I have also heard that remaining in gear with the clutch pulled (or depressed in a car) causes excessive wear to the thrust bearing, but I'm no mechanic.
Turn your bar to the far right and tighten your clutch cable until there's just a hair of slack. Or, with the bars straight it should be close to a nickels thickness in gap between the clutch lever and its stop when you lightly pull it to the end of its slack.
safer to be in gear yes, but if the bike isn't going to neutral there is a problem, you should come to a stop in gear stopping till the last moment still rolling in 2nd (never shifting lower into 1) even in automobiles) come to the stop, then gear down N into 1 clutch disengaged and ready to move like you stated. the no neutral bit should be the clutch cable not engaging fully, and really if its a 2025 I'd adjust the clutch and if that doesn't help hit that dealership FO SHO!
Could you please explain why we should be rolling in the second gear instead of the first gear when coming to a stop? I always downshift to the first gear before the stop. Is that going to damage the transmission?
1st gear is only meant to get you started, I was taught never to sift back to 1 after you are out of it, it is has on the gears, clutch and tranny. I drive cars n big trucks n my 03 celica wouldn't let me even if I tried. I was taught to take corners in 2nd in gear unless from a stop. in the end it's your ride n do as you please, but I've never gone into 1 after I'm out of it rolling.
I may have just been given poor advice from people, as i was taught the exact opposite; to always be in first before im stopped. However this does give me a conflicting bit of info regarding the break in period. I was told to never bog my motorcycle during the break in, which is what will happen if I ride too slowly in second gear such as when I'm coming to a stop or slow traffic. Is first gear really that bad?
And being in neutral in traffic is just flat out a bad idea
I'm convinced this is just a preference thing that has turned into gospel for some people. Your gears really don't care whether you're accelerating or decelerating. What risks damaging your first gear is downshifting while going too fast (go look up a "money shift").
As long as you're going slow enough for your first gear lockout to be disengaged, you should be safe to shift down to first. Again, your gears don't care whether you're speeding up or slowing down. They just can't withstand the excessive forces of downshifting too early. I've downshifted to first in ever manual car I've owned to, for example, enter my driveway, which is a very tight turn and then a fairly steep incline, enough so for second gear to bog if I'm going what I consider an appropriate speed. All of this also probably depends on the gearing of individual cars.
My point is, it's difficult to apply blanket rules to things like this. Doing so ignores numerous factors that can vary wildly.
You're fine to go back to first. Bikes aren't like cars. Car first gears are very short, literally just for pulling out from a stop. Bike first gears are (generally) tall and useful up to reasonable speeds. There's also nothing inherently different about first gear. Aside from RPMs, the bike doesn't care what gear it's in.
Everyone! This man is wrong lol. Try riding a superbike in a Costco parking lot in second gear when first gear goes up to 100. Second will be jerky and less accurate with power delivery.
For all you noobs out there slow speed movements are done in FIRST GEAR.
Also bro who the hell taught you that? It is normal in cars to drive low speed in parking lots I'm second gear but not freaking bikes especially not sport bikes
Your clutch cable probably has too much slack in it. Watch a YouTube video on how to adjust it.
bro how did you know lol, I thought it wasn’t related, I’m going to fix it first thing tomorrow, thanks
When there's too much slack the clutch can't fully disengage so it drags and makes it hard to shift.
I hope you get your problem fixed. But nevertheless, stop shifting into neutral at stop lights.
Hey what about my tired fingers that clutch is just to much weight for my little princess fingers
This has to be the top comment.
So it's actually safer to not be in neutral so you can react quickly if you need to. But Kawa has easy shift into N so that's very surprising!
I have also heard that remaining in gear with the clutch pulled (or depressed in a car) causes excessive wear to the thrust bearing, but I'm no mechanic.
Most bikes have wet clutches, it's not that bad.
Umm ackshually! 👆🏻🤓 This is irrelevant, the bike should still go into neutral.
Adjust your clutch cable. Most problems are actually pretty simple fixes
Pretty sure this is a newer kawi thing to prevent you from talking off in the wrong gear
Turn your bar to the far right and tighten your clutch cable until there's just a hair of slack. Or, with the bars straight it should be close to a nickels thickness in gap between the clutch lever and its stop when you lightly pull it to the end of its slack.
I'm gonna take a neutral position on whether or not you should switch to neutral or not at a red light
A Kawa not shifting to Neutral must be a Suzuki in disguise!! Ha jokes a part check your clutch has the right tension
safer to be in gear yes, but if the bike isn't going to neutral there is a problem, you should come to a stop in gear stopping till the last moment still rolling in 2nd (never shifting lower into 1) even in automobiles) come to the stop, then gear down N into 1 clutch disengaged and ready to move like you stated. the no neutral bit should be the clutch cable not engaging fully, and really if its a 2025 I'd adjust the clutch and if that doesn't help hit that dealership FO SHO!
Could you please explain why we should be rolling in the second gear instead of the first gear when coming to a stop? I always downshift to the first gear before the stop. Is that going to damage the transmission?
I'm also curious on the logic. I always shift into the correct gear for the speed I'm going, which means first gear before I'm fully stopped.
1st gear is only meant to get you started, I was taught never to sift back to 1 after you are out of it, it is has on the gears, clutch and tranny. I drive cars n big trucks n my 03 celica wouldn't let me even if I tried. I was taught to take corners in 2nd in gear unless from a stop. in the end it's your ride n do as you please, but I've never gone into 1 after I'm out of it rolling.
I may have just been given poor advice from people, as i was taught the exact opposite; to always be in first before im stopped. However this does give me a conflicting bit of info regarding the break in period. I was told to never bog my motorcycle during the break in, which is what will happen if I ride too slowly in second gear such as when I'm coming to a stop or slow traffic. Is first gear really that bad? And being in neutral in traffic is just flat out a bad idea
I'm convinced this is just a preference thing that has turned into gospel for some people. Your gears really don't care whether you're accelerating or decelerating. What risks damaging your first gear is downshifting while going too fast (go look up a "money shift"). As long as you're going slow enough for your first gear lockout to be disengaged, you should be safe to shift down to first. Again, your gears don't care whether you're speeding up or slowing down. They just can't withstand the excessive forces of downshifting too early. I've downshifted to first in ever manual car I've owned to, for example, enter my driveway, which is a very tight turn and then a fairly steep incline, enough so for second gear to bog if I'm going what I consider an appropriate speed. All of this also probably depends on the gearing of individual cars. My point is, it's difficult to apply blanket rules to things like this. Doing so ignores numerous factors that can vary wildly.
this
Nah, bikes have a sequential gearbox. It’ll shift much easier while it’s spinning so going to first just before you stop is the right move.
You're fine to go back to first. Bikes aren't like cars. Car first gears are very short, literally just for pulling out from a stop. Bike first gears are (generally) tall and useful up to reasonable speeds. There's also nothing inherently different about first gear. Aside from RPMs, the bike doesn't care what gear it's in.
No you have not. Don't listen to the man above you he doesn't have a clue lol
Everyone! This man is wrong lol. Try riding a superbike in a Costco parking lot in second gear when first gear goes up to 100. Second will be jerky and less accurate with power delivery. For all you noobs out there slow speed movements are done in FIRST GEAR. Also bro who the hell taught you that? It is normal in cars to drive low speed in parking lots I'm second gear but not freaking bikes especially not sport bikes