Ghost gear?
 

Was riding this afternoon when I shifted (lazily) from 3-4, or so, and when I let out the clutch, no dice. It was like I put it into N. Throttle just revved it. Pulled the clutch back in and kicked up harder, and it locked in. Any of you ever manage to do this? Was a strange thing indeed. Recently replaced my clutch cable and my new friction point is just a very short pull in, if that has to do with anything. Could probably loosen the cable tension a bit.

Yeah, that's fairly odd. I've never experienced anything quite like that. If something wasn't right in your cable install, and the cable kind of popped out of one of the holders and held itself cocked open for an instant, I could envision the possibility of something like that. Still, I think the problem would keep occurring even if it wasn't consistent.

What ?? Nobody sees a ghost. Get that cable set up proper. Dial in your lever. All that. You may have just "drug" the clutch a bit.

Happens to me all the time, they are called false-neutrals, happens shifting up or down.

My '12 would occasionally pop out of 5th-not really a false neutral but it just didn't engage fully. I removed the shift star and used a grinder to profile the points. That fixed the problem and when I had to split the cases last month to replace the crank I did an inspection of the shift forks and dogs on the gears. Nothing is worn or bent and after reassembly it shifts like butter now.

Man!...you must be a sloppy shifter!:D


But seriously...even drag racing my H2's, Z1's, and tons of dirt bikes in heinous conditions, I've never hit a neutral in any other gear other than between 1st and 2nd.

Usually happens when my foot slips off my shifter, i have yet to replace it haha! Or clutch-less downshifting can also cause a false neutral

Yeah, after looking around, it was a false neutral.

I'd been under the impression that accidentally hitting N when going from 1st to 2nd was a false neutral, which isn't the case. Which is just annoying.

It was probably due to me wearing sneakers. When I wear boots, the shifter is engaged with more conviction. Sometimes I do suffer from "lazy toe," heh. And, I need a new shifter anyway.

FYI, if you do happen to have a false neutral, correct it by going UP a gear, not down. If you think you're between 4th - 5th, you could actually be between 3rd - 4th, if you go down, you run the risk of a super hard engine brake and a rear wheel lockup.

Mine does this between 5-6 a lot, its almost like the lever throw is a bit longer between those gears.

maybe when I pull covers off to put in my lightened flywheel i'll see about putting in a new shift star.

Thad,
I think you have a solid shifting foot. Perhaps due to your experience with good, and maybe some not so good, transmissions over the years. I've had false neutral shifts on nearly every bike I've owned.