Have to shift 2-4 times before it goes into gear. Brand new bike.

Only 260 miles on this manual 2012 NC700X. Today I was accelerating up to speed like normal and when I tried to shift up to 3rd nothing happened. I lifted up on the lever and it just stayed in 2nd gear. Now I'm noticing in 3rd and higher gears I have to kick the lever up 2 to 4 times before it actually goes into gear. 1st and 2nd work fine every time. Downshifting works fine every time.

Another thing I noticed is normally in 6th gear if you try to shift higher the lever does not go up at all, now about half the time it will go up but doesn't do anything obviously.

I'm a total newbie, what is going on?

Also I don't know if I'm being overly sensitive now or not, but is it normal for the shifting to be fairly loud and clanky? The only other bike I've ever owned (Yamaha TW200) was often like this, but that bike was kind of crap compared to the NC700X. Sometimes it clanks sometimes it doesn't, I don't know if I need to rev/not rev I can't seem to figure that out.

Make sure on your up shifts, that you pull the clutch in till the lever hits the grip. Make sure that your foot comes completely away from the shift lever, if your foot is touching the lever it can not return to the neutral position on the shift drum. This normally can happen on the down shifts also, but normally its the upshifts. Dale

HONDABIKEPRO said:

Make sure on your up shifts, that you pull the clutch in till the lever hits the grip. Make sure that your foot comes completely away from the shift lever, if your foot is touching the lever it can not return to the neutral position on the shift drum. This normally can happen on the down shifts also, but normally its the upshifts. Dale

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Wow. I've been riding for years but you know what I did today? I got new boots. I couldn't feel that I was still touching the shifter with my toes. I just went for a several mile ride with tons of shifting and that was it, my stupid freaking toes were touching the lever still and it wasn't coming down all the way between gears.

Thanks. I'd delete this thread but I'll leave it for newbies googling this problem in the future.

That's awesome to hear it was a mystery solved, bike is ok, and no harm no foul!

Funny the little differences that can throw you off. I just bought some new gloves the other day, and the sticky new leather was keeping me from letting the clutch out, felt all the way out, was barely in the friction zone.

The lever can be adjusted to suit your foot position. I had a problem shifting comfortably with one of my bikes and a lever adjustment sorted this.

Back to the clunky/loud shifting, I notice mine is pretty loud and a noticeable "thunk" when shifting into gears, is this normal? Or maybe I just need to learn to shift smoother?

Ridealot said:

Back to the clunky/loud shifting, I notice mine is pretty loud and a noticeable "thunk" when shifting into gears, is this normal? Or maybe I just need to learn to shift smoother?

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To me it is normal, my Suzuki C50 thunks big time and my BMW G650gs thunked even louder.

davidc83 said:

To me it is normal, my Suzuki C50 thunks big time and my BMW G650gs thunked even louder.

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Ok that is good to know. This being my first manual shift motorcycle, I was a little concerned, Thanks!

Ridealot said:

Back to the clunky/loud shifting, I notice mine is pretty loud and a noticeable "thunk" when shifting into gears, is this normal? Or maybe I just need to learn to shift smoother?

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Not normal. Mine manual is smooth as butter in all gears. If you shift to first from neutral at a standstill, especially when cold, it will clunk because of sticky clutch plates. But I never do that because I always start the bike in first gear and immediately ride away.

EDIT TO ADD:
"When shifting into gears" to me meant shifting in general while riding. Do you mean "when shifting into gears" as all gears up and down, first through sixth while riding? Or are you specifically referring to a shift from neutral to first at a standstill?

Most all manual transmission motorcycles clunk when going from neutral to first at a stop. The transmission countershaft is not spinning but the input shaft is, due to clutch drag. When you shift to first, the input shaft is suddenly slammed to a halt and the clutch plates need to free up. If the plates are sticky due to cold oil, etc, you get the clunk. As I mentioned above, I avoid this by never going from neutral to first. In fact I never use neutral at all except to roll the bike when the engine is off. (European riders will gasp at this because it is considered polite there to shift into neutral at traffic lights, but not so in the USA).

