Brand new 2015 stuck in 5th gear. WTF!?

I would think cable operated wet clutches are more likely to be out of adjustment, which would exacerbate the clunking.

 

So do I, but I do get that Clunk? Bad?

 

I just assume that the pressure on my fingers (having little fat "Dutch Baker" sausage fingers) tendons, wrist, back and on the clutch cable or plates keeping it engaged is going to stress all involved at a long light or freeway onramp a lot. All will have to be repaired at some point!;-) but, by allowing the stress to be eliminated for 2-3 mins many hundreds of times over years, may add even more years to everything involved. If a manual transmission of any sort being car or bike was not built to do so is amazing to me. P.S. (yes, I did say it and may regret it with the last bracketed comment and I will add that I have small feet as well;-)) Go ahead Billy and others I deserve any sarcasm in return using that descriptor. But just being honest!;-)

 

This is an intriguing discussion.

At the far end of the clutch pushrod is a radial ball bearing that allows the stationary pushrod to exert force on the spinning pressure plate, which takes the spring pressure off the clutch plates and allows them to spin. If you are in gear, stationary, with the clutch in, the bearing is fully loaded and spinning, and all the fibre discs are spinning but the steels are stationary. So there is likely to be more wear in the clutch in this scenario, than if you have the gearbox in neutral.

With gearbox in neutral and the clutch released, there is no clutch wear occurring as both sides are rotating, and no gearbox wear either.

When you drop into gear, the clutch inner stops rotating as the gearbox output shaft is stationary, and this is where the clonk happens. As others have said this is normal operation, usually worst with a cold engine/cold oil, because the clutch plates will be stuck together by the cold oil.

I make a habit of blipping the engine a few times with the clutch in before dropping into gear for the first time, as this usually gives the plates a chance to free up before gear is engaged.

 

I am never sarcastic aboot clutches, fat fingers or little feet.

Then we got the old story aboot the harleydood who is waiting for a train to pass. He is blipping his throttle in accordance with lore from the great book of Harley, in first cog and the clutch cable fails. It is not known whether or not the ball end of the cable came off the cable or the cable just broke. There was not enough left of the Harley to tell.

The moral of the story is, in a clutch a train will whupass on a Harley every time.

 

sorry but i can't agree. i would have been seriously injured if i hadn't been in gear (with clutch pulled) at a stoplight when an inattentive bitch in a blazer rear-ended my Hawk. there would not have been enough time to shift from neutral into first, i'm certain.

 

For the most part I also leave the motorcycle in first with the clutch pulled in at stoplights. I'm with the squirrel and the MSF.

 

Riding, you seem fairly knowledgeable - is there any harm in not pulling in the clutch lever fully when shifting? When I shift with two fingers (index and middle), my other two fingers prevent the clutch lever from being fully engaged. Shifting with two fingers allows for quicker shifting but I've always wondered if I'm causing undue wear and tear on something when I do it.

On the question of using neutral at stoplights, for me it depends on the situation. Sometimes I'll leave it in first if I'm worried about getting slammed from behind, over times I'll put it in neutral to give my hand a rest. If I'm facing up an incline, I'm more inclined :beguiled: to leave it in first. The thought of supposed wear and tear on clutch and clunking noises, etc, has never been a concern of mine when deciding whether or not to use neutral.

 

We UPS Drivers are trained to NEVER have the vehicle in Neutral on the street for the very reason Squirrelman stated.

 

For the most part I do too, especially when NOT surrounded by cars, however, we have many intersections that are 4 lanes on each road, with 4 left turn lanes which makes for extremely long cycles for the traffic lights. If you hit the light just as it turns red, it can be a very long wait sitting there. With arthritis in my left hand, I will ocassionally put in neutral and rest my wrist, but only when protectrd by other stopped cars.

 

Don't need clutch for up shifting. Only use clutch for 1st and going to 2nd. Does no harm to the engine provided you close throttle to ease pressure on drivetrain when shifting.

If you going to be sitting there for more than 10 seconds pop it into neutral. Whether you do the Hendon shuffle is up to you.

 

[video=youtube;ETN9eNOA6vw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETN9eNOA6vw[/video]

Wait one second there Mr. Fink - I gots to know - what is the Hendon shuffle? :glee: Also, my question was really more about damaging or causing unnecessary wear to the transmission from not pulling in clutch all the way during normal relaxed riding - both upshifting and downshifting. I don't have the quickshifter installed so I don't think it's wise to take your advice on never using the clutch except first gear upshifting (but I'm still a relative noob so I'll defer to the experts). The clutch lever hits my pinky and ring finger when I use two fingers to pull it all the way in, but if you guys say it causes no harm to only pull it about 3/4 of the way in for both up and downshifting I won't worry about it.

