Hitchcocks Forum

After 2000 miles on my Classic EFI I'm still trying to improve the smoothness of my gear shifting. Occasional clunking and missing gears are the main issues. Tips would be appreciated.

Usually a clutch issue in my experience any drag and the gear change becomes highly problematic.

S.

I think the words technique and practice are used here. I admit i sometimes watch and listen with envy as some bod takes off from the lights on his plastic rocket, dabbing effortlessly and smoothly through 3 gears to the next lights, "where i catch up" just as the rider slips into neutral at a stand still. Or worse, sits for thirty seconds with the clutch pulled in."b-----d showoff" Technique is required on an enfield to avoid struggling to find neutral at a standstill, but easily finding 2 neutrals between 1st and 3rd on your acceleration. Tip number one, use the clutch as little as possible in traffic to avoid a hot clutch dragging. Try to slip into neutral from say second gear by increasing the pressure on the gear change lever as you roll to a stop, you will feel the gear move half a stop into neutral. with "practice" this can be done without the need for the clutch at all spareing its use in readiness for changing into 1st.
Changing up the gears on the move can best be described as deliberate rather than dabbed. not to be confused with harsh or aggressive movements, but a smooth sequence. The knack being to match the engine speed with the road speed in the selected gear. assume right hand gear change 2nd to 3rd, at moment of change, roll off throttle and pull in clutch together. Apply pressure right foot down untill next gear felt, release clutch and maintain pressure on gear lever untill after throttle wound back on. This will prevent slipping back to false neutral as power brought in. Changing down is simular with the addition of a throttle blip midway through change to match engine speed to gear speed. Maintain slight pressure on the lever untill gear change complete. Understand that this is more difficult to write and describe than it is to put into practice. hope it makes sense. regards gwilly

I'm glad someone else has mentioned this. Changing from 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th is a bit of a lottery and I have to be careful not to wind open the throttle on a false neutral.
Downwad changes are not a problem although finding the real neutral can be a little awkward sometimes.

I did flag it up with the dealer on the 500 mile service (only done 800 miles so far) and he was of the opinion that it was because the gearbox was new and it would run in as I put mileage on it. I can go along with this up to a point but I will be mentioning it again at the next service.

I still say my Bonneville gearbox was far superior to this one, and it was nearly 50 years old.

I fitted a spring to the rear of the shifter and hooked it down under the frame and it seemed to fix the problem. I believe the spring in the box is probably not quite strong enough.

Thanks for the comments so far. I have been wondering if the problem was simply a feature of the bike, a fault with the bike that needs addressing, or just my poor technique as a returning biker.

I'm taking the bike in for its 2000 mile service next week so I'll be discussing the problem with the dealer and getting someone to road test the bike. I want to sort it out because I'd be very reluctant to switch to something else right now.

A big thanks to Gwilly. After thinking about his remarks he had struck a chord. So I've just been out for a quick 8 mile run around the New Forest following his advice. Problem sorted. I think I'd got into the habit of "dabbing". By a more deliberate throttling back and maintenance of light pressure until feeling the completion of the gear change everything went more smoothly. No false neutrals despite a lot of practice gear shifting during the journey.

Thanks again Gwilly - I'm so pleased I posted here!

No honestly chaps this is a clutch issue. With the cover flex removed via either Pete's mod or mine and the clutch trued up the Albion will change like any Jappa. It's a case of poor manufacture not poor design. My Bitsa will select neutral effortlessly at the lights now. Moreover the constant false neutrals and jumping out of gear is a thing of the past.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77012441@N ... hotostream
I realize this isn't an EFI and as I am unfamiliar with this model I imagine that my mod pictured in the attached link won't be relevant however I maintain that if you sort the clutch drag the gears will change.

I'm with Simon here, difficult gearchanges are usually clutch related. Do you get a "clunk" when engaging first when at rest? If so the clutch is probably at fault and usually just needs adjusting.