False Gear (opposite of false neutral)

[prhkgh]

Bike: '00 R1100RT, 94K miles, prev owner had trans rebuilt 3 yrs ago. Situation: Every now and then I have the opposite of a 'false neutral' when downshifting from 2nd to neutral. Gear indicator says gear '0'. Sometimes neutral light is slow to come on, might come on 5 seconds later without me touching anything.

Every now and then I will shift into neutral (so I thought) while slowing down to stop, and when I let the clutch out I find I'm NOT in neutral as the rear end grabs. (engine has returned to idle, so it results in abrupt slowdown as bike is going faster than engine.)

I have only noticed this while the bike is still in motion. If I pull in the clutch and then let it out again, I'm in neutral, no problem!

So instead of going for a gear and hitting a 'false neutral', I'm going for neutral and hitting a 'false gear'.

What really puzzles me is this seems to be timing dependent...if I hold the clutch in longer as I continue to slow down, then release it, I really AM in neutral.

Anybody else run into this? Can you think of what is going on inside that would cause this?

Thanks!

Paul H.
(I've had the bike maybe a month or 6 weeks, have put about 2500 miles on it.)

[MotorradMike]

If my bike was doing this I'd get in touch with this guy fairly quickly. I have no idea what's wrong but I bet he does.

http://www.largiader.com/

Mike

[prhkgh]

Unfortunately I purchased bike from owner's widow...The bike had been meticulously maintained, records and receipts for everything, and it appeared whenever there was ANY problem he immediately addressed it. Had been used for a long highway commute every day. (Previous owner's demise was not motorcycle related.)

This is NOT a big deal, more of a curiosity to me than anything else. It doesn't happen consistently. I'm commuting 30 miles every day on the bike, half of that is highway and half surface streets with maybe 20 stops a day (combined traffic lights and stop signs). This happens maybe a couple times a week, so less than 5% of my stops...and may be my riding technique (or lack of same) contributing if I'm 'doing it wrong' somehow.

Paul H.

[bikerfish1100]

never happens to mine, but that's probably because i'm not searching for neutral while i'm moving. safer to be in 1st gear at a stop, just in case you have to "get outta Dodge" quickly. if i'm sitting at a light for awhile, and a few cars have backed up behind me as a buffer, then i will look for neutral, just to rest the hand.

no idea what would be the cause.

[MotorradMike]

Hi prhkgh:

I'm trying not to be an alarmist but it would be cheap and quick to drain the oil and look for " if the oil is an irridescent gold color when you drain it." I stole that quote right from Anton Largiaders site.

If something is wearing out in the tranny it might be a lot cheaper to fix it now.

Maybe it can wait 'til winter.

Mike

[prhkgh]

Mike, Good idea, I'm about due for an engine oil change so will add a transmission oil (and probably rear end oil while I'm at it) to the task at the same time.

Regarding going into neutral while moving...a bad habit picked up maximizing fuel economy when on 4 wheels...(yeah yeah yeah I know all the reasons both safety wise and transmission wear wise not to.) I don't do it on the bike like I would my car (shift into neutral as I entered a freeway offramp and coast up to the end of the ramp), but on the bike when I'm a half block away and the light looks like it's not going to change green quick, once I downshift to 2nd I'm just as likely to half step it to neutral and coast up to a stop. Can easily go back into either 1st or 2nd depending on how much I've slowed down if the light does turn green...

From formerly having a URAL, which was notorious for difficulty finding neutral*, giving myself a bit more time to find it is also habit. (* Ural's were so balky on this, that some folks advocated ...once stopped... shifting it into reverse (a separate lever) and back as that would also be what they called a 'neutral finder'. I did not resort to this, but sometimes it was a challenge finding neutral nevertheless.)

Paul H. ... oil changes gonna happen this weekend or next...