This article is to show how to stop this "false neutral" from occuring, but if one finds him/her self in that situation; one should decrease speed to almost stopped with the clutch pulled in and then "stab" it into the next lower gear with a quick, firm stab. Trying to do it slowly and tentatively is terribly destructive to the gears and will potentially break off teeth (cogs) as well as rounding off the corners of the "dogs" (very large cogs which actually do the gear engaging).

The most common reason for finding a false neutral is being tentative with one's shifts. One should not attempt to "feel" the shift from one gear to the next. Shifting should be done in an assertive manner with a quick "stab". Doing it slowly so as to not harm the internal shifting mechanics is one of the hardest, worst things one can do to the transmission's shifting assy. The transmission is designed to take considerable abuse due to the differentials in toe pressures from different riders plus the fact that there are no "synchro's" to "feel" through.

There are very large "teeth" associated with each gear called "dogs" (usually from four to twelve per gear), which actually do the engaging for each gear. The gears themselves are always engaged. Since the dogs are so large, they have flat ends which can come in contact with each other and stop the shifting forks from making a full shift. This is the situation which occurs when finding a "false neutral". The clearances are so tight that very often the tranny will pop in and out of the gear it's attempting to engage.

Tentative, or slowly trying to feel into the next gear, will round off the corners of these dogs and thereby allow a tranny to pop in and out of the gear.  Due to the mechanics of the shifting design; a positive assertive shift
is necessary to fully engage the gear. Don't try to "feel" the way into the next gear as one would do in a car while shifting. This "feel" in "cages" is to allow the synchronous mesh to equalize the shaft speeds of the two gears before engagement. On any motorcycle, including the Valk, the shift should be quick and firm because there are no synchros and the gears are already
engaged.

Downshifting smoothly is merely done by practicing getting the engine rpm to match the shaft rpm when the clutch is disengaged just before downshifting and letting the clutch back out in the next lower gear. This can be done so smoothly that a passenger wouldn't notice the downshift at all with practice.

Downshifting in this manner also reduces rear tire wear since most of the wear to one's rear tire is done when downshifting and braking due to the coefficient of friction being compromised during this procedure unless it's done very smoothly. When the coefficient of friction is overcome by engine braking, in combination with rear brake pedal being applied; the tire instantaneusly temporarily "locks up". The rider is usually oblivious to the occurrance of the rear tire locking up unless it's extreme because it is so temporary; but it, nevertheless, is quite common. If this is allowed to occur in each downshifted gear every time one comes to a stop; the accumulative effect is a greatly reduced total mileage realized on the rear tire before it's completely worn out.

Since most braking should be accomplished using the front brake (at least 75%); the rear brake should be used very conservatively on a routine basis when downshifting (using the above described technique). The extra mileage realized on the rear tire will save a lot of unnecessary replacement expense.

Marty Rood, :-)

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