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Just picked up my bike the other day. It now has 100 miles on it. I have noticed from time to time an issue with downshifting. I don't always downshift one gear at a time. Sometimes I coast to a red light with the clutch in And downshift through all the gears to first. But sometimes with the clutch in, The gear indicator on the instrument panel will go from indicating whatever gear I was in to just showing a dash line (-) and I can't get down to a lower gear without letting the clutch out a little and then starting over with the downshift.
Is anyone else noticing a similar problem?
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I don't have a gear indicator, but my '13 does the same thing from time to time. Seems like I saw a mention of the same issue in a magazine review of the bike. Think it's just a quirk...not an indication of mechanical trouble w the gearbox. I've gotten used to it and just anticipate that it might happen if I do multiple downshifts.
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in the manual this tells you it's a malfunction code for shifting improperly.
The best way to avoid it is to quit trying to down shift all the gears at once while stopped. Down shift as you are rolling, using the engine to help slow you down. It's better on the trans ( gears mesh better when they are moving) and it's better on the brakes.
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In many cases I downshift multiple gears w/ the clutch in, but I generally do it slowly as I decelerate to a stop, rather than all at once. That seems to work pretty well most of the time.
As far as engaging the clutch in each gear (using engine braking to help slow down)...maybe this is just one of those "agree to disagree" things, but I've always heard the "saves brakes" argument countered with the "I'd rather wear out my cheap brake pads than my expensive clutch" argument.
That said, I suppose if you're rev matching properly on the downshifts it probably doesn't cause much extra wear on the clutch.
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(04-26-2014, 10:05 AM)The ferret_imp Wrote: in the manual this tells you it's a malfunction code for shifting improperly.
The best way to avoid it is to quit trying to down shift all the gears at once while stopped. Down shift as you are rolling, using the engine to help slow you down. It's better on the trans ( gears mesh better when they are moving) and it's better on the brakes.
Blipping the throttle between each gear will ease the downshifting, make a cool sound between your legs and your tranny will thank you for many years. Mine is shifting very smooth at 1200 miles on 10w40 (@ 1000 miles) semi synth in hot temp today(85 heavy city traffic).
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I will downshift all at once, but do it as I'm moving so if the traffic starts to move I'm in the proper gear to start out and not have to hunt for the correct gear to be in. If you try and downshift from 5th to 1st while stopped most bikes won't like that (in my experience). It's like trying to get the bike gear when it's not running. You'll have to roll be rear tire or start it to get it to shift because that's how the transmission is designed to work.
So there is nothing wrong with the trans, just shift it while you are in motion and all will be right with the world. 
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Pechorin..if the clutch is engaged, it's engaged. you won't wear it out, it's fully engaged, not partially engaged. Anecdotally all I have ever owned is stick shift cars and motorcycles. I have never replaced a clutch in any vehicle I have owned (or transmission either) Many of the cars have had over 250,000 mikes (for the last 24 years I was an over the road salesman). the other side of the coin is I usually get 120,000 miles out of the front brakes and over 200,000 on the rear brakes on my cars. much less of course on motorcycles., but on my FZ and ST brakes usually last about 25,000 miles.I have 39,000 miles on my ST, brakes have been replaced once and I will check them again at about 50,000.
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(04-26-2014, 09:19 AM)tbone455_imp Wrote: Just picked up my bike the other day. It now has 100 miles on it. I have noticed from time to time an issue with downshifting. I don't always downshift one gear at a time. Sometimes I coast to a red light with the clutch in And downshift through all the gears to first. But sometimes with the clutch in, The gear indicator on the instrument panel will go from indicating whatever gear I was in to just showing a dash line (-) and I can't get down to a lower gear without letting the clutch out a little and then starting over with the downshift.
Is anyone else noticing a similar problem?
My '13 does this on occasion. I've noticed that it mostly happens when I'm coasting (with the clutch lever pulled in) up an off ramp toward a stop. If I start downshifting while I'm still moving at a decent clip, no problem. If I try to go from 5th to 1st below 15 mph or so, I sometimes get only to third and have to let the clutch out to the friction point to keep going.
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Agreed...if I'm downshifting multiple gears, I try to stretch out the process such that I'm in a good gear for the speed I'm traveling, should I need to accelerate for some reason. As others said, I rarely have issues w/ the transmission not wanting to move down through the gears in that situation. I also feel like there's a small safety benefit in that using the brakes more makes it more likely that vehicles behind will realize I'm slowing down (of course, you could just drag a brake to get the same effect).
Ferret...not discounting your experience; clearly clutch wear hasn't been a problem for you. But what do you mean, "if the clutch is engaged, it's fully engaged, you won't wear it out"? That's certainly true...but how are you keeping the clutch fully engaged while downshifting into each gear? Is there such a thing as clutchless downshifting? I know people often upshift that way, but I've never heard of it going the other direction (not that that means much).
If not, then each time you downshift into a new gear, you're disengaging the clutch (i.e., pulling the lever), changing the gear, and then re-engaging the clutch (i.e., letting out the lever, preferably while rev-matching with the throttle)--right? Which means that going into each gear there's a full cycle of the clutch, with some (preferably small) amount of slippage each time. That's what I was talking about when I said "engaging the clutch in each gear."
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Yes, disengage clutch (pull lever in), shift ( either up or down), engage clutch ( let lever back out)...same going up thru the gears or down thru the gears. There is no difference a shift cycle is a shift cycle. It is a machine, it has no conscious thought as to whether you are shifting up or down.
And with regards to engine braking it is no different then coming up to a corner, backing off the throttle, allowing the engine to slow down the bike before hitting the apex, and then throttling back out the other side.
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