When starting out and I shift from neutral to first I get the clunk noise from the tranny. Anyone know what exactly is banging together, how much wear is occuring there, and how high an idle can these parts stand before serious damage to something happens?

 

its normal on sportsters , and a lot of other Harley's as well, the gear boxes are supposed to be fairly bullet proof though and it never seems to cause any long term problems ,
it is a bit worrying ,
my Dyna does it as well , not always but sometimes , the gears are pretty smooth on that compared to my old nightster once its moving .
try double pulling the clutch , sometimes that used to help ,

 

Their is quite a clunk when you first take off,i wondered about that too.
You should keep your idle around 1000 rpm, to keep oil going to your top end.

 

Yep ..I dont want to sound like the dealer and say that is Normal.. But it is..Where about in the key,s do you live? I spent 15 years on Big Pine,and 17 in Key West.

 

Spectro gear oil will help but it's the Harley "clunk" and you're stuck with it.

 

To agree with these guys, yeah it is normal. I recently read an article on putting a 7 speed gear set in the easier bikes. That clunk (according to them) is due to the rotational weight of the gear set shaft. Since there is more than one gear on the shaft it weighs more, more weight. More clunk. Hope it helps some, I read it in am older cycle source magazine

 

I hear it on both of my bikes.

 

It worries me if I don't hear the clunk from neutral to first. It's due to the way the shifter dogs engage with the gear set. You don't hear it on cars because of the synchros.

 

The clunk is normal and I like it-sounds tuff IMO.

 

There is nothing like that sound when a group is about to leave. It is the signal that everyone is ready to leave. Kinda like a role-call.