| Author | Message | ||
     Molahs |
I've asked my dealer and he tells me it is normal. It really is a hard clunk and I've owned many bikes but nothing is like this. It's done around 1500 miles. Anything I can do to improve it ? | ||
| Froggy |
Wear earplugs.  It is normal, but once it breaks in it won't be as loud. | ||
| Blake |
To add to what Frank astutely states... Try the following: Pull in clutch, blip throttle to get revs up to around 3,000 PRM, just as engine settles towards idle, engage first gear, no more clunk. : The clutch plates get coated with the cold thick/viscous tranny lube which prevents a complete mechanical disengagement (allows some torque transfer) between input and output sides of clutch. Blipping the throttle flings some of the excess lube off plates to reduce the viscous stiction, thus allowing a more complete mechanical disengagement of input from output clutch plates. You might also check your tranny/primary lube level. If it is even just a little on the high side, it will cause the clunk to be worse and make shifting more difficult. | ||
| Terrys1980 |
and ditch the HD fluids... | ||
| Sparky |
Try this: before starting the engine, put it in, say, 2nd gear, fully pull in the clutch and (try to) push the bike back and forth a few times. This separates the clutch plates a little allowing oil to get between the plates so that when you do start the bike in neutral, the clunk won't be quite as noticeable... if at all. Another thing I do sometimes is before dropping into first gear getting ready to go, I'll hold the clutch lever fully against the grip for about five seconds with the engine idling, then put it in gear. A lot of times it goes in gear quietly, albeit more so when warmed up than first time in the morning though. This gives the gears a little more time to stop spinning before selecting first gear. | ||
| Al_lighton |
and ditch the HD fluids... For reducing the clunk, not using Formula+ would definitely improve things. However, it isn't a coincidence that the year that the clutch spring was lightened was also the year that they introduced Formula+. It IS a stickier fluid than most, and helps with clutch hookup, while still being a good fluid for the helical gears. And it seems to be easier on stators than some of the other fluids out there. When I got the XBRR, I pinged Erik about what primary fluid to run. The service manual for the XBRR said to use Formula+, and I thought that was just toeing the company line. But even clear of the mothership, Erik recommended it because clutch slip on the XBRR can be a bit of an issue. Granted, the XBRR has 50 HP on a regular XB. But it also has a stronger clutch spring too. |
