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FZ6If you’re looking for one bike to perform a multitude of missions, look no further.
Take it from Cycle World* Magazine - “For a more advanced rider looking for a bike to do it all, there is no other choice.”
Hello everyone
I bought an FZ6 '05 a month ago and it is my first bike. I really love the bike but I'm having problems when it comes to shifting down to 1st gear. This is with one exception wich is if I only shift up to 2nd gear (not higher) and then back down to 1st everything is smooth. But if I shift for example up to 3rd and then back down to 2nd, then It becomes impossible for me to shift down to 1st (while traveling at 10 - 15 km/h). I am using the clutch between each gear while shifting. If I stop the bike I can shift to 1st normally.
I am a complete newbie so probably I'm doing something wrong?
The bike must be very very slow, almost completely stopped for a smooth 1st gear downshift. Form the habit of shifting to first just right before you put your foot down when stopping.
[edit] Oh, and if it does get stuck out of 1st, try releasing the clutch and find the friction zone and shift gear and re-press the clutch as you get into first.
release the clutch a little bit to fully engage the gear, I often have to do that while downshifting, that may help. its a pain if you are going too slow to release the clutch, downshift, release clutch etc.
This is a common issue with most motorcycle tranmissions, the shift into first. Also, be sure that with each downshift you release the shift lever fully to its up position before you shift down to the next gear. Otherwise, they do frequently get caught between gears and feel like they have hung up. Release the clutch gently and then shift again. It should go then. With practice, technique, matching engine speeds and bike speeds, it will become easy and much smoother. roger
My bike shifts to first VERY loudly if I'm going much over 10mph when I shift to first. I normally just coast to stops now in second gear or neutral if I can find it, come to my stop, then shift to 1st.
This is a common issue with most motorcycle tranmissions, the shift into first. Also, be sure that with each downshift you release the shift lever fully to its up position before you shift down to the next gear. Otherwise, they do frequently get caught between gears and feel like they have hung up. Release the clutch gently and then shift again. It should go then. With practice, technique, matching engine speeds and bike speeds, it will become easy and much smoother. roger
It does feel like they have hung up and I don't think I'm fully releasing the shift lever, so this could be it.
Looking forward to getting on the bike and practice.
On the chance that you are the type that finds it helpful to know what it going on when there is an issue, I'll try to explain it...
Motorcycle transmissions usually do not have synchros like sports cars do. The synchro takes up a lot of space in the transmission. In a synchromesh gear box these little devils allow the grears to 'line-up' or spin at the same speed before engaging. Every ratio has an ideal speed which is not specifically related to just engine speed or just road speed, it is the ratio of them that is important. The faster the road speed, the faster the engine should be turning for smooth engagement. This the reason for the common 'throttle blip' at down shift. You are bringing the engine speed up to road speed.
That was the easy part. The tricky bit is at a full stop. With the clutch dis-engaged and wheel not turning, the gears are extremely difficult to line up. This is where rocking the bike a bit (moving the output shaft a smidge) sometimes helps. Or almost engaging the clutch move the shafts a bit.
The best advice noted earlier is to make every attempt possible to engage 1st while moving somewhat slowly.
What not to do:
No matter what you see the Harley guy next to you doing, if you are at a complete stop and you are in neutral (more on this later), never blip the throttle before engaging 1st. You are increasing the engine speed without any movement on the output shaft. The gears are less synchronized than ever. This will cause a lot of wear on the 1st gear. I get a bit anal about this issue and when starting a cold bike in neutral, I actually push off and move the bike a bit when I engage 1st. Because of cold fast idle, it is almost as bad as the above 'throttle blip'.
Neutral at a stop. Basically unless you have to scratch something really bad, don't do it. MSF says 1st gear for safety reasons, I say 1st gear for mechanical wear reasons.
My problems is shifting from 1st to 2nd. There are times when instead of a smooth, albiet clunk, shift I hear/feel a distinct 3 clunks into 2nd. Ive tried varying throttle settings, making certain that the clutch is fully engaged, etc. But I have not been able to isolate what makes the difference.
My problems is shifting from 1st to 2nd. There are times when instead of a smooth, albiet clunk, shift I hear/feel a distinct 3 clunks into 2nd. Ive tried varying throttle settings, making certain that the clutch is fully engaged, etc. But I have not been able to isolate what makes the difference.
This one gets trickier because it is a combination of two issues:
1. Mechanically you are doing far more on the 1-2 shift than the other shift points. In this case you are obviously going through neutral to get there (the reason you can feel 3 clunks).
2. You did not mention your experience. If you look at various Motorcycle manuals, you will notice they use a term like 'deliberate' when they mention shifting. If part of your experience was on a very smooth gearbox, like some Honda products, we can get a bit lazy about this. It happened to me after my VFR. You only had to think about shifting that guy. This bike isn't known for smooth shifting, so you may want to work on the 'deliberate' part. As you shift try to do it quickly and sharply, with a full stroke. More like a snap.
You probably don't want to buy any Kawasakis in the near future. They have a neutral finder on the gear box that really helps finding neutral at a stop. At slow speeds it seems to get in the way a bit when crossing neutral. That is where I learned to put some snap into it. With my new FZ-6 I'm also working on my deliberate snap again. The other hidden problem with poor shifting technique is that you can have a partial gear engagement. In the short term it can pop out of gear, in the long term can cause permanent damage.
Great info Mike, very interesting, thank's. Explains why I alway get a big "clunk" when shifting to 1st when the bike is cold.
I went out riding after work today and tried what Roger was saying about fully releasing the shift lever to its up position before shifting down to the next gear and that did the trick for me
i had the same problem a few days after i got my FZ6. i wasnt able to get it into first gear at all, so i rode by starting in second.
it ended up just being that the bolt right under the shift lever was blocking it from going down all the way to first. (the bolt that holds the sidestand on the bike)
so i got my allen wrench, put that bolt back in, and everything is fine now.
Problem shifting to 1st gear
(the bolt that holds the sidestand on the bike)
Linear Mode
