How I smoothed the clunky shifting on My AE

[Fastmax]

I took delivery on my AE a few weeks ago and found the shifting to be downright annoying at lower speeds. Clunk, Jerk, Clunk. I couldnt get it to be smooth at all and I pride myself on how smooth I am as a rider. I performed the Barbarian mod and removed the center spring, it helped but didnt fix it. I blamed it on the quick throttle response at low RPM and planned on a PC.

Then I noticed how some folks on here complained about the shifting and some didnt. I noticed how mine was clunky even if I shifted it and didnt touch the throttle. My idle was set at about 950 RPM from the dealer. I raised it up to about 1100. What a difference that made, my bike likes it much better! At that RPM the cogs in the tranny shift much more smoothly when I hit the button. No more big Clunk. Also Because the engine no longer dove to such a low RPM, there was no jerking when I got back on the gas. It was a huge improvement. The bike also comes on the gas more smoothly from the higher RPM improving takeoff. Now shifting is clickety click smooth running around town.

It may be that some of the folks on here that are having clunking problems have the same low set idle that I did and may be able to fix it just as easily.

You dont even have to remove anything to adjust it. Heres a link to warchilds site and the location of the adjustment. https://www.fjrtech.com/getdbitem.cfm?item=28

I hope it works out as good for you guys as it did for me.

Roy

 

[FJRottie]

The idle is supposed to be set at 1000-1100.

 

[HaulinAshe]

I have set my idle at 1,200 on my 05-A to help with the jerky throttle. It causes me to down shift one more gear in some downhill, tight and twisty turns, but the idle speed increase helps to smooth low end response on the A version.

 

[S76]

I have set my idle at 1,200 on my 05-A to help with the jerky throttle. It causes me to down shift one more gear in some downhill, tight and twisty turns, but the idle speed increase helps to smooth low end response on the A version.

Same here. I set mine from 900 to 1200 and it helps a noticable amount. I almost dropped it turning into a gravel parking lot one day as it just stalled when I pulled the clutch in due to the low idle. Solved more than one issue.

 

[Longrifle]

That's the ticket!!!!!!! Thanks for posting this thread....I noticed my idle was down to about 950 and shifting from 1st to 2nd seemed clunky no matter how smooth I was on the throttle. Prior to adjusting the idle, a couple of times I thought I was going to clunk the ass-end right off the bike!

 

[Bounce]

Time of year seems to affect idel speeds (slightly). Occasionally, I'll reach down at a stop sign/light and adjust the idle speed to the appropriate 1100 rpm (US 2003 model).

I attribute it to ambient temps.

 

[pilotonboard]

I took delivery on my AE a few weeks ago and found the shifting to be downright annoying at lower speeds. Clunk, Jerk, Clunk. I couldnt get it to be smooth at all and I pride myself on how smooth I am as a rider. I performed the Barbarian mod and removed the center spring, it helped but didnt fix it. I blamed it on the quick throttle response at low RPM and planned on a PC.Then I noticed how some folks on here complained about the shifting and some didnt. I noticed how mine was clunky even if I shifted it and didnt touch the throttle. My idle was set at about 950 RPM from the dealer. I raised it up to about 1100. What a difference that made, my bike likes it much better! At that RPM the cogs in the tranny shift much more smoothly when I hit the button. No more big Clunk. Also Because the engine no longer dove to such a low RPM, there was no jerking when I got back on the gas. It was a huge improvement. The bike also comes on the gas more smoothly from the higher RPM improving takeoff. Now shifting is clickety click smooth running around town.

It may be that some of the folks on here that are having clunking problems have the same low set idle that I did and may be able to fix it just as easily.

You dont even have to remove anything to adjust it. Heres a link to warchilds site and the location of the adjustment. https://www.fjrtech.com/getdbitem.cfm?item=28

I hope it works out as good for you guys as it did for me.

Roy

I took delivery on my AE a few weeks ago and found the shifting to be downright annoying at lower speeds. Clunk, Jerk, Clunk. I couldnt get it to be smooth at all and I pride myself on how smooth I am as a rider. I performed the Barbarian mod and removed the center spring, it helped but didnt fix it. I blamed it on the quick throttle response at low RPM and planned on a PC.

