When to down shift ? At times shifts hard.

Ok so I have been working on my XJ I got a few weeks back.( to wife- I don't care if it is 50deg. outside, I'm gonna ride it.) Having a blast. But when I down shift it seems to shift hard. I know sometimes I shift down to early and that does it.

But when I come to a full stop, do I wait till I am almost stopped to get into first?

I have been trying to down shift depending on speed. But third down to second seems almost like I has not using the clutch at all sometimes.

Just me? Is it the nature of the bike???

I never feel like it grinds or wont go into any gear up or down. I have spent alot of time thinking about this and I might have talked myself into thinking it is a problem with the bike and it is not.

 

Could be your clutch isn't disengaging completely.

They also shift harder when cold. I've got 20w50 in mine and it needs to be good and hot to shift easy.

2 down to 1 on mine is never real smooth.

 

When is the last time you did an oil change? A hard down shifting bike is usually an indication that it is in need of an oil change.

 

capy,
I have changed out the oil less than 100 miles ago. The filter and oil did not look excessively dirty and no major junk was found in the oil. I have thought about putting some kind of after market degunker in it but I do not know how that will do in a bike.

I do not know how well the person before me maintained the bike. But so far everything seems " normal ".

 

Put you some seafoam in the crankcase before you use a degunker. Most addatives will cause the clutch plates to slip. If the seafoam does not cure the problem, you might want to check the clutch adjustment to ensure you are getting enough disengagement. After that, you might need to start checking into the tranny itself.

 

seafoam?? I live 100's of miles away from the ocean! Wont the Salt water damage it??

Just kidding.... But what is and where do I get some seafoam?

Thaks

 

Just about all Autozone and Napa carry it. It is kinda like the good old days of marvel mystery oil just updated to better.

 

I did a bit of looking online and it sounds alot loke B-12 ChemTool. I ain't gonna use it though, no one has discussed it around here so I think I will stick with the Seafoam.

 

B-12 chemtool is not so good for our motors. It's an extremely powerful cleaner for a lot of stuff, but the acetone and MEK that's in it can damage rubber and plastic parts inside our carbs 8O . the professional variant will actually strip paint.

Seafoam does not damage rubber or plastic. You still shouldn't drink the stuff, but the XJ will be happy to.

 

i switched my bike over to all synthetics AMSOIL motorcycle oil (no friction additives) with a touch of LUCAS, and SUPERSYN gearoil for the driveshaft the bike runs smoother and shifts better and started using K&N oil filter on it too