Neutral finder on C14

[pasini510]

I thought I read somewhere that this bike has a neutral finder. Is this just between the seat and Bars ? Meaning our left foot ? LOL

[kdm]

All Kawis have it.  Simply ,if you are at a stop in first gear ,one click up will put you in neutral-it will not shift to second as it would if the bike was moving.

 Handy if you don't have time to catch neutral before you come to a stop.

[Boomer]

Yup, it's a disk in the gearbox that has 3 ball bearings.
Once it is spinning above a certain speed the balls protrude through the outer edge of the disk and prevent you from selecting Neutral. Having said that 1st to 2nd is still the most "fluffed" gearchange as it requires a longer throw of the gear lever.
All Kawis since I can remember first hearing the word Kawasaki (1973??) have had them.

[EpicBadass]

I think i'll say im with the poster on this im guessing as sometimes when I'm stopped it will still go to 2nd LOL

[Mister Tee]

I have a neutral finder on my car.  If I engage it I can't tune in to conservative talk radio or NPR.

[SimonSaysDie]

Yup, it's a disk in the gearbox that has 3 ball bearings.
Once it is spinning above a certain speed the balls protrude through the outer edge of the disk and prevent you from selecting Neutral...

Most of the time.

[Poddy]

Lately I have been getting quite a high number of "false" neutral's, esp when leveling the lights agressively get 1st to about 7K go to change, all feels good, hit the throttle and WOW, I'm in neutral.

If I just take it easy the same thing happens but not as much 

Anyone else having false neutral issues?

Cheers
Poddy

[galaxieman]

Flip the attachment on the transmission end so it runs GP-shift pattern (1-up, 5 down).  Stomping the 1-2 shift vice pulling up with your toes... Haven't missed that shift in ages.  The more 'positive' shift is the upshift anyway, so you should be using the more 'positive' foot movement, which is stomping... it just makes sense that way.

YMMV.

[Tactical_Mik]

Lately I have been getting quite a high number of "false" neutral's, esp when leveling the lights agressively get 1st to about 7K go to change, all feels good, hit the throttle and WOW, I'm in neutral.

If I just take it easy the same thing happens but not as much 

Anyone else having false neutral issues?

Cheers
Poddy

IF it happens to you a lot, try keeping pressure on the shifter until you let the clutch lever out.

[B.D.F.]

Have you changed what shoes or boots you are wearing lately (seriously)? When I change footwear in the summer I tend to miss a few shifts just because the top of my new shoe is lower than it used to be.

Dirty motor oil also tends to make some motorcycles shift a bit clunky and the C-14 seems very sensitive to this- if it is time to change the oil you might find the shifting will improve after you do that.

Finally if it is an ongoing problem you could adjust the shift lever down a bit. I usually find motorcycles have the shift lever set a bit too high for me to upshift as easily as downshift.

Brian

Lately I have been getting quite a high number of "false" neutral's, esp when leveling the lights agressively get 1st to about 7K go to change, all feels good, hit the throttle and WOW, I'm in neutral.

If I just take it easy the same thing happens but not as much 

Anyone else having false neutral issues?

Cheers
Poddy

[Gearhead82]

Lately I have been getting quite a high number of "false" neutral's, esp when leveling the lights agressively get 1st to about 7K go to change, all feels good, hit the throttle and WOW, I'm in neutral.

If I just take it easy the same thing happens but not as much 

Anyone else having false neutral issues?

Cheers
Poddy

I seem to hit neutral once in awhile on one of the first shifts in the morning.  Half the time I think it's because the oil is still a little cold and half the time I think it's because I'm still waking up and was probably a little lazy on the upshift.

[SimonSaysDie]

Lately I have been getting quite a high number of "false" neutral's, esp when leveling the lights agressively get 1st to about 7K go to change, all feels good, hit the throttle and WOW, I'm in neutral.

