07 GSXR 600 has been sitting in the garage for about a year. I took her out a few months ago to clean her up and make sure she ran ok. I was having trouble getting it into neutral and noticed that when I put the bike on a rear stand and in gear, the rear wheel would spin (spin, not creep) even when I held the clutch in. I had an older bike that had trouble changing gears that turned out to be a frayed clutch cable so I thought maybe the cable was stretched or starting to fray. I put a new cable in and started the bike on the rear stand. Same problem. I'm going to take another look after work today. I've heard of some folks having this issue on bikes that only get ridden a few times a year and after riding it a bit it fixes itself. Can anyone relate? Do I need to just ride it around a little? I have a trackday on Friday and really hope it's not an actual clutch problem.
Gsx-Rs do that for some reason. My 04 600 did it and my 07 does as well. I just rebuilt the engine on the 07 and could spin the transmission by hand with it in neutral and still spin the other shaft on the transmission. My clutch is adjusted to the specs in the manual. Its fine, ride it and dont worry about it. As long as your clutch is properly adjusted you wont have any problems.
Sounds like the clutch plates are sticking together a little from sitting, pretty common. Riding it should help or put the front wheel against a wall or other immovable object, put it in first and slip the clutch a little. That's usually all it takes to free it up.
Pretty common. All mine have done it (sitting on stands, idling in neutral, rear wheel spins just a bit). It definitely spins faster/more if it's in gear, with clutch pulled in. It usually slows/stops as the bike warms up. If I were to guess, I'd say it's just the oil having a higher viscosity when cold, causing some extra friction within the clutch. Complete guess though. If it's more than just a slight spin, just make sure your clutch is properly adjusted - maybe it's not fully disengaging when you pull the lever.
Its going to spin just from the oil visconsity between the plates or in the transmission. Like said the plates are likely just stuck together and you need to ride it to get it "right". No worries, dont tear anything down untill you ride it a little.
Thanks all, I rode without any issues on Friday. Smooooth as butta. Good to know that kind of thing can happen if a bike sits around too long.
The term is Viscous Coulping, or using a fluid to transfer torque. Common on wet style clutches, it is more pronunced at cold temps or on a stand (particually, no load on the wheel....). If worked for a short period of time normally orperation should resume as the plates get oiled and the oil heats up.
Yeah this is normal, I haven't seen a japanese bike NOT do this actually. Usually it stops after the oil gets warmed up.
