Sticky 1st and 2nd downshift

[myklobe]

Background, 2013 FZ8, bought with 0 miles less than a month ago, put 450 miles on it, and done 1 oil change. Behavior has been there since I got the bike.

If I go to stop, and I'm in 2nd or 1st gear and get completely off the throttle (letting the clutch / engine slow me down) and pull in the clutch lever, the clutch seems to take about 1/2 - 1 second to disengage, so it feels like I haven't even pulled in the clutch yet, which is a little freaky like I might not stop.

I've adjusted the cable using the nickel's width method, as well as 1/4 turns to sloppy cable all the way to tight cable. It doesn't seem to get better. It just won't disengage when slowing down, no throttle, in 2nd or 1st.

Just wondering if anyone else has seen this behavior and if there is anything else I can do before taking it back to the dealership.

Thanks guys!

 

[Woody146]

Take it back Immediatly!! It's a new bike...It should ride like a new bike..

 

[MotoZen]

That's definitely not right and sounds downright dangerous. I'm all for doing your own maintenance, but I'd take that back to the dealer.

Sent from my other favorite addiction (Galaxy S3) using Tapatalk.

 

[myklobe]

That's definitely not right and sounds downright dangerous. I'm all for doing your own maintenance, but I'd take that back to the dealer.

That's kind of my train of thought, I like to use the clutch / engine to slow me down, but I guess until I can take it in, I'll just hold the clutch in from 3rd down and use the brakes more.

I've owned a bunch of bikes and never had this happen! It's so weird, I just want to know what it is!!

 

[myklobe]

We'll see...

So, I have this charity ride on Sunday and really wanted to make it, so I did another full oil change with Lucas Semi Synthetic 10w-40 (because everyone is out of Mobil 1 4T...). I filled 3.2 like it said and it seems to be acting much better. Last oil change, I just dropped in 3 qts and it lined up on the max line on the peep hole on the crank case. With 3.2, it's a tiny bit over, but it doesn't seem to be sticky letting go of the clutch anymore. I'm going to go around the neighborhood tomorrow and verify that it's happy, but just thought that was weird that the peep hole would show full when I was .25 qt low basically.

I'll test and repost tomorrow, and hopefully, crisis averted haha!

Thanks for your help guys. If things don't act right, it's going straight back to the dealership... I did get the 5 year warranty after all

/crosses fingers!!!!

 

[myklobe]

So, today's ride of about 150 miles went perfect. I'm going to blame my sticky 2nd and 1st on the factory oil, assembly lube, and whoever knows what else was in the crank case. After doing another oil change making sure I used 3.2 Qt, it downshifted and disengaged the clutch perfectly. So, that was weird, but glad it's not doing that anymore. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[eru000]

So, today's ride of about 150 miles went perfect. I'm going to blame my sticky 2nd and 1st on the factory oil, assembly lube, and whoever knows what else was in the crank case. After doing another oil change making sure I used 3.2 Qt, it downshifted and disengaged the clutch perfectly. So, that was weird, but glad it's not doing that anymore. Thanks for the help guys!

I'm glad it's working better. You'd be surprised how much your choice of oil affects the feel and performance of any wet-clutch and wet-transmission motorcycle.

 

[AndyS]

Im on my 4th oil change. I only put in 3 q now.
3.2 is showing over full and I heard can lead to seal leaks.