Jerkey Shifts

[mykat]

Is it normal for the bike to jerk from a shift?

If I'm in neutral and I shift into first, the bike will kick slightly forward. If I'm slowing down, and on the clutch, shifting into second the bike will jerk, and the same thing happens when I go to first...

[Duo Maxwell]

Is it normal for the bike to jerk from a shift?

If I'm in neutral and I shift into first, the bike will kick slightly forward. If I'm slowing down, and on the clutch, shifting into second the bike will jerk, and the same thing happens when I go to first...

It's perfectly normal, the gears in the transmission don't always line up perfectly so the bike will jerk when you line up the gears by shifting. Just make sure you don't shift into too low a gear while traveling to fast...and always rev-match to avoid trans shock.

If you're new, I would avoid shifting into first altogether unless you're stopped.

Just another note, the reason why bikes do this and cars don't is because cars have synchros which allow gears to spin up into eachother...synchronizing their speed in a smooth fashion whereas on a bike you have no synchros because the gears are always spun up and ready to engage.

-Duo

[mykat]

Cool, thanks.