Trouble finding neutral...

[arsity]

So for awhile now I have noticed that I have trouble finding neutral when coming to or at a stop.

I leave my bike in 1st gear when I shut it off. Once I turn it "on" in the morning and after work, I can shift into neutral very easy and with no problems. My first couple of stop-lights that I come across, I can shift to neutral too. But after about 10 minutes or so, I stop at lights in 1st, and go back and forth between 1st and 2nd. By the time I find neutral, IF i find it, the light has already turned green. lol.

Has anyone else had this problem? Is it something that I am doing (bad up/down shifting)? Maybe fluids need to be changed? I still consider myself a moto-noob, so I have no idea, but it is getting annoying...

 

[Erci]

Fresh oil may help. Rolling the bike slightly as you gently pull up on the lever may also help. You also want to make sure your clutch fully disengages. You can test this by putting the bike up on center stand, pulling the clutch in (and holding it in) and shifting to first. The wheel will likely spin, but it should take very little effort to stop it and keep it stopped.

More importantly: why are you looking for N at every light?

 

[arsity]

More importantly: why are you looking for N at every light?

About 2 weeks ago I got home from work, tried to put the bike in N so i can open my garage door (its an old door), but I couldnt, so I just flipped the kill switch. But since then, I've just been experimenting at stop lights to see how long before I begin to have trouble. Normally I do not go into neutral at lights, unless I know it's gonna be a long wait.

I'll try your other suggestions my next time out.

 

[arsity]

You also want to make sure your clutch fully disengages.

So I just tested this, and my tire kept spinning! :spank: I made adjustments so it would stop once I pulled in the clutch. Hopefully this will fix the neutral problem. :thumbup:

 

[oldfast007]

You think that's bad....just wait till you find 7th gear:BLAA:

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Well maybe it's a sign to inform you that the day is near where you will need to be in gear during a stop in order to get out of the way from being rear ended?

Our training bikes, mostly the Nighthawks are notorious for not going into neutral. It's pretty bad since finding neutral is during the first range exercise. But a trick I learned that I don't tell the students, just because they haven't even been on the bike for 10 minutes is to rev the engine to maybe 3-4000 rpms, and it will usually slide right into neutral. It might work for your FZ6 too.

 

[Erci]

So I just tested this, and my tire kept spinning! :spank: I made adjustments so it would stop once I pulled in the clutch. Hopefully this will fix the neutral problem. :thumbup:

I hope (and bet) that that will do it :thumbup:
Oil change might be a good idea still, if it hasn't been done in a while. And if you're running dino, switching to synthetic may help some more.