SuzukiSavage.com - Question about first gear

xdmkii

Ex Member

Question about first gear
08/15/07 at 10:44:41

Hi all. I just got a new LS650 last week and I had a question for other Savage owners. When I slow down to stop, I disengage the clutch and start shifting down through the gears. I've noticed that if I still have a bit of speed (above 20mph), the bike does not like to go into first. It's fine at under 10mph. Maybe this is just a safety feature? I see no mention of it in the manual.

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Dr_Jim Ex Member	Re: Question about first gear Reply #1 - 08/15/07 at 10:53:04 -
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Savage_Rob

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Re: Question about first gear
Reply #2 - 08/15/07 at 11:21:25

xdmkii wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:08:

Hi all. I just got a new LS650 last week and I had a question for other Savage owners. When I slow down to stop, I disengage the clutch and start shifting down through the gears. I've noticed that if I still have a bit of speed (above 20mph), the bike does not like to go into first. It's fine at under 10mph. Maybe this is just a safety feature? I see no mention of it in the manual.

But it's mentioned in quite a few other threads. Best practice is to downshift while moving. If you are stopped, feather the clutch to allow the current gear to engage and then reattempt to shift. Do not try to force it. You will bend a linkage rod and make it even more difficult to shift. The rod is about $5 and easy to change but why bother if you don't have to?

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xdmkii Ex Member	Re: Question about first gear Reply #3 - 08/15/07 at 13:03:33 Thanks for the information. I'm still fairly new to riding and I would never force anything mechanical. Whenever I would get resistance, I would slow down more and try again. I'll try feathering next time I'm stopped. I just wanted to make sure this was normal behavior for this bike.
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firsts40

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Re: Question about first gear
Reply #4 - 08/15/07 at 17:55:02

??? Lets see if I can make this make sense. When shifting up when I am just doing some easy cruising, I shift at 15, 25, 35, 45. When shifting down, I do it around 40, 30, 20 and 10. When I do this I find I still have enough to get me out of trouble if I need to accelerate, and at the same time not putting any stress on the engine, clutch, tranny or belt. It seems to shift and handle these speeds very smoothly.
What do you experts think?? ???

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Dana from Misissippi
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Savage_Rob

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Re: Question about first gear
Reply #5 - 08/16/07 at 05:24:27

I haven't paid that much attention to the speeds at which I shift, especially in the lower gears. However, I'm pretty sure I typically upshift into 4th between 40 and 45 and into 5th between 50 and 60. I downshift into 4th between 55 and 50 and into 3rd around 40. At least that seems right to me. I'll have to pay more attention to verify.

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T Mack 1 - FSO

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sold 2001 LS650 for
a 1986 XLH1100

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Re: Question about first gear
Reply #6 - 08/16/07 at 07:20:00

I noticed that "Double clutching" is sometimes needed. If you don't know what double clutching is, ask an old timer (dad grandfather etc etc)

Here's a picture of the tranny. Notice what is missing, synchronizers and spiral gear faces for quite & smooth operation. But, it is a pretty robust tranny.....Picture is a tranny with 10K miles....

For bigger Picture
see: http://www.users.fast.net/~tommack/Tranny.JPG

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Engineers design things, Technicians make them work.
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30% of being mechanical is confidence/30% is knowing to go slow when needed/30% is looking repeatedly at what you have/10% is dumb luck Wink

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T Mack 1 - FSO Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline sold 2001 LS650 for a 1986 XLH1100 Posts: 2919 Emmaus,Pa Gender:	Re: Question about first gear Reply #7 - 08/16/07 at 07:39:10 Also, with a tach on the bike, I notice that you have to shift at 2K rpm because it lugs just a little too much. At 3K rpm you do have some torque.
Back to top	Engineers design things, Technicians make them work. --- 30% of being mechanical is confidence/30% is knowing to go slow when needed/30% is looking repeatedly at what you have/10% is dumb luck IP Logged