Remove oil and replace with Synthetic air should remove the "clunk"

 

That's as much Harley as the Potato-potato sound is.

 

come on now! changing oil or primary grease does not stop the Harley CLUNK. The Clunk is due to the amount of slop in the primary chain. The only way to eliminate the slop, is to install an automatic chain tensioner like the M6. The clunk goes away and the bike shifts better.

 

Isn't the Clunk a Harley Davidson Trademark? I think it is a pretty cool sound

 

Thanks for all the advice. My sporty klunks all the time , but that first one in the morning sounds like two spinning gears that aren't in sync and thats the one that concerns me.

 

Well on my little Ninja, which is a total wet clutch, the plates stick together if I haven't used them for a while. Talk about a clunk, and you better hang on to that brake handle, cause it will launch you.

Haven't had that problem with the Sportster, but ya sometimes it sounds a little rough enganging when it's cold, on the very first shift. I don't worry about it tho.

 

I've got over 23K on my 1200 Sporty and yep, got the clunk too. The only way I minimize it is to get a rolling start from my shed to the gate in my back yard before I make the initial shift to 1st. It's easy for me as it is slightly down hill. Other wise I usually kick it in 1st before I hit the switch. Holding the clutch of course. Have fun and kick'er in the seat of the pants to go!

 

I'm should be getting my 1200C this weekend, and personally the fact that it clunks when shifting gears sounds appealing to me for the same reasons. The Honda's we drove in our motorcycle safety class gave me very little feel for when I had actually changed gears, so sometimes I would let up on the clutch only to discover I was still in 1st. I should note that the transmissions on these things were also fairly shot, so just getting them to change gears at time was rough.

I'm glad to hear that there is noticable feedback when changing gears on the Sportsters.