It may have been discussed already but searching through the forum I did not see it. So, that clunk going into first gear, which to many seems to be a source of worry (myself included), appears to be a deliberate engineering design. According to this article from 2012, first gear has a straight cut to give it that "clunk of confidence", second and third gears are helical cuts, and fourth and fifth (I suppose 6th gear as well now) are reverse cut . So now I can stop wincing every morning when I put it in gear and know that everything is working as it was designed. Scroll down to "Day Two - The Steel Toe Tour" for the info.

http://www.ridermagazine.com/feature...d-factory.htm/

 

The HD transmission is a constant mesh type. (at least the five speed dyna is) What engages are dogs and mortises on the sides of the gears. Whether the gears are straight cut or helical cut does not matter as far as the noise of engagement/disengagement.

Try this. Pull in the clutch and wait a couple of seconds before you punch it into gear. If that "clunk of confidence" is still there you likely have a dragging clutch, caused by misadjustment, warped clutch disks, too heavy a primary oil, too much primary oil, or some combination of these four problems.

 

Personally, i love the "clunk" sound. But...not so much in the winter. It seems to hit harder when it's cold out.

 

If mine is hit hard into first gear it's a fireman's clang and not an expected Harley clunk.

 

When I was running the Hayden M6, I never experienced the clunk of shame.

 

I've worried about it for the last 22 years I've owned the bike. After all that time, 197,000 miles, and countless clutch adjustments it still does it when cold.

Doesn't seem to have hurt anything, though.

 

I am new to HD's (Just under 2 months young), but had heard all about "the clunk" from reading many articles, reviews, forums, etc. When I test road the LR and I dropped it into first for the first time from neutral, I said to myself "THAT IS AWESOME!!!" I love the clunk. The funny thing is, its one of the smoothest clunks. It's the bike telling you "Hold on bitch"!!!

 

So help me with this. My clutch is correctly adjusted and not warped (I checked it), I have the right type and amount of primary fluid (have used several kinds). Most of the time I'll get a clunk whether I hold the clutch in for a few seconds or not. But sometimes it slips into gear without a sound.
What gives?

 

Nature of the beast. Don't over think it. Just ride it.
If you spend all your time worrying about every little noise then you won't have any fun riding it.

 

LOL !! sure can tell who has never ridden an old 4 speed