Clunky 1st & 2nd Gear

[Dave_C]

Hi, I am a brand new Firestorm (99 model) owner as of yesterday. I really love this bike and it is exactly what I have been looking for. I have noticed one thing that seems to be a common "fault" with all of the Firestorms that I have test driven so far.

When you engage 1st gear it seems to give a rather loud CLUNK. This is also true from 1st to 2nd when driving at low speeds. When really accelerating at high revs it is perfectly normal. The rest of the gears are quite normal with easy smooth gear change. It seams that the problem is that the syncro (if a bike has one) is not working efficiently between 1st & 2nd. My question to all you experts out there is.... Can anything be done about this "problem" or is it simply part of the design?

I am new to big bikes but I have driven the CBR900, TL1000R, & ZX9 and noticed that none of these bikes have this problem with their clutch or gearbox. That said, I still prefer the VTR which is why I bought one!!

Cheers,

Dave C.

[firestorm_al]

As you say, there all like that. Mine has 24k miles of clunky gear changes to it's name and no problem in the engine/gearbox department.

Al.

[DaveTM]

At the moment I ride a Yamaha fazer, does exactly the same, load clunk into first and clunks from first to second.

Dave