If my bike is rolling, it is much easier to find neutral. If it is stopped before finding neutral, good luck ever finding it. It's been like that from the time I received it with 2 miles on the odometer.

 

Start in neutral....put in gear....still surges. Whats the difference? BTW my evo 5 speed doesnt surge at all.

 

all of my harleys have done that if they were in gear. normal

 

Because starting in neutral is easier on the starter and related parts.

 

Blip the throttle while stopped and try to find neutral while blipping, it works for me.

 

Glad I work on mine and ride it. Neutral is easier to find with a bike that is running and able to roll a little. Neutral is also easier to find if the clutch is adjusted right. Starting a bike in gear with the clutch disengaged still adds drag to the starter. 99% of the time I start my bike with the bike in neutral, clutch disengaged, front brake on. Starters are a bitch to replace. My Harley's will start in gear with the clutch engaged. Front brake helps make sure nothing moves. If I have a bad habit lighting off my HD's it is that I do it standing beside them. Developed that habit kick starting. Holding the front brake while lighting off my HD's is a new habit.

 

Yep. I'm even guilty of this, except I did it with the kick starter on my CB550. Parked the bike, ran in to grab lunch, forgot it was still in gear. Keyed on, kicked it over, and the bike lunged forward. Luckily it didn't weigh that much and I was just barely able to keep it from falling over, all that got hurt was my pride. I'll remember to never do that again.

Even funnier, a month later I lent my 550 out to a friend to ride, a bunch of us were out in a group. He did the exact same thing as I did after stopping for lunch, except he wasn't strong enough to hold it up and he fell over into the crash bar on my Road King.

 

Seems to me that when starting up that my right hand has very little to do so I use my fingers to hold the brake lever in and apply the front brake.

Letts

 

It is NOT normal for the bike to move forward when starting in neutral. The ONLY time I've ever had this happen was when the clutch was not adjusted properly. And, when the clutch IS properly adjusted, mine doesn't move forward while starting in gear with the clutch engaged.

With regards to finding neutral, that's primarily a function of clutch adjustment as well. The moron that previously worked on my bike screwed up the clutch adjustment so badly that you couldn't shift into neutral with the engine running at all. After I went back and corrected the clutch adjustment, I could get it to shift into neutral with the engine running.

With regards to finding neutral and the difference between a 5-speed and 6-speed, I believe it depends on the gear set. After having a Baker 6-speed installed, shifting into neutral is effortless compared to my factory 5-speed.

 

Thanks Artlee, I'll try it.