Triumphrat

TheBoatDude

Good Morning, Everyone -

I am experiencing an intermittent problem that I was hoping someone might have experience with. Occasionally (maybe 2 to 3 times in the past 3 mos) when I shift from Neutral to First, the engine will die [NOTE: Clutch was fully disengaged; bike does not buck before shutdown]. This has happened at various engine temps (cold to operating temp). At the time the engine was idling at ~850 to 900 rpm. The engine will immediately restart afterwards and present no other symptoms.

Has anyone heard of this? Is this a problem, or is this simply one of the joys of owning a British bike?

Thankx, and I hope everyone enjoys a safe holiday weekend!

TBD

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"...it's a Gin and Gin...it's like a Gin and Tonic, only you use Gin instead of Tonic..." --Dr. Caroline Todd, East Hampton Hospital Trust--

unitedrocker

Long shot here, but check your wires... I know these bikes won't start with the kick stand out, and also have something set up with the clutch to keep you from starting the bike in gear. Could be loose, or disconnected? I'm sure someone will chime in with better ideas.

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ATGATT

I'll admit, what I'm about to write may be far from any answer. So at the risk of sounding foolish (which comes natural to me)...

On my bike, and it may be for all which I assume is, once I pull in the clutch lever and put it in neutral, as if I just stopped at a stop light, I can't put it in gear if I never released the clutch lever prior to pulling it in again to down shift to first. Again, I assume that is some safety feature.

Can it be that you pulled in the clutch lever, put it in neutral, never released the lever again and am now trying to put it in gear and that is what is killing the engine?

Jimi_X

Check your side stand switch. A Bonnie will start in gear with the clutch pulled in,...as long as the side stand it fully retracted. Ummm,...This is a long shot, but it happened to me once. Got my pant leg hooked on the side stand knob. Lowered it just enough to shut me down when idling in gear while stopped.

CAPTDON

Sounds classic kickstand safety switch!! Seen it many times before. Not a biggie. If mine goes , I will just by-pass it. A nice thing to have , but we didnt have thwem in the old days. Only took 1 time to not forget!

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apnootje

I've got exactly the same problem. I brought her in last Thursday to fix a broken spoke nipple, got it back on Saturday and took the long way home.
This morning I started up my bike, worked fine (as almost always) but as soon as I put it in gear (1st or 2nd) it stalls.
I checked the side-stand, which was fully retracted, tried again, and got the same problem. So I'm guessing there's a loose/bad connection somewhere. Is this something I can fix myself (using my Haynes manual) or should I get it back to the shop? (might be a bit difficult, since it's 30km from home, and I have no intention of pushing my bonnie 'till I get there).
Can anybody help me?

Geoff

You could just bypass the sidestand safety switch, it'll make it rideable if that is the problem.
Find the connector for the sidestand pigtail (wiring), and short the harness side of the connector with a jumper wire. If it fixes the problem, you've found it. If not, you'll have to keep lookng, maybe check the battery connections
G

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dazco

800-900 RPMs is too low for idle, and if the bike happens not to be SPOT on as far as jetting, i could see that happening easily. When the jetting is rich (i believe when it's rich) the RPM's will drop BELOW idle when the bike is revved then let off, which is basically what you're doing when switching gears. So with the idle already too low and then having it go even lower when letting off, i can see how it would occasionally stall. I would turn the idle up to at least 1k. I'm not sure how the tach on the bonnies are, but on the speedmaster you can't read below 1k rpms because the tach just won't go that low. So if it's the same you may have to up the idle till you just start to see the tach move up.
In any case, that would be my guess.

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bmetz99

What you're describing is characteristic of most motorcycle transmissions. It's a function of their design, but not a designed-in safety feature.

Your transmission consists of a number of gears mounted on two or three shafts. When you change gears, what's happening is that certain gears are slid into different positions along the shafts, engaging nad disengaging with each other in ways that produce different reduction ratios. The gears have protrusions that stick out from the side. These protrusions are called "dogs". When adjacent gears are slid toward each other, the dogs engage so that one gear turns the gear sitting next to it.

If you happen to end up in a condition where you have the dogs lined up with each other, rather than meshing with each other, the bike won't go into gear. Pulling in the clutch lever causes the gears to rotate relative to one another, getting the dogs out of alignment and allowing them to mesh (the bike goes into gear).

As a transmission wears in, the dogs tend to polish and smooth out a bit, making it shift more easily and reducing the likelihood of the bike sticking in gear.

Clutchless shifting under power can cause the dogs to slam into each other with considerable force, resulting in broken dogs:

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Baltobonneville

Bmetz, I like that photo!

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Marty
2005 Bonneville Blue 790cc, AI removed, Staintunes, Unifilter, no snorkel, 120/40/Thrux needle/1 shim/3 turns, fly screen, tacho, D9 gauge panel, center stand, Ikon 7610s, Hagon fork springs, gaiters, Pirelli Sport Demons, 3 seats.