Shift Question

[Mardee]

I am new to this website, and look forward learning a ton from the very experienced folks here. I searched a bit with no luck, so I apologize if my question has been covered. If so, please direct me to the proper thread. I have an '07 FJR and love it. My only complaint so far is it is very "clunky" shifting from neutral to first. Then when approaching a stop, it is somewhat "clunky" from second to first. Sound familiar and any known solution? Thank you!

 

[user 213]

I am new to this website, and look forward learning a ton from the very experienced folks here. I searched a bit with no luck, so I apologize if my question has been covered. If so, please direct me to the proper thread. I have an '07 FJR and love it. My only complaint so far is it is very "clunky" shifting from neutral to first. Then when approaching a stop, it is somewhat "clunky" from second to first. Sound familiar and any known solution? Thank you!

Read the new owner FAQ. It has tons of great info.

The Clunk is legendary for FJRs. It's not a symptom of a problem or a problem itself, it's just the way the Yamaha trans is designed that makes it clunky. Most noticeable during that cold neutral to 1st shift.

It can be minimized a little if you wait for it to warm to two bars when first starting your ride, and your idle rpm is set correctly to 1100 rpms, as well as doing a couple of clutch lever pull/releases before popping it into gear, but that's just to make you feel better, you are NOT hurting anything when you hear it clunk.

Other things that change the feel/sound are going to synthetic oil, which often softens the clunk some. You know how oil threads are, everyone has a personal preference. None of them are wrong really, so just do what makes you happy. Some guys like Rotella Synth in the blue bottle and toss in 8 oz of STP for some added zinc for smooth shifting. Others swear by high end bike synth like Silkolene, etc. Nothing wrong with Yamalube either. Try something different, you will probably notice a difference yourself. You decide if that's good or bad for you and your bike.

 

[Zorlac]

"Most noticeable during that cold neutral to 1st shift."

I put it in 1rst, pull in the clutch & rock the bike back and forth a bit, keep clutch pulled & start the bike, ride away clunk free.

Radmans advice of the Mobil 15w-50 has made shifts a bit better for me too.

 

[cmnewcomer]

I've got an '08 with 24k and just bleed the clutch line. Made a big difference and shifts are smoother through the gears. The clutch wasn't disengaging immediately when coming to a stop which is what pompted me to bleed the line. As the others said though. Dropping down into first is clunky.

 

[boomerang]

If it's clunking going into 1st. from neutral, just pull the clutch in and hold it for approx.15sec's. before putting it into gear. Works for me every time!

As far as down shifting to 1st.the trick is matching road speed to engine speed. You just cant rush 1st.

 

[RadioHowie]

As far as down shifting to 1st.the trick is matching road speed to engine speed. You just cant rush 1st.

I just can't seem to get the road speed up to 1100rpm. How do you do it?