reuel |
You'll do better on upshifts to push a ways past the point the book suggests. If you're doing 12 MPH, and don't downshift from second, then get on the throttle, it'll do quite a bit of THUMPing before it really takes off. If you are definitely going to stop, the downshift points are fine. For the first 3 gears, I find myself often using the rev limiter as an upshift indicator.  | ||
| Kcbuell |
RE: rev limiter as mentioned in Reuel's post - i understand its purpsoe(although, it would have been nice to perhaps have a tachometer), but how do you "know" when the rev limiter is "in control"? | ||
| Fast1075 |
You will know when it hits rev limit...the engine starts "stuttering" at around 6500 rpm. What is happening is the controller is interrupting the ignition so the engine cannot exceed the rpm limit. This keeps the rpm low enough so things don't go  | ||
| Reuel |
Just put it in 1st, and hold it WOT. Sometime before 40 MPH, you'll feel it.  | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
32mph is the 1st gear approximate speed for a stock Blast to reach redline or max rpm of 6500rpm and initiate the rev limiter. Some ignitions may go a little further and you can sneak it past that. 50mph is the appx. redline for 2nd gear. I like shifting at 40mph  and yes EZ the 'honk' at that rpm from an 'unfiltered' carb is addicting! | ||
| Zane |
As a new rider and and new Blast owner I had exactly the same issue. It was only when I was going less than 10 mph that it stopped grinding complaining. I'm finding that the bike itself will teach us newbies what we need to know if we just take the time to listen. |
