FALSE NEUTRALS

[fsubusa]

The first time I tried shifting between 5 and 6 on my brand new '03 busa I experienced neutral. It was at night with cars behind me and I reacted by upshifting again. The second time I upshifted it seemed to be into 6th as advertised.

Has anyone else experienced or heard of this? I found something about it at

http://members.tripod.com/Suzuki_Hayabusa/longterm.html

FALSE NEUTRALS
Most Abusa owners seem to be experiencing some false neutrals, mostly when shifting between fifth and sixth. Most riders I've heard from find this goes away after the first service. What's your experience? Leave a message in the guestbook so we can all see. You'll find the guestbook on the Suzuki Hayabusa Owners link from this page.

Please let me know what ya think...

 

[busahigg]

Mine did it too..........it goes away. Just shift more deliberately.

 

[Bob]

My 2002 was as "BAD" as it gets with false neutrals.  Everyone wanted to inform me I wasn't shifting up hard enough.  That was not the case.  I have rode 20+ years and this was a first.  I telephoned Suzuki and they informed me that I should only shift in 6th at 7000 rpm or greater!!! What?? I figured that meant I would only use 6th around 150 mph.  When I continued to press them for a legimate answer, they finally informed me I needed a load on the transmission before shifting into 6th.  In other words, they said I should not use the clutch when shifting to 6th.  They said it would get better with time and it has.  Considerably better. Many of your experts on this site have stated the non-clutch shifting does NO harm to the transmission as well.  Hope this helps because I feel your pain.  Bob :tounge:

 

[Big Wall]

My false neutral between 5th and 6th did not completely go away after my bike's 1st service but it did get a lot better. I can say that now it only hapens to me on lazy shifts though.

 

[ks-waterbug]

Welcome, aboard! This is very common with the Busa. Don't know of a fix mechanically. Like was said earlier, you just have to adapt to a more forcefull shift pattern on the big end.............

 

[busaben]

Basically the same for me as everyone else. It happened real bad one time when I had about 1500 miles. It got stuck in neutral for about 10 seconds, finally shifted after making some awful noises. However, it never happened again and shifting has pretty much been flawless since.

 

[Milwaukee_Joe]

I had the same problem for ~ 2000 miles or so. I think it has gone away now as well. I told the dealer about this when I went in for my initial service and they told me" oh we can't find anything wrong" or "you must not be shifting correctly" were thier answers. It has gone away now, but I still don't know why it gave false neutrals either. Give it time, you'll get rid of it....hopefully.

 

[birdaprey]

I lowered the toe shifter just a bit ( so I would get a better feel )
I can now feel for the "spot" and it shifts just fine now!

 

[Kevin in Va.]

Same here, seemed to be laziness on my part, I do plan to drop the shifter one notch to see if it helps. Or wear the boots.

To me, when you are winding it out, you dont get the in-betweens !!! It is a performance machine !!

 

[pmcc]

Happened to me too - i reckon it happens to most of us.

my theory is that you / we are shifting into a high gear at too low a speed. sometimes its nice to cruise at a low speed on a high gear, but maybe the busa doesnt like it. oh well, guess we have to live with it

 

[Revlis]

Man this Board Rocks, I got my 02LE out of the crate last night been riding today and twice it happened, I thought I was just getting it wrong in my excitement, Glad to hear it gets better. I was really confused though.

 

[dezzy7]

Yep it happened to me as well. I think its one of those self correcting problems, but you can lower the toe shifter until it corrects itself.

 

[daron]

I have a brand new hayabusa which has false neutrals between 4th & 5th and 5th & 6th, the gearbox is very heavy, at times vague and sometimes requires a double click to locate higher gears. This problem is worse in urban traffic and has become worse with use (it currently has about 1000 miles on it). I have owned about 30 bikes over the last 24 years and this is the worst gearbox to date. I am now pursuing Kens motorcycles in Newcastle upon Tyne for my money back.
As you can imagine they are responding with the usual "we can find no fault" approach. I would appreciate any advice anyone may have regarding this problem.
Cheers Daron

 

[atticdog]

when your at 3-4k miles it will go away, mine did

 

[gcal]

relax the bike is NOT broke you just need to eat your breakfast and stop lazy footing it.
I'm not bustin your chops but the problem is lazy footin, no joke.
and no it does not go away. i have 12 k on mine and still there when i get lazy.
my advice RIDE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT !!!!!!!

 

[daron]

We aren't talking 'lazy footing' it here, this gearbox is dire to the extent that you end up with an aching shin muscle and sore foot when using the box frequently and I wont accept that off Suzuki's £8000 alleged flagship.
Pissed off and disillusioned of Newcastle.

 

[daron]

The false neutral problem on Hayabusas has existed since 1999 and they have not yet resolved this problem. Does it take a fatality precipitated by this inherent fault for Suzuki to address it.
I suspect if this problem had been identified on a performance car ( or any car for that matter) then it would have been taken more seriously.
What do you think?

 

[gcal]

if your shins hurt then you should get the GP shifter and smash down on the gears for now or at least until the problem gets resolved. or you can adjust your shifter 1/2 inch down to give you more levrage.
just a thought.

 

[black2003]

I'm glad to realise that i'im not the only one with this problem. Mine as about 2000 km and still as false neutral between 5th and 6th gear. the question is wath to do when it happens. I usually stop by the road and downshift with the bike totally stopped. Is it harmful for the gear box to force the shift while moving? Cause when I do, there's a terrible noise cpming from the transmission... Something like "AAAHRG DON'T DO THIS IT'S TWISTING MY THEET!!!!"

 

[gcal]

I'm glad to realise that i'im not the only one with this problem.  Mine as about 2000 km and still as false neutral between 5th and 6th gear.  the question is wath to do when it happens.  I usually stop by the road and downshift with the bike totally stopped.  Is it harmful for the gear box to force the shift while moving?  Cause when I do, there's a terrible noise cpming from the transmission... Something like "AAAHRG DON'T DO THIS IT'S TWISTING MY THEET!!!!"

i know what u mean jelley bean
i hate that noise
what i do is clutch in and put back to fifth.
alot of the time i dont even go to sixth unless i am over 90mph
that way im in the power band and i dont have to worry about the false neutral.