Noise when changing gear

[Kenko 335]

I've had my X11 for over a week now and have put over 600 miles on the clock,I can't fault this bike apart from one thing, sometimes when I'm changing gear I can hear a clunking noise. It sounds to me like the clutch plates clanking together?? I've checked the clutch lever freeplay which is correct so is the chain tension..any clues to what it might be or do they all do this.

[fast_eddy 712]

When does it do this?

Changing into first when stopped or through other gears when riding?

[Kenko 335]

Through the gears,its as though there is slack in the primary drive, my son says its me cos I'm used to a riding my belt driven Warrior. Imagine your'e in first gear with the front brake on and you let the clutch out til it bites I can hear the clutch plates coming together,thats the noise I can hear but not all the time..

[fast_eddy 712]

Aye, you'll probably be leaving the clutch in too long when changing gear... try a few clutchless changes and see what it's like.

You'll no doubt adapt your style as you get more used to it...

[Guest standish honda]

It may as your son says a matter of riding style. I tend to blip the throttle on downshifts to help the release, and although with practice the box will shift up without the clutch i still us it but just back off a touch when engaging gear to lessen the load. Other pointers might be oil level or oil viscosity. The clutch plates as a rule are not noisy once the motor is warmed up although they do suffer from the "beer mat effect" sometimes on start up.

[Guest raeman]

Mine clunks really loud changing from 1st up to 2nd, then it's ok in all other gears and changing down is fine too. The bike has allways done this and is allways worse when the motor is really hot ie, stop/start traffic. Wierd thing is, my old cbr1000 did exactly the same thing when hot and sometimes refused to go in first from neutral:confused: Strange.

[plastic_orange 214]

I rarely use the clutch on up changes, and have tickover set at just below 1000rpm, and my gearchanges are pretty silent and crunch free - certainly no worse than any other bike.

I use fully synthetic oil, and I'm convinced this makes for a generally smoother gearbox.

It's possibly just technique.

Pete

[Kenko 335]

My bike as 3000 miles on the clock,can I use synthetic oil?

[fast_eddy 712]

No not yet... wait until about 8,000 are on the clock first.

Just use a good quality 10-40w for now, semi-synthetic or mineral.