is this a false neutral?

[taki]

i was accelerating on a ramp to merge onto the local highway, when i shifted from 5th to 6th, and for some reason, the bike seemed like it was in neutral.

i rolled off the throttle, pulled the clutch in a little, shifted into 6th again, and off i went, without any other problems on my 30 mile commute home from work.

is this a false neutral?

i changed the oil 1000 miles ago (yamalube) and the bike has almost 4000 miles on it.

do i need to be concerned?

 

[wrightme43]

That is odd man, I have never experinced that. I dont know that you need to be concerned, just try to make your shifts firm and always allow the shifter to fully reset with no up or down pressure between your shifts.

 

[boogiecram]

I've had this happen to me a couple of times. I think that it is just that I am not shifting all the way through the gear. I usually don't worry about it, just make sure you shift firmly.

 

[Evil_Knievel]

Yea, I usually preload the shifter a little and either fan the clutch or blip the throttle to get more positive shifts... Good thing it all worked out cause that probably sucked bad..... It would have scared me anyway..:Sport:

 

[taki]

it did scare me a bit, but fortunately, there werent any cars around, and i wasnt even riding real hard..

i do preload the shifter, but i suspect i just didnt shift firmly enough.

 

[Jake]

False neutral would be the bike is in gear but thinks it's in neutral... which I don't believe would cause the issue you had. At worst your N light would have come on but you would have kept on riding.

I think that false neutral problems typically revolve around the fact that a bike can be started while in gear. I've seen it happen to a buddy once and when he started his ZX10 it lurched forward and tipped over. The bike appeared to be in neutral but one of the gear teeth was barely touching. From what I've been told, it is a semi-common phenomena with some Ninjas.

Jake

 

[DefyInertia]

I believe that what happened to you is what's commonly referred to as "hitting a false neutral". This is common on sportbikes and sometimes causes rear-end crashes at the race track. I've had this happen to me a handful of times and it always seems to be on the front straight; I've never had it happen on the street that I can recall.

False neutral would be the bike is in gear but thinks it's in neutral... which I don't believe would cause the issue you had. At worst your N light would have come on but you would have kept on riding.

That's not my understanding. That just sounds like malfunctioning electronics as opposed to a mechanical false neutral.

 

[Jake]

Ahhh I see what you mean Inertia. Yes you're right, it was just the light I was referring to.

So from what I've read after seeing your post... always shift up, not down, if you believe you're in a false neutral situation. That will prevent the risk of locking the rear correct?

Jake

 

[jamesfz6]

I cant say i have ever encountered a false neutral. Doesnt sound like i want to either.

 

[benny66]

honestly don’t know the mechanics of a street bike but i know a lot about dirt bikes. one day i was racing and coming up on a jump i shifted into second and i didn’t accelerate what so ever. thinking quickly to avoid coming up short i shifted down and over revved off the jump. when i landed i attempted to shift again and it was fine. i got threw another lap and when i hit second again i heard grinding like my chain popped. i was quick to shift again out of reaction and the bike went into third just fine. i should have pulled off at this point but being me and wanting to finish the race i kept going. i came off the spectator jump at the end and shifted down to second to slow me and i heard more grinding. when i landed my back tired was locked up and transmission fluid was leaking all over my boot. my second gear was worn down and wouldn’t catch correctly and it shot out the case.

i realize this was a long story but the point being if it happens again listen for any grinding cause ur 6th gear may not be grabbing correctly

 

[Cuba]

I've had that happen too, shifted into 6th and it wasn't engaged, I grabbed the clutch and hit it harder to get it to go. Just be a bit rougher with it. Also clutchless shifting seems to eliminate this problem.

 

[Evil_Knievel]

I agree, Clutch less is the way to go.... 1,2,3 use the clutch... 4,5,6 Clutch less,Never had any problems that way... Clutch every downshift though.... :Sport: