I start my bike up and put it into first with a clunk, and when i ride off, I can't get it out of first gear into second.
I stop, and play with gear selector to find neutral, and try again from first, and then it does go into second with a clunk.
After riding down the road going through all the gears, it seems to come fine. And for the rest of day, gear changes are good and smooth.
I replaced the engine oil with Total mineral 20w50 recently. I was told it is better for older motorbikes as it's thicker when cold and thicker when hot and that older engines weren't designed to run semi-synthetic as that oil has only been around 10-15 years.
The bike is 32 years old and thinking that thinner oil would seep out more than thicker oil, I changed it to see if it might stop the minor oil leaks the bike has (but it hasn't really made much difference, still drops a few spots).
What I believe is the clutch plates aren't releasing when I pull in the clutch when cold, probably because the oil is not getting between plates.
I have had the plates out last month to replace number one stopper arm and drive pin holder and plates were fine.
So is this normal for an older bike?
I bought it last year, and only test rode it twice and it seemed fine then, but that oil was black and dirty and very thin.
It wasn't legal to ride in that state as frame had all brackets angle grinded off by previous owner so battery was just sitting on the swing arm and the wiring was a birds nest.
So many months later once I got it tidied up with custom seat pan, motorbatt battery and wiring box fabricated, etc, etc I decided to replace the dirty oil with the Total mineral 20w50 before starting it up.
And I have ridden it 2-3 times since then and each time when cold, it has this issue.
So really just needing to know do I have anything to worry about?
Or is this quite typical with older bikes and I just need to give it a longer warm up to release the clutch plates, or should I try thinner oil?
I have heard after a ride, you can pull the clutch handle in, and tie something around it to keep the pressure off the plates while it's not been ridden. Could that help solve my problem with cold starts, or is it a bad idea that could weaken the springs over time?
I only get time to ride on a Sunday so would be like that for the week.
Thanks guys for your advice on these older bikes, very much appreciated
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