So I just brought my new 2012 HD Blackline home today and I am having some issues with getting the bike into neutral. Now before anyone throws and novice advice at me please be aware that this isn't my first bike. I've been riding for about 11 years now and this is my third bike, and I am also a mechanic for a living. The problem is when I come to a stop I down shift to first as always and then try to get that mid up shift into the neutral position but it always jumps to second gear. The only way I can get the bike into neutral is to shut it off and then I am able to shift it to neutral. In pretty sure I just need to somehow make an adjustment on the clutch cable some how but unlike all of my previous bikes which were both yamahas, there is no tension screw located on the clutch lever assembly. So I'm guessing the adjustment should be made at the point at which the cable enters the transmission? Please, any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated. It's killing me that my brand new blackline is having this issue. I don't live far from the dealer and I only have the bike for the weekend and then I'll be taking it back on Monday to have all my accessories installed that have been on order. What can I do in the meantime to maybe solve this issue myself. Also, the drive line seems to feel a little rough compared to what I'm used to in my metric bikes. Is this something common among Harley's? I think that I may be actually just shifting into gears sooner than necessary being that I haven't had my after market exhaust installed yet. In the past on my other bikes I always used the sound of my exhaust as a cue as to when I needed to shift into a higher gear. Please help me out here my fellow Harley Davidson veterans.

 

Man i would not do anything to it....but take it back to the dealer and let them figure it out...way too high dollar of a bike to be guessing and doing process of elimination...lol...probably not a thing wrong with it other than some little adjustment....

 

Or a little break-in.

 

That happened to me for a long time on my 2010 Lo.. I always had to roll a bit forward in 1st, then stop and put it in Neutral with just the slightest kick of my toe.. Last winter, however, I changed out my tranny fluid and put in some LucasOil 85w140 gear oil, and it seems to be a lot easier to find neutral, and shifting feels easier as well..

 

Bingo. My new Fatboy was difficult as well for a couple months/1000 miles.