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In gear or neutral?

Hubby is absolutely correct. Always start the bike with transmission in Neutral. Think about what actually is taking place when you start it in gear with the clutch pulled in. Your asking the starter motor to overcome and break free the clutch pack discs that are stuck together from sitting under spring tension. Also because it is a wet clutch, there is a LOT of drag caused by the oil. When the oil is cold & thick it is worse.

I never tried it but I bet if you were to take the rear wheel completely off the ground, start the bike, put it in 1st gear with the clutch pulled in all the way, the rear wheel would spin slowly due to the drag of a wet clutch. I never tried it but my guess is the wheel would spin.
Would like to hear feedback if my theory is true.

Hoop!
 
Hubby is absolutely correct. Always start the bike with transmission in Neutral. Think about what actually is taking place when you start it in gear with the clutch pulled in. Your asking the starter motor to overcome and break free the clutch pack discs that are stuck together from sitting under spring tension.
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With the clutch pulled in, you aren't turning the mass of gears in the trans either. Just cranking the primary and clutch basket. The plates will break free.
 
glider said:
With the clutch pulled in, you aren't turning the mass of gears in the trans either. Just cranking the primary and clutch basket. The plates will break free.
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I don't understand. Are you saying it is better to start the engine in gear with the clutch pulled in?

Hoop!
 
Humm. Interesting point. The gear box would have a lot of parastatic drag. Probably more than the wet clutch. Good point. I have to check it out the next time I have the bike off the ground.

Hoop!
 
When at home in the garage, neutral, when out I leave it in gear when I park it and put it in neutral and keep the clutch in when I start it back up. To me leaving it in gear is like an emergency brake, it's not going to roll easy and if someone decided to steal it, it's just one more thing in the way, along with the fork lock, security
 
Never thought about it, just always left it in neutral and stated in neutral, but I do recall in MSF Basic RiderCourse we always killed the class bikes in gear, then the start up procedure was turn on the switch, hold in the clutch, rock the bike back and forth so you could pop it into neu, then start. Maybe I should change my neu/neu habit to gear/neu :)
 
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