[Guest]

I was out for a ride this morning in northern Baltimore, and I hit a decent bump in the road going about 55 (knocked me around a bit) -- all of a sudden i was out of gear and the engine was revving maddly (I still had the throttle on).
I popped out of gear when i hit the bump! I had been in 4th gear i think and then it happened so I immediately upshifted and went into 5th with no problems. I was startled by the incedent, but then about 30 min later it happened again when i hit another bump!

Does anyone know if this indicative of a specific problem other than transmission = bad? I'm a bit worried about it.

Thanks a lot for your help
Stuart

 

[Guest]

Are you sure that your foot did not bump the shifter lever slightly? A slight tap will put it into nuetral quite easily.

 

[Guest]

Yes that has happened to me also (my foot accidentally popping it out of gear) that is probably it.

 

[Guest]

dunno, i don't really think so. especially since i was in 4th gear. I'd have to bump it 3 times.
Then when I upshifted after ithappened, i was in 5th gear.

 

[chaf]

Sounds to me like you encountered what's called a "false neutral" wherein the transmission isn't officially in neutral, but it isn't in any of the "real" gears either. A false neutral exists between each gear and the next, and people occasionally will hit one on a regular shift as well when not applying force to the lever properly.

Or was the "N" light on?

M.

 

[Speeddog]

If you bump it just right, you can get it to find the "neutral" between any 2 gears. You're not finding the traditional neutral that exists between 1st and 2nd.

I occasionally find a neutral between 5th and 6th on my bike.

There's a big hex bolt on the left rear face of the transmission. There's a spring loaded detent in there, make sure that bolt isn't coming loose.

 

[Guest]

ah i see, I don't really know what the gear setup looks like on the inside. So would that mean there is space between each of the gears that the chain can fall into?
anyways, thanks for the replies.

 

[Speeddog]

ah i see, I don't really know what the gear setup looks like on the inside. So would that mean there is space between each of the gears that the chain can fall into?
anyways, thanks for the replies.

No.......
There are two shafts with 5 gears on each shaft. All 5 gears are meshing, but only one pair at a time is connected to the shafts. When you shift from one gear to the next, the shift mechanism disconnects one pair of gears from the shafts, and then connects the next pair. Temporarily, there are no gears connected to the shafts. The shift mechanism on your bike got hung up at that spot between gears.

Did that help explain it?

 

[KrazyKat]

Can the "false neutrals" also happen if you're going too slow in a gear? I'm a newer rider and sometimes when I'm in second gear and going through a curve, it will go into neutral.

 

[Speeddog]

Can the "false neutrals" also happen if you're going too slow in a gear? I'm a newer rider and sometimes when I'm in second gear and going through a curve, it will go into neutral.

KK,
Maybe if you let the revs get down below 3000 or so and it starts lurching, it may pop out of gear. More likely it starts lurching and you bump the lever accidentally at just the right time, that will genuinely shift it into neutral.

Most Ducs get a little unhappy below 3000 rpm, some more than others. It can be very challenging to run smoothly at low rpm.

I sent you a PM question about the hotbar-skins......

 

[ScottRNelson]

My bike had its first false neutral within the first 30 miles and has them regularly if I get lazy in my shifting. Most likely is the 4th to 5th transition, but I have gotten false neutrals everywhere at least once. Not all Monsters are as easy to hit false neutrals as mine.

For any kind of serious riding, the balls of my feet are on the pegs and I have to actually move my left foot forward to make a shift. That way, I don't ever accidentally bump it into a false neutral. Luckily, the wide powerband means I don't have to shift as often in the twisties.