Then I noticed how some folks on here complained about the shifting and some didnt. I noticed how mine was clunky even if I shifted it and didnt touch the throttle. My idle was set at about 950 RPM from the dealer. I raised it up to about 1100. What a difference that made, my bike likes it much better! At that RPM the cogs in the tranny shift much more smoothly when I hit the button. No more big Clunk. Also Because the engine no longer dove to such a low RPM, there was no jerking when I got back on the gas. It was a huge improvement. The bike also comes on the gas more smoothly from the higher RPM improving takeoff. Now shifting is clickety click smooth running around town.

It may be that some of the folks on here that are having clunking problems have the same low set idle that I did and may be able to fix it just as easily.

You dont even have to remove anything to adjust it. Heres a link to warchilds site and the location of the adjustment. https://www.fjrtech.com/getdbitem.cfm?item=28

I hope it works out as good for you guys as it did for me.

Roy

I just did this adjustment about 30 minutes ago and reset my idle from 950 or so to 1050 or so. This made such a difference to a truly unacceptable problem that it should be in bold letters in the owner's manual. As it turns out, there is no reference whatsoever to setting the idle in the owner's manual.

 

[pilotonboard]

there is one more thing---even though the owner's manual says you should roll off the throttle for each shift I have found there is an extremely smooth sweet spot to be found if you just unload a few rpms rather than go all the way to full off each time. If this is wrong advice I have to say that the machine would probably tell me that I was doing something bad. On the contrary, the shifting is so seamless and the transmission does not protest--I intend to keep doing this.

 

[tripletango]

there is one more thing---even though the owner's manual says you should roll off the throttle for each shift I have found there is an extremely smooth sweet spot to be found if you just unload a few rpms rather than go all the way to full off each time. If this is wrong advice I have to say that the machine would probably tell me that I was doing something bad. On the contrary, the shifting is so seamless and the transmission does not protest--I intend to keep doing this.

You are right. A blip of the throttle as you down shift helps too.

 

[Britbiker]

I took delivery on my AE a few weeks ago and found the shifting to be downright annoying at lower speeds. Clunk, Jerk, Clunk. I couldnt get it to be smooth at all and I pride myself on how smooth I am as a rider. I performed the Barbarian mod and removed the center spring, it helped but didnt fix it. I blamed it on the quick throttle response at low RPM and planned on a PC.Then I noticed how some folks on here complained about the shifting and some didnt. I noticed how mine was clunky even if I shifted it and didnt touch the throttle. My idle was set at about 950 RPM from the dealer. I raised it up to about 1100. What a difference that made, my bike likes it much better! At that RPM the cogs in the tranny shift much more smoothly when I hit the button. No more big Clunk. Also Because the engine no longer dove to such a low RPM, there was no jerking when I got back on the gas. It was a huge improvement. The bike also comes on the gas more smoothly from the higher RPM improving takeoff. Now shifting is clickety click smooth running around town.

It may be that some of the folks on here that are having clunking problems have the same low set idle that I did and may be able to fix it just as easily.

You dont even have to remove anything to adjust it. Heres a link to warchilds site and the location of the adjustment. https://www.fjrtech.com/getdbitem.cfm?item=28

I hope it works out as good for you guys as it did for me.

Roy

You rock. Thank you. I was ready to toss thing thing, but now I'm enjoying it. Your tip has changed this bike from totally crap in the transmission dept, to just crap! Still, after doing as you say, its 1000% better than it was.

Hey Yamaha! How about telling your dealers how to set these things up?!!

 

[V GER]

there is one more thing---even though the owner's manual says you should roll off the throttle for each shift I have found there is an extremely smooth sweet spot to be found if you just unload a few rpms rather than go all the way to full off each time. If this is wrong advice I have to say that the machine would probably tell me that I was doing something bad. On the contrary, the shifting is so seamless and the transmission does not protest--I intend to keep doing this.

You are right. A blip of the throttle as you down shift helps too.

+1

This technique, combined with the paddle shifter, is like buttah!