LiveKhaos

Hello, I know a lot about cars but not enough about bikes...lol I have a 04 Ninja 636 and it's been acting up lately. I was wondering if those of you who know about these problems could be so kind as to help me. Thank You.

Here are the probs:

Everytime I'm at a red light and try to down shift to first it's a hassle, it just wont go in easily, I have to play around with clutch and eventually it gets into first gear. Or lets say I'm stopping and I'm traveling at about 10-15 miles per hour, I hold clutch all the way in and start down shifting all the way, and when I get to first it gives me a jolt and the transmission gives me a weird feeling, like if something was loosening...mind you, all this happens while the clutch lever is still pulled in all the way.

Then, yesterday I put gas into the bike. I filled it all the way up to the entry port for the gas hose by mistake... When I turn it on it's all good, I take it to work and leave it there for about 3 hours. Then I head out to school, as I'm heading towwards school it starts giving me problems while accelerating as if the motor itself was drowned or drowning. When I give it gas the bike feels as if it doesn't want to accelerate and it feels as though the exuast is spitting out "balls" of air...or like if the exaust is clogged up...

And I haven't had the chance to really look at this, but there is a plastic cylinder with red fluid next to the rear brake pedal on the right side. It is at it's lowest...I have been trying to figure out what this is for...is it transmission oil??? Or clutch oil?? I'm giving the bike a complete tune up very soon...however in the meantime I was wondering if some of you could help me fix these problems...

Thank You...and sorry for the long post.

R6Mitsu

Should of bought a Yami!!!

LiveKhaos

Hahaha.... Well considering the price I got it for and miles it had on it... I doubt I would've found a yami...like this...lol

The bike before last Saturday had not been turned on for over 10 months... So of course some issues might arrise....

Slo Poke

That is the fluid reservoir for the rear brake cylinder....


Questions...

1. how many miles on the bike?
2. regular maintenance been performed (plugs, valves & oil changes)?

LiveKhaos

Oh okay thanks...

The bike has 2,500 miles, but it had been sitting at my friends house for over 10 months without being turned on. We turned it on last Saturday for the first time. But before this he had always given it it's regular maintenance. I'm going to do a complete tune up, and oil change this week.

J@meson

your downshifting style is causing your tranny "issue", u cant jus pull the clutch in and start clickin the shifter to down shift, you need to "downshift" each gear to get it to click in. its not like a car when u press the clutch, stop and then shift. you need to work the tranny, u can go from 6th to 3rd or 6th to 2nd, but any gear other than 2nd, it will be hard to put in first. operator error not mechanical

Wicked1

^ agreed. Don't pull the clutch in at 55 mph and bang-bang-bang-bang-BANG down through the gearbox. The problem with doing that is in how a motorcycle gearbox works.

The gears in a motorcycle transmission are always turning. When you shift all the way to sixth gear, the sixth gear (the actual gear) is spinning happily in time with the motors countershaft. The fifth gear is spinning a little faster than that. The fourth gear is spinning faster than the fifth gear. The third gear is spinning faster than the fourth and so on. So, you guessed it, the first gear is spinning very quickly.

What you're trying to do is take the motor's countershaft (spinning at idle speed if your clutch is disengaged) and trying to shove it's engagement dogs into the very quickly spinning first gear. What you get is a big SLAM!

What you need to do is shift down to about third or second gear and let the clutch lever out fully. Let the bike slow down some more and when you're almost at a complete stand still, shift into first.

You'll be amazed at the difference it feels--it's like butter.

Keep doing it the wrong way and you'll be replacing expensive parts in no time.

dkutin

Really? I go from 3rd, 4th, 5th, and even 6th sometimes to 1st (or nuetral) in one clutch pull and never had a problem. Is that bad for the bike? I guess I never really thought about it. I used to do it all the time when I first started riding, not so much anymore, but I won't do it ever if it is bad for the bike.

Is it only bad if you don't slow the bike all the way down before letting out the clutch? So say I am going 55mph, pull the clutch, down shift all the way to 1st, but don't let the clutch back out until I am stopped. Is it still bad?

LiveKhaos

Thanks guys now I'm 100% convinced that it's an operator mistake... I confirmed it earlier after making this thread with a Kawasaki Certified Mechanic and he told me the EXACT same thing as you guys. I'm shifting the wrong way and that's whats causing the disturbance in shifting down to first.

I will down shift in order from now on... I've been riding it for about a week and I know that I've "accidentally" caused some damages to it...lets just hope I won't cause anymore. But I had NO idea that this is the order in which you have to PROPERLY down shift on a bike...wow completely different than a car...lol (Obviously...)


Thanks!!!

Emerehh

ask someone about rev matching on downshifts, it'll make things MUCH smoother as well.

also, i never shift into 1st when im just out crusing on the streets unless i come to a complete standstill. 2nd gear is g2g and you dont have to hop neutral either.

blipping your throttle with the clutch pulled in and shifting down will also smooth things out as well.

goodluck interpreting what i just said, im dead tired from getting owned at work!

let us know how it goes.