 

Do we have to do the Hendon Shuffle if there is a Barnes Dance taking place? (Google it kids).

I rarely ride in traffic, but if I am sitting at traffic lights with a long phase, I'm definitely in neutral with the clutch out. And yes I do perform what I believe is the Hendon Shuffle (but I've never heard it called that). I presume this refers to switching feet from left down, right on brake, to right down, left into neutral, left back down and right back to brake.

 

You don't need a quick shifter to do clutchless upshifts. One advantage of a motorcycle gearbox over a car one.
Clutchless upshifts on the go won't damage the engine as long as you ease off the throttle to take the load off.
Been doing it for over 30 years and never had a failure. Makes for slicker riding.
Try it with the engine off and bike on centre stand( you may need to move rear wheel a little if it doesn't click in.


You can also do downshifts but wouldn't recommend as they should be done at low revs and may cause damage due to inability to rev match all the time.

If your not crunching gears then your pulling the lever in enough. When using clutch I use first and middle finger.



Hendon shuffle. Bit of a piss take with changing feet whilst stationary. In UK we are trained to cover rear brake at lights. The link puts it better than I can. :bee::congratulatory:

http://www.survivalskills.co.uk/riding_skills_43.htm

 

Thanks Fink, no crunching with my two finger gear shifts so I won't worry about it anymore.

Also, I found an excellent vid to teach me how to do the shuffle :beguiled: Now I need to figure out what Terry's Barnes Dance is about :witless:
[video=youtube;RECaepj8LkU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RECaepj8LkU[/video]

 

I know you don't need a QS, but it sure is nice to have one!

 

Agreed. I love my quickshifter.

 

Old time information pickup from hands-on. First saw the inside of a bike transmission 45 years ago, and the inside of a car 4-speed a couple of years later.
What is in play is the locking effect that torque has on gears, and that happens in acceleration and deceleration (engine power or engine braking). So, whenever you are doing neither of those, and there is no load on the cluster, then it is easy and non-wearing to slip gears apart. For upshifts, the RPM has to drop so that there is no speed differential between the sliding and fixed components on the shaft. A partial disengagement of the clutch makes that easier, and it sounds like that works well for you. When I feel like it, I upshift without the clutch at all, and if done well it is seamless. *Note* Only when leisure riding, lower RPM ranges. The speed differentials are small then. If I am hurrying or using higher revs, the pause/RPM drop between gears takes too long. I use the clutch.

Non-Motorcycle: (But with a dirt-bike engine) The CR125 on the shifter kart has a clutch which is only used for starting and stopping. All gearchanges (and there are TONS of them, since the speed range in each is small) are made without the clutch. Note that there is a significantly lower inertia in play, as the gears are smaller, lighter, and so are the other rotating components, like the clutch, etc. Some of those have gearsets which have been modified and polished so that they slip apart when the forks get moved, even if the throttle is open. Mine is stock, the throttle must be released. Two-strokes don't have much in the way of engine braking, so downshifts are easy with a closed throttle.

Eh, something which I have become accustomed to doing for normal driving and every manual transmission vehicle I've driven, is allowing the RPM to plateau briefly prior to deselecting a gear and upshifting to another. That assures that loading is taken off of the gear prior to moving the shift fork.

 

Quickshifter:

Yea, there's the ticket! They work by momentarily cutting engine power while the gearchange is made. Causes a nearly zero torque fraction of a second while slipping from one gear to another.

That's pretty much how DCT's came into use in cars, and on bikes; the development of the electro-mechanical bits and the software to control them. A nice benefit is that those systems make hero-level gearchangers out of pretty much everyone. Hard to damage a transmission which won't allow itself to be abused, heh.

 

I used to own a 2003 MR2 Spyder with a 6 speed SMT - and like you say I used to feel like a hero driving that thing :glee: The car was a blast to drive - see pics below where the cops led us on a drive over 100mph down a public road "for charity" :beguiled: The sequential manual tranny in the MR2 had no clutch pedal - you had a choice of using buttons on the steering wheel or the gear shifter that you just bumped left or right. It would temporarily close the throttle, disengage the clutch, and shift the gears for you - super cool. On downshifts it automatically blipped the throttle too. I loved that car, I wish I still had it! I think I made the mistake of trading it in for a Mustang :crazy: IIRC, when it came out it was the ONLY car ever tested by Road & Track that got over 30mpg and pulled over .90g on their skid pad. I imagine the DCT on the 7th gen VFR is similar in function?