[mts1974]

Hello everyone,

I hope this doesn't get posted twice. If it does please forgive me, I thought I posted correctly but I don't see it anywhere.

I am new here and just got my first Shadow two weeks ago. I bought it used and it had 230 miles on it. I haven't ridden in about 11 years so I have been starting off very local and have now started riding a bit more. I have only put about 170 miles on the bike so far and I have noticed a lot of false neutrals and there are times when it seems 3rd gear doesn't engage completely. Is this is an issue I need to deal with or still just the bike breaking in?


I called the dealer I got it from and talked with the service department and they said that it could simply be a new rider now shifting correctly and the fact that the bike isn't broken in yet. They said to wait until I had about 600 miles on it and bring it in for its service.


Any thoughts?



Thanks

 

[Old Dad]

What shadow did you get? On your shifting it may just be that you are still a little light footed when you shift. I know that I still sometimes miss 2nd and get neutral, and this is after 52 thous. miles.,,also it did double post, so I have cleared up that, ok.

mark

 

[Nehalem Dave]

Wait and see. Every bike is different. I still occasionally hit neutral by accident. My VLX would sometimes take more effort, sometimes not. Re: differences, when shopping for the wife's Aero, the first one I had to bang hard to downshift, the second was silky and the one we bought. Oil can be a factor, consider a posting asking for input on that issue.

 

[Big B]

congrats, welcome and post up some pics

 

[mts1974]

Thanks for the responses. Old Dad, it is an Aero VT750C. Thanks for the congrats Big B. I am totally excited to be riding again. Can synthetic oil help make it smoother?

 

[Kingshead]

Thanks for the responses. Old Dad, it is an Aero VT750C. Thanks for the congrats Big B. I am totally excited to be riding again. Can synthetic oil help make it smoother?

Yes, but only use motorcycle oil, or one rated for wet clutches. There are non MC oils that will work, check the oilology thread for more info.

Yeah we can tell your excited by the great big pics of your new steed......NOT!!!!!!!

 

[Big B]

Yes, but only use motorcycle oil, or one rated for wet clutches. There are non MC oils that will work, check the oilology thread for more info.

Yeah we can tell your excited by the great big pics of your new steed......NOT!!!!!!!

make sure the contaner doesn't say energy conserving on the back

 

[dernp]

Thanks for the responses. Old Dad, it is an Aero VT750C. Thanks for the congrats Big B. I am totally excited to be riding again. Can synthetic oil help make it smoother?

I use Shell Rotella T6 5w40 synth. It is JASO MA rated. Exactly what our bikes need.

I remember reading around here that gearing in Shadows is sometimes notchy. I just tend to drive the shifter up pretty hard. Nothing worse than merging on the highway and missing a gear. So with that said I would say that your bike is running normal.

Like Kingshead suggested, read up on the "Oilology" sticky in the technical area of the forum. It's a long read but very informative on how our wet clutches behave with various kinds of oil.

 

[mts1974]

Thanks for all the info. Kingshead, I see you have been on here since April 2010. I just joined yesterday and just figured out how to upload pics. I just got access to my signature right now. I will upload some.

 

[Homebrewr]

a good positive shift always works these trans are tough