If I just take it easy the same thing happens but not as much 

Anyone else having false neutral issues?

Cheers
Poddy

I went through a period where it started happening to me.  Cold or warm made no difference and it happened regardless of how recently my oil had been changed; it just kind of started out of the blue.  The shift felt very positive like it was a solid shift, but when I let off the clutch...nothing.  It wasn't as if it tried to catch second and popped out, it was just simply in neutral.  Perhaps it was me perhaps not, but for a while now, I've taken to shifting without the clutch.  Shifts are like butter and I can't remember it ever happening since I started shifting clutchless; pretty much the only time I use the clutch now is down shifting.

[Poddy]

Thanks for the feed back
Yes, its due for a oil change so I'll see if that happens
Simonsaysdie that is EXACTLY what is happening with me though I have never been a 'no clutch' type of rider I'll give it a try

Cheers
Poddy

[KawiMick]

I have a neutral finder on my car.  If I engage it I can't tune in to conservative talk radio or NPR. to any radio station except FOX News Radio  Fixed it for ya Tee(

[/b]

Seriously,
  The neutral finder works so well, I forgot it was here.  I used to hate trying to find neutral when stopped on my other bikes.  BMWś are famously hard to find neutral on.  Let the clutch out a little to spin the main shaft, attempt to shift to neutral, repeat as many times as necessary.  
  If your C14 is moving at all, the neutral finder will not work, youĺl shift to 2nd gear.
This prevents false neutrals too. 

[SimonSaysDie]

[/b]

Seriously,
  The neutral finder works so well, I forgot it was here.  I used to hate trying to find neutral when stopped on my other bikes.  BMWś are famously hard to find neutral on.  Let the clutch out a little to spin the main shaft, attempt to shift to neutral, repeat as many times as necessary.  
  If your C14 is moving at all, the neutral finder will not work, youĺl shift to 2nd gear.
This prevents false neutrals too.

His issue (the same as I've experienced) isn't that he can't hit neutral when he isn't moving; it's that he "finds" neutral when he's moving at a speed that, technically, he shouldn't be able to.

[jtk1531]

neutral finder is there to address the problem of finding neutral on a stopped bike, it prevents people from shifting into 2nd gear instead of neutral. that in itself works very well on the C14 and all other kawasaki bikes that i've owned.

as for finding neutral in between all the other gears while moving, i guess it happens with or without neutral finder.
on the C14, i've adjusted the gear shift lever downwards a bit to make gear shifts more positive.

[kdm]

Yup, it's a disk in the gearbox that has 3 ball bearings.
Once it is spinning above a certain speed the balls protrude through the outer edge of the disk and prevent you from selecting Neutral. Having said that 1st to 2nd is still the most "fluffed" gearchange as it requires a longer throw of the gear lever.
All Kawis since I can remember first hearing the word Kawasaki (1973??) have had them.

Thanks ,Boomer--I always wondered how it worked !

[MAN OF BLUES]

Yup, it's a disk in the gearbox that has 3 ball bearings.
Once it is spinning above a certain speed the balls protrude through the outer edge of the disk and prevent you from selecting Neutral. Having said that 1st to 2nd is still the most "fluffed" gearchange as it requires a longer throw of the gear lever.
All Kawis since I can remember first hearing the word Kawasaki (1973??) have had them.

kinda
actually that disk is the 5th gear on the output shaft, and the balls reside in recesses in that shaft. When the output shaft rotates at an adequate speed, the balls move outward centrfically into alligned recesses in that gear, allowing the gears to be moved along the shaft, to upshift from 1st to 2nd, when the shaft is stationary, the movement is prohibited.

[KawiMick]

His issue (the same as I've experienced) isn't that he can't hit neutral when he isn't moving; it's that he "finds" neutral when he's moving at a speed that, technically, he shouldn't be able to.

Andre never mentioned that, he just asked if it had a neutral finder. Simple answer, Yes.