Why Is It Hard To Find Neutral On Motorcycles?

Why Is It Hard To Find Neutral On Motorcycles

After starting your motorcycle, you’ll see a green color light that is the sign of neutral. It means your motorcycle is not in any gear. For that reason, your motorcycle will not be moving forward and unnecessarily heat the engine too. 

In that situation, you need to find neutral on the motorcycle for moving forward. But finding neutral on the motorcycles isn’t an easy task, especially for the newbies. I even saw many experienced riders suffer from finding neutral on motorcycles. Now the question is why is it hard to find neutral on motorcycles?

Along with the newbies, intermediate and experienced motorcycle riders also face awkward situations to find neutral on motorcycles. Dragging the clutch makes it a little bit harder to shift in the neutral. It is often happening because of false neutral. By adjusting the clutch properly, a motorcycle rider can easily find the neutral.

In this article, I’ll describe to you everything about motorcycle neutral. By reading this article, you’ll know how to find neutral on your motorcycle, why false neutral happens, and much more that is related to this topic. 

How to Find Neutral On Your Motorcycle? (Put Your Motorcycle In Neutral)

Able to find neutral on the motorcycles is the foremost and basic skill that you must require as a rider. New and intermediate motorcycle riders are often suffering from finding neutral on their motorcycles. 

Here I give you useful tips on how to find neutral on your motorcycle:

1. When Motorcycle Engine Off:

While your motorcycle engine is off, find the neutral start with the stationary. Press the front brake and hold it with your right hand. Use your right leg to resort to the motorcycle. With your left hand, press the gear and depress the clutch. As a result, it’ll put your motorcycle in first gear by shifting it down gradually. Those motorcycles have a center stand, you can do this step while in it on the center stand. 

Continue to depress the clutch by your left hand and with the left toe gently lift the shifter lever. After that, you’ll begin to feel a little click because now the transmission gets the neutral position in between first and second gear. Continuing this process until you don’t find the neutral position. 

You can verify the neutral position of your motorcycle by letting out the clutch and then roll the motorcycle backward or forward. When you feel the little click, that means you find the neutral position for your motorcycle. So, be patient and focus on putting your motorcycle in neutral while the engine is off. 

2. When Motorcycle Engine Running:

If you put your bike in the neutral during the engine off period, that means it is still in the neutral position. In that case, just start the motorcycle engine and put it in the first gear. Then, start your motorcycle, and it will move forward. Do that in a wide space because you can’t comfortably control and move forward your motorcycle in a narrow space.

But when your motorcycle is not in the neutral position then you need to put your motorcycle in the neutral position. When your bike reaches a speed any between 5 mph to 10 mph, you can comfortably keep both your feet on the pegs. During that time, depress the clutch and, with the toe, slightly lift on the gear.

And after that, you’ll get the same known little click. If you heard the heavy sounds that means you hit the second gear of your motorcycle instead of the first gear. To examine whether your motorcycle is in the neutral position, just simply let out the clutch and if it’s still in gear without slowing the engine RPM or dipping down the nose.

Continue these steps to get the neutral position when your motorcycle is running. But when you’re going to find the neutral position on the roads or highways during that time, be careful to avoid accidents. 

I hope now you understand how to find neutral on your motorcycle. But still, if you’ve any confusion, click this link to visually see how to find neutral on motorcycles. 

Why Do False Neutral Happen?

There are a few reasons for happening false neutral. But basically, it happens when your motorcycle transfers into a neutral state to exchange true neutral positions between first gear and second gear.  

False neutral creates detracts. As a result, your motorcycle can’t be able to move forward.  So, what are the situations when false neutral happens? In such a situation, you failed to ensure the proper engagement of gears and transmission while shifting through the fourth to sixth gears.   

False neutrals are so much disturbing, even experienced motorcycle riders sometimes fail to cope with that. In the earlier part of this article, I wrote how to find neutral on motorcycles. So, read this part attentively to avoid false neutral.

Does A Motorcycle Have To Be In Neutral To Start?

Many of the bikers often ask me, does a motorcycle have to be neutral at the start? From my experience, I realize the importance of starting a motorcycle in neutral. That’s why I recommend everyone to start a motorcycle in neutral. No matter which type or brand of motorcycle he/she is using. Here the explanation of my recommendation.

There are lots of good reasons for recommending you to start your motorcycle in neutral. First of all, starting your motorcycle in neutral ensures you the proper safety. It prevents falling down or sudden losing control over your motorcycle. 

Because when you start the motorcycle in gear without pressing the clutch due to power or torque, it has the risk of falling down and losing control. In that situation, you may get the feel of wheelie too. But the more important thing is by starting with the gear, you put both yourself and your motorcycle at the risk of injury and damages.

Let’s make it easier with an example. Suppose you don’t ride your motorcycle for a few hours and are going to start it. In that condition, your motorcycle engine is completely cold, oil and the other parts are not lubricating well. When you start your motorcycle in this condition, the engine and the other parts begin working. But being dry, these parts will engage each other. 

As a result, they will break down or get scratched. To avoid these problems, I always recommend you start your motorcycle in neutral instead of gears. Though there are no big issues to start a motorcycle in gear if you’re a pro, I still prefer neutral starts.

Conclusion:

Though it is a little bit harder to find neutral on a motorcycle, finding neutral helps you to ride safely. By following my guidelines, you’ll be easily able to find the neutral and avoid the false neutral. Let me know your thoughts in the below comment box.

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