Shifting on a Yamaha VMax...

 

Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions on what seems to be "rough"
shifting on a 2002 Yamaha VMax. I find no matter what I do the 2nd gear
does not shift smoothly.

Please note that comments suggesting I buy some other motorcycle would
not be very helpful.

Thanks in advance for your help.

s.

 

On 22 Sep 2005 15:05:38 -0700, scottibailey@gmail.com let slip this
dark secret:


What do you mean by not shifting smoothly? Does it feel like the
clutch is not fully disengaging? Is the shift lever stiff? What?

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On 22 Sep 2005 15:05:38 -0700 As Androids Dreamed Of Electric Sheep
and then  scottibailey@gmail.com wrote :


Follow a link and join.You should get all the info plus :)
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=vmax+forum&meta=



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scottibailey@gmail.com wrote:

The first time I rode a 750cc machine, I was alarmed by the loud
"clunk!" as a I shifted from first to second, and I complained to the
owner of the $tealer$hip where I'd just bought the machine.

"All big bikes do that," says he...

The gear ratio decrease from first to second is about twice the
decrease from 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, etc....

What I mean is that the RPM drops off about 30% if you shift from 1st
to 2nd, but it only drops off about 15% between 2nd and 3rd, etc. So,
it's a lot harder to judge a shift to make it smooth if you don't run
the engine all the way up to redline to shift, like, say, when there's
a cop sitting there watching you accelerate away from a stoplight and
you have to shift like you're cooling your tool. That's when you
shortshift from first into second at say 4000 RPM instead of 6000 or
7000 RPM where you get the big clunk.

The other aspect is how the shifter echanism itself works. When you
kick the shifter pedal, some mickey mouse looking gizmo inside the
engine rotates the shifter drum and that slides the shifter forks that
slide the gears sideways to engage the shifter dogs that make that big
clunk! you hate so much.

And, when you move your foot away from the shifter pedal, the
transmission somehow stays in whatever gear you wanted it to be in. Why
is that?

Well, on the end of the shifter drum there is a camshaft with six or
seven lobes on it and a valley in between each lobe. When you move the
shifter pedal into any given gear, a detent ball or wheel falls into
one of the valleys on the star-shaped cam and that's what holds the
transmission in whatever gear you're in.

But the mickey mouse mechanism that rotates the shifter drum has to
move the same amount every time you shift gears. So this mickey mouse
mechanism
combined with the shape of the star-shaped cam (some people call it a
star wheel) means that you're going to have to move your foot twice as
far to go from first through neutral to second gear as you have to move
your foot to go from 2nd to 3rd or 3rd to 4th gear.

So, you need to educate your foot to move further when shifting from
first to second. That way, you will avoid at least *some* of the
clunks!
and the false neutrals.

Another thing to think about is the nature of the oil bath clutch. The
damned thing has a lot of viscous friction due to the oil on the plates
making the plates stick to each other. If you're not using synthetic
oil, you might think about going to a synthetic for better clutch
release action.

Also, as the engine heats up, the whole clutch expands and you have to
pull the clutch lever further to disengage the clutch. You may notice
that the transmission is really really clunky! when you're stuck in
traffic and the engine gets hot, but just as soon as you start moving
at a good pace the clutch cools off very quickly and the transmission
shifts better.

So, try to avoid traffic jams, and if you do get slowed down in  heavy
traffic, just short shift out of first and use second gear more.

 


Rowdy, foowd!

Phat dooda day!

Gobro,

doc