I've worked through a clutch adjustment (gone wrong once, now set right) and fluid replacement (Formula+, 32oz) and am still having issues finding neutral. When cold I can get neutral coming to a stop, when hot (17 miles or so to work) I can't get neutral no matter what even when the engine is off. I also cannot upshift to second when hot while stopped to go down into neutral. It seems as the shifter is "locked" in first. Once I start moving it's fine and doesn't seem tight. I checked the primary chain and it seems in tolerance based on the manual.

Shifting is fine when moving, a little hard into second sometimes (1 out of 20 or so shifts) but never misses a gear.

I'm lost. I'm thinking either the shift arm busing is moving around or the shift pawl needs adjustment. Both seem unlikely, but there's no play in the shift arm (in/out) but thats the same as my 2003 1200 Sporty (15k mi) and it shifts fine hot or cold.

Any ideas?

2000 883 Sporty (1200 conversion installed) 7700 miles. Aftermarket steel braided cable (pretty but wayyyyy too expensive) (set @ 1/8")

 

Sounds as if you have clutch drag, in other words the clutch is not disengaging enough for those slower speed or stationary changes. Adjusting the clutch is an art that requires a little patience and experimentation! On one of my bikes (owned for over 20 years) I set the adjuster in the clutch itself by the book, but take out almost all the cable slack.

The solution to your problem is a deep breath, lots of patience and adjusting it again, a few times if necessary, to get it just right. It's very likely you will be riding again soon wondering what that was all about!

Best of luck.

 

Thanks for the info! So it seems the clutch is too tight? I've never been the patient type, but I know this type of thing needs finesse. So, just to check, do I err on the side of loose vs tight? Is the 1/4 turn the correct adjustment or the 1/2 turn I've seen on some how to videos?

Thanks!

 

The adjustment involves doing two things, getting the screw in the centre of the clutch right, then getting cable slack right. The service manual gives a range of adjustment for both of those (1/4 to 1/2 turn and 1/16" to 1/8" slack), so the patience required is seeing what suits your bike best! Even feeling for the point when the central adjusting screw 'lightly bottoms' needs a bit of luck!

So you could try simply reducing cable slack as a first experiment. If that improves things, even just a little, you will know we are on the right track! After that it is a matter of seeing what works best. You could try a 1/4" turn and 1/8" slack, next reduce slack to 1/16" and so on.

 

Well... I haven't got back inside yet, but i'm @ 1/16" and 1/4 turn and it makes no difference. When hot the clutch is not releasing (clutch in and I'm still rollling uphill...) making it impossible to change gears when slow or stopped. Once I'm at 10mph I can shift but it's hard. When cold it's a breeze to shift although neutral is still a b*tch to find. I'm planning to do another adjustment and make it closer to 1/2 turn and see if it makes a difference.

Is this really still a clutch issue or is something else happening here??? I'm totally lost...

 

So... it appears that my clutch cable may have been getting caught between the triple tree and the tank... never seen it sitting there before but it seems that clutch moves better when I moved it. It also changed the adjustment of the cable which could have had a part in the whole problem.

It's getting dark and while I love to ride in the dark, I'm not up for a "test ride" now. I did a readjustment (5th... maybe this one is the charm???) and hopefully this fixes the issue. At this point I'm ok without being able to find neutral easily... I just want to be able to shift correctly...

 

Well done. Fingers crossed all is OK now, but do report back.

 

Well... it seems that the cable location made a huge difference. The clutch needs to be fine tuned, but the clutch drag and hard shifting seem to be gone.

I did some looking and found the frame clamp for the cable doesn't actually hold the cable in place, it just keeps it from hitting the tire. My 2003 cable clamp holds the cable so it can't move around at all.

So this is what I think happened...

The cable seemed to be stuck between the tank and triple tree. There was a ton of slack after the cable clamp (again, I didn't notice it either until I started looking). So, either just the general parking/moving of the bike caused the issue OR/AND the clamp not holding the cable helped. I'm not sure which one but I'm for darn sure getting a new clamp to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I guess some of the most random problems are really simple if you take the time to look.

Thanks for the help!

 

Great news - and you sorted it out yourself! Time for a beer.....