Learning the quirks - Brake handle lever and switch

[SweetPotato]

I've been playing with my new to me '08 for the past month now. It's my first FJR, and I love it! Between reading the forum and experimenting, I'm beginning to see the "personality" of the bike. I get a bit of a CHUNK if I let the clutch out before pulling back in and shifting to first, and the friction zone seems a bit short IMO. I expect I need to do the clutch soak, but I digress...

Something I'd been watching was the engagement of the brake lever switch on the handlebars. Upon releasing, it often didn't fully engage the switch. At first I tried to adjust the switch, but found that between the set pin and the screw, there really wasn't any adjustment to be had. Since the lever occasionally creaked and groaned, I disassembled the pivot to clean and grease with some basic wheel bearing grease. I did the same with the clutch lever and brass bushing for good measure. This still didn't affect the engagement, though. I ultimately used a bit of "percussive tuning" to bend the switch actuating arm on the lever so that it engaged fully at the appropriate time. I suppose my very long-winded question is: Is that normal? Is there some kind of adjustment I missed? Is this a common problem?

 

[SLK50]

I would disassemble the master cylinder looking for gunk or

debris that's preventing the piston from smoothly returning

to its at-rest position.

 

[64Y80]

Not common that I know of, but you have proved the old saying "if you can't fix it with a hammer, it's a electrical problem."

 

[KrustyKush]

If you've got an adjuster knob on your lever, make sure it is at position #1. This will move the friction zone out away from the handgrip the maximum possible, and probably completely solve your grainy shifts.

 

[SweetPotato]

Krusty, most of my shifts are very "snick, snick" even though it is set to position #4. It's only occasionally shifting into 1st that I get a "chunk."

SLK I didn't immediately believe it would be gunk in the master cylinder, as the brakes definitely fully disengage. The brake and clutch fluid are all very clear; the PO said all of the fluids had been kept up to date. Do you suppose I could see enough by simply pulling back the boot, or should I do a complete removal and disassembly?

 

[Harald]

I've never had to adjust my front brake lever on my 07 over the last 100k miles I've owned it. Previous bikes I've owned actually had an adjustment of the switch by loosening the mount screws and moving the switch body around. Haven't even looked at the FJR setup.

Just a comment on the first gear clunking: I've found minimal clunking if I pull the clutch in, BLIP THE THROTTLE and then drop it into gear. The throttle blip while the clutch is disengaged forces the sticky clutch plates to break free and reduces the clunk.

 

[SLK50]

Quote:

"SLK I didn't immediately believe it would be gunk in the master cylinder, as the brakes definitely fully disengage. The brake and clutch fluid are all very clear; the PO said all of the fluids had been kept up to date. Do you suppose I could see enough by simply pulling back the boot, or should I do a complete removal and disassembly?"

Response:

I would do a complete disassembly. You'll need a pair of long

tine snap ring pliers.

Remove the piston, seals and spring and inspect for wear,

defect or corrosion. Better yet, complete rebuild kits from

Yamaha are relatively cheap. I think I paid less than $20.

A bad seal could hang up like you described.

 

[Fred W]

Krusty, most of my shifts are very "snick, snick" even though it is set to position #4. It's only occasionally shifting into 1st that I get a "chunk."

100% normal. Don't sweat it.

Google search in FJRForum.com on "kerchunk"

 

[FJRRYDER]

My $0.10; when I first got my new to me '06, it was tricky to get it to downshift, I would occasionally miss first to second, and the clutch was so stiff, and throttle so hard, I was looking into making modifications. Then I noticed that when wearing boots with a heel, it would shift better. Decided to move the shifter to the top of it's range. Helped a lot, easier to get my boot under it, easier to downshift it, and was watching my BIL ride his BMW. His clutch/throttle technique was to squeeze that clutch lever all the way in only to get from neutral to first, then upshifts he would barely pull the clutch lever in and not curl his fingers all the way around it, but use four fingers held straight down and barely flick the lever in, and barely close the throttle at the same time, not all the way to lock and open, but just a very quick back-off and back on. I tried that technique and it works like a charm. My left hand no longer aches, and my right wrist feels much better.

 

[KrustyKush]

Krusty, most of my shifts are very "snick, snick" even though it is set to position #4. It's only occasionally shifting into 1st that I get a "chunk."

Oh, ok. I've had my 14A for almost two months, and was having a lot of trouble getting my usual smooth, pre-load the shifter and partially pull in the clutch type of shift going. I'd noticed the friction zone was much closer to the grip than most bikes I've ridden, and for some reason I didn't heed the adjustment on the knob on the lever. I kept struggling with trying to modulate my shifts with a partially pulled lever to get the thing closer to the friction zone just before the shift. This proved quite ungainly.

Then, I noticed the knob. It was in position 5. Moving it to position 1 completely solved all my shifting problems, including the big grind-clunk into first from neutral. I realized I was accustomed to not pulling the lever all the way to the grip, and since the zone was so close to the grip, I wasn't really fully disengaging the clutch before going into first. Having said that, I note that this bike actually can produce a real proper whang into first even with clutch disengaged fully. So, what I found that works pretty well is to try to remember to wait a second or two, especially on cold motor, before hitting the shifter. This also works well in traffic, but I have to not hold in clutch much longer than a second, otherwise the thing actually doesn't want to get right into first. I guess something is whirring around in there that gets time to slow and then stop during the second I hold in the clutch before going into first.

 

[SweetPotato]

In a minor revival, I'd just like to thank everybody here. Of all the things I did (adjust clutch lever position, adjust shift lever position, clean and lube levers) adjusting the position on my foot shift lever made the most difference in the feel of my shifts. Everything is very smooth!

In regards to the brake lever, I cleaned and lubed the pivot as well as running a rag near the piston in the slave cylinder. Things seemed ok until today. Problem seemed more pronounced, so I took a closer look again. Now I have what looks like crusty brake fluid around the boot for the MC. I really didn't want to believe slk, but he was totally right.

I think that ties up everything. Now I have some research to do about our mc.