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My 2013 CB1100 is even "clunkier" than my 1978 CB750. The one thing I can not figure out is; at times I am stopping without down shifting, and the trans gets lost between some gear and I have a heck of a time getting it to downshift out of the "twilight gear" zone. If I let out the clutch a little it will really slam into some gear and then I can finish shifting it to 1st or it just remains in the no gear ( not netural) and I have to keep stepping on the shifter. I want to try up shifting it sometime when it does it but it always seems like I am in traffic and my brain just want to get it going.
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Quail, its been mentioned on here a few times, but that is normal operation for a non-synchonised transmission.
Maybe someone will explain in detail.
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Here's what I do, on any bike with a "normal" gearbox:
When slowing down, always downshift in time to keep the gear and road speed commensurate. In case of emergency stop, when there is no time to do that, disengage the engine just a bit ahead of coming to a full stop, let the revs slow down to idle, release clutch just enough to get the engine and gear box "to talk each other", press clutch fully and downshift. Repeat as required to reach neutral. Attempts to downshift from higher gears and (especially) from those "false neutrals" before the revs have dropped to idle are not good for the gear-box. Any gearbox.
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(11-25-2017, 02:40 AM)rotor_imp Wrote: Here's what I do, on any bike with a "normal" gearbox:
When slowing down, always downshift in time to keep the gear and road speed commensurate. In case of emergency stop, when there is no time to do that, disengage the engine just a bit ahead of coming to a full stop, let the revs slow down to idle, release clutch just enough to get the engine and gear box "to talk each other", press clutch fully and downshift. Repeat as required to reach neutral. Attempts to downshift from higher gears and (especially) from those "false neutrals" before the revs have dropped to idle are not good for the gear-box. Any gearbox.
Right on

Sometimes I'm also forced to brake to a sudden stop and have to "go through the gears" like you describe to get back to first gear after I'm stopped.
That's just the way it is with motorcycle gearboxes.
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I had shifting problems on my CB500XA when I first bought it. I had bought a pair of clunky steel toed work boots because I was too tight to buy proper motorcycle riding boots. When I bought my Alpinestars Roam boots the problem disappeared.
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I have this problem with a false neutral between 2nd and 3rd sometimes. all I do is let the clutch out slightly then pull it back in and it slips right into third..