Tranny Issue

My Two Senses

I know, even before I start, that I'm probably way over my head when it comes to technical issues on the forum but why not jump in with both senses.......Feel & Hearing!

I'm coming up on 2 1/2 years of riding the beast and though everyone's experiences are as different as how the guy felt the day he built YOUR ROCKET. Here's what I've noticed about my R3:

1. I can keep the loud "clunk" to a medium "click" from 2nd to 1st with just a quick rev before down shifting
2. Changing to Amsoil 20/50 has made shifting quieter and smoother.
3. Though I have a Toe/Heel shifter, I sometimes fall back on old habits and put the toe under the shifter. If I'm not careful, I'll accelerate in 1st and accidentally pull my toe up and get a better up shift into 2nd than I could ever do with a clutch.

I learned it driving several old trucks on the farm and listening to the rpm's and feeling the shifter almost always lets you know when to up shift. On the down shift side, it was always a quick rev and drop it into the next lower gear. In a way it's kind of like the last half of the old "double clutching" trick

I'm not saying it's the best way and I don't do it very often but it can be done so I have to say I don't understand those having trouble going either direction. Maybe I've lived in OZ to long and all this motorcycle stuff is a dream. If that's true.....don't wake me up!

mines has not given me any trouble

My Rocket 05 has 15,000 miles on it know and I have never had any problem of shifting or down shifting or putting in any gear not even nutural. I have even done power shifting and never poped out of gear hopfuly never experence these problems. Is it posible that the 05 where made better then the 06 and 07

Here is my non-professional opinion on this subject. My gears make a slight clunk sound when shifting too. but what I think is if you compare this to any other bike you have rode its like comparing apples to oranges. You must consider the fact that you are sitting on top of an engine bigger than many car engines, and be thankful that the gears are heavy enough to handle the very harshest conditions that we might put them through. I think of my rocket as a tractor or freight train with regard to the power that I enjoy, I cant imagine it possible to make the gear case silent. Hey now I do agree that it is sometimes annoying/embarrassing but the tradeoff for all that power makes it worth it to me. Rademis

Mine clunks but shifts smooth as silk. I think most will agree it gets smoother the more miles you rack up. I just scream every time I change gears, I also have trouble finding people to ride with.

gears

Well I bought my Rocket about 8,500 miles and know I have about 15,000 miles and I could tell you its just as smooth and as quiet as my Honda VTX1800 no matter how hard i'm with it I'm not experiencing the noise or gear shifting that a lot of you gays saying that your experiencing .And I have the Tor's with the cat so its not really loud and mine seems to be good . Maybe the orange with the black tribal doesn't have this problems or I'm just one of the lucky ones

Mine's not bad either... I don't know why. Its a little clunky and sometimes it doesn't want to shift down into first (usually first thing when the bike's cold) but all in all its OK. I really don't notice the tranny or the shifting much when I'm out riding, so I guess that's a pretty good indicator.

I have put 36,000 km on my bike (approx.23,000 miles) and it just keeps getting smoother. It shifts like butter in normal riding though you still have to be firm when getting "spirited".

That might be part of my problem. When I ride easy I can upshift without using the clutch and it goes from gear to gear with no problems. But when I get on it I expect the same smoothness but I need to be a little more "deliberate" with my shifts.

Every time I read the title of this tread, I think someone has a shemale stalker.

23000 miles and no problems, the gears are noisy but no problem up or down.