670cc said:

Not normal. Mine manual is smooth as butter in all gears. If you shift to first from neutral at a standstill, especially when cold, it will clunk because of sticky clutch plates. But I never do that because I always start the bike in first gear and immediately ride away.

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Well dang, thats a 180 from the other post!

Ridealot said:

Back to the clunky/loud shifting, I notice mine is pretty loud and a noticeable "thunk" when shifting into gears, is this normal? Or maybe I just need to learn to shift smoother?

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I've been riding only Honda's for a long time. The CBR954 I just got rid of clunked harder from nuetral to 1st than this NC does. Your going to have that no matter what. I know there is some noise between shifts on the NC but either I'm not paying attention or it's not that bad compared to the others I've ridden.

Ridealot said:

Well dang, thats a 180 from the other post!

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From all my experience, it's perfectly normal. Some bikes do it more, some less. Conditions, temperature, whether you pull the clutch in before starting the bike etc., all factor in.

You should have heard/felt my BMW! It was my 20th bike in over 40 years of riding, and I was horrified at the *CRUNCH* it made going into first.

^--- What 670 said. It is a big difference between shifting into 1st (or 2nd if one were so disposed) from neutral at a standstill, versus up or down through the other gears while riding normally.

My NC thunks satisfyingly from N to 1, and is smooth as butter for all other shifting. I should have expanded more upon my initial reply.

@ LBS: I had a BMW F650GS just before the NC and experimented the exact same as you...when I road tested the NC the first time at the dealer, shifting was so easy I told to myself : I want this bike then I calmed down, tested the bike correctly, returned the bike at the dealer and told the salesman I'll be back next week if you can find a new 2012 (black one). He phoned me 2 days later -about one hour after I sold the Bavarian thing-telling me he found one in Nova Scotia...Now here I am happy and smooth shifting my NC and no regrets about the BMW crunch at all !

My NC thunks loudest going down from 2nd to 1st and pretty loud going from neutral to 1st. It also thunks slightly going up and down between all other gears sometimes but not always.

HONDABIKEPRO said:

Make sure on your up shifts, that you pull the clutch in till the lever hits the grip. Make sure that your foot comes completely away from the shift lever, if your foot is touching the lever it can not return to the neutral position on the shift drum. This normally can happen on the down shifts also, but normally its the upshifts. Dale

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+1 on that. Thought the same when I first started riding my NC and found out that I wasnt completely releasing my foot from the lever.

Sent from my Z30 using Tapatalk

Ridealot said:

Back to the clunky/loud shifting, I notice mine is pretty loud and a noticeable "thunk" when shifting into gears, is this normal? Or maybe I just need to learn to shift smoother?

Click to expand...

To reduce the clunk going into first gear from neutral first thing in the morning when the engine is cold, try this: with the engine running, pull the clutch in and momentarily rev the engine before going into gear. This method breaks the cluch plates free and therefore reduces or eliminates the clunk. This doesn't work on my DCT because there's no clutch lever to pull in.

Harald said:

To reduce the clunk going into first gear from neutral first thing in the morning when the engine is cold, try this: with the engine running, pull the clutch in and momentarily rev the engine before going into gear. This method breaks the cluch plates free and therefore reduces or eliminates the clunk. This doesn't work on my DCT because there's no clutch lever to pull in.

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Another method is: With engine off and bike in gear, disengage clutch and roll the bike back and/or forward a couple feet. This will force the clutch plates to break loose.

BTW, my old Kawasaki Ninja 250 clutch would stick so badly when cold that when shifting to first, it would kill the engine. The above procedure was mandatory.

What you are describing Jason sounds normal to me. From previous discussion on this subject it appears this is somewhat common across Honda’s. Comments like I heard the clunk a block away so I knew you were on a Honda.
On a side note, below freezing I get clutch chatter/rattle on the first use. Freaked me out the first time but then I noticed it was only on the first use on cold mornings. We get to hear everything on a bike where in a cager you are more isolated form the normal mechanical noises.