Usually hitting first gear gives the familiar "clunk". Not as loud as days of yore but still a clunk.

Sometimes, like once out of fifty, there is just a click, so quiet I think it is not in gear. but it is.

I cannot find any consistent situation where it always happens.

2018 Road King. But I remember this happening on test rides of a half dozen M8 bikes.

I am not worried at all, just curious. Why usually clunk but sometimes click?

 

be a great question for Click and Clack! but yeah, good question.and suspect they all do that, mine has always exhibited that random behavior with no rhyme or reason I can detect anyway

 

 

If I hold the the clutch lever in, and roll the bike backwards a little bit, I can't even hear a click when shifting from neutral to first. If I don't roll it back, clunk every time.

 

Pull in the clutch lever while in netural and start it. With clutch still held in, warm it about a minute bipping the throttle till idle drops back. Using butt , rock the bike back.
This action frees the oil stuck drive and driven clutch plates. They are really snug on their splines and do not move very well.
Doing this most of the time will eliminate clunk.
In fact, if you do it too well, sometimes it will not shift if the transmission drive dogs are not in alignment.
Then you need to let out clutch a little to start spin, pull it back in and hit the shifter again.
Clunk hurts nothing. Shifting too slow does.

 

Your dealing with a wet clutch, plates sticking-dragging. barneyboy is breaking them loose by rolling the bike a bit, you can also pull in the clutch lever and blip the throttle before dropping into gear. Having a proper level of fluid in the primary is also key.

 

 

 

Always been a dice throw with my 17 but it has settled down some with miles, when I first got it that first snick into gear was embarrassing sometimes it was so loud.

 

My 17 doesnt make a peep dropping into first hot or cold. Now once it warms up all the other gears clank like every other HD I've owned.