lol i hear ya i do enjoy it. Left the house at 6am last sunday and pulled back into the gatage at 630pm. Ialso jst sit in the garage and look at it and here i sit at 12:39 am on the RSC web site, so yes...i guess i am a little "ate up".

Thanks guys. really appreciate the advise.

If you want a reference point against which to judge a clunk... just try a Victory! It has the most "positive" gear engagement of anything I've ever ridden. Once you've ridden one of those, you'll realize our R* do not clunk at all!

But, yeh, the one-two upshift tends to be the most "catchy" and you want to make sure the cable adjustment is right up there so as to minimize that.

My Roadie shifts pretty smooth for a big twin, actually. I've noticed on the 1-2 shift that if I pause at neutral and then click to 2nd it's almost buttery....very satisfying. But even the normal banging through the gears is solid but not bad as far as clunking.

One thing might be that your clutch plates are a bit sticky from the previous owner's oil choice. Years ago, certain automotive oils would cause clutches to gum up in a way that made putting a bike in first gear on a cool morning a real bitch. Nowadays the "fuel efficient" oils make motorcycle clutches slip. Either way, you've got good oil in there now.

These things are pretty bullet proof, though, so just give it some time and enjoy the ride.

I agree dude, compared to the tiny bike I came off of - this thing clunks. I was worried about it for the first couple tanks. Then I rode my bro's 1100 shadow and it's the same. And my shift into first sucks early in the morning too - but someone already explained it better than I can!

Another thing you might want to consider is where in the RPM band your shifting.

These bikes really, REALLY like to be wound tight before going to the next gear. A buddy of mine who rides a FatBoy is in 4th gear by the time I am mid way through 2nd. I don't know if it's a riding style with him or if the gearing is that much different between the two bikes.

So if you're zipping up into the higher gears before the bike wants to you might get a more noisy shift than otherwise.

My .02

-M7

These babies, as with most VTwins clunk. The tranmission is pretty beefy to handle the torque and you have a transfer case with a chain drive. All will contribute to the clunk. I read an article somewhere a year or so ago, forgive me I do not recall where, but Harley had found a way to engage first gear without the clunk and buyers were put off by it so they put it back the way it was with a solid clunk when engaging first gear. As for smoothness, most MC transmissions do not have syncrhronizers and rely on dogs to move one row of gears to engage another to achieve a gear ratio. These shafts will spin at different speeds and can make a bit of noise when coming together. I have never been in a Roadie transmission, so cannot comment on how the gears are cut, but beleive they are straight cut for robustness and can be a bit clunky when shifting. I do not notice it when I shift, but the Roadie is all I ride so may be used to it.

lol thanks guys... i just got home from a ride and thought about what everybody said and i belive your all right. Its not really as bad as i was imagining ...just not used to it. and yes i did find out that it does seem to shift smoother/quieter when the rpm's are up. Im all smiles again! Thanks to all

My 01 R* clunks a bit, but if I pay attention to the rpm and blip the throttle a bit on downshifts it can be as smooth as glass. In my case, it's my problem, not Ol' Belle's.

One thing I have noticed. Putting it in gear for the first time of the day (cold engine after sitting all night) pull the clutch in but do not put it in gear for about 10 seconds. This will allow the oil to coat the clutch plates that are relatively dry from sitting overnight. Release and pull the lever a few times during this 10 seconds. This will help to coat the plates. I think you will find less of a clunk on a cold bike that has been sitting for a spell if you do this.

Man
My Yama doesn't clunk at all compared to my 1979 Electra Glide. 4 speed super klunk at every shift.
You may not have known it was moving but you damn sure knew it was shifting.