Shifting on a 250 Ninja..?

Question

Just bought a 2005 250 ninja in pretty good condition. I'm scheduled to take MSF classes in early August, but for now, some motorcycle friends have helped me out a bit and I've been riding around the block of my neighborhood A LOT.

that being said, I'm still getting used to shifting gears and the clutch and what not, but sometimes I get a bit panicky and I stall when going from a complete stop. I also don't get the smoothest shifts once in a while so it gets jerky sometimes.

I was wondering, am I ruining anything on my bike? It's pretty new to me and I don't want to damage the transmission.

It doesn't happen constantly, but once in awhile it happens.

Answer 1

If you are holding the clutch lever when riding you will burn the clutch out. When you change gears slip the clutch slightly and that will get rid of the jerkyness when you change. Just before you come to a complete stop pull in the clutch and use 70% front brake and 30% rear, that should stop you stalling.

Answer 2

Holding the clutch all the way in is equivilent to riding in nuetral. it doesn't hurt. A smooth shift is good and a jerky shift wears on the clutch fibers. Practice teasing the friction point. Just sit still, give it a little gas. Keep the RPMs steady at like 4K. Release the clutch slowly until you feel in contact and start pulling the bike. When you feel it, pull it back in. keep the RPMS steady and do it over and over. After you have the friction point programmed into muscle memory, start launching a foot or two. You may have to give it a little more gas to keep it from stalling as you get deeper into the friction zone of the clutch. Just keep practicing and you'll be fine.

Answer 3

holding the clutch all the way in won't do almost any wear, constantly slipping it will, but they can generally take a lot of abuse and are rebuilt quite easily.  you'll get smoother as you practice, and the msf course will help a lot.  

it isn't really proper technique to hold the clutch in around corners on the street, use brakes and/or engine braking to slow down before the turns and get back on the throttle gently and progressively at the apex of the turn

Answer 4

When turning on a motorcycle you should have the clutch engaged and the throttle on.  The bike has better balance when your back tire is pushing it along.  You should only have the clutch in if you are: going under 15mph, shifting, or at a stop.

As for when you go from a dead stop:

play with the clutch adjustment ( i assume it has one since the 500 does) till you find a midpoint where you have good control.

In other words, if the clutch is grabbing, and you only have the edge of your fingers on the clutch, it will probably slip out and you stall.  

Now when you are starting from the dead stop, rev up the engine a moderate amount and slowly let off the clutch till it starts grabbing, and when it does you can give it more gas and release the clutch entirely (slowly).

As for shifting up and down gears, you can't just pull the clutch click the shifter, and let go of the clutch.  While it is alot more forgiving then when you are in a dead stop, you should still rev the engine and let the clutch out somewhat gradually, before giving it full throttle.

Answer 5

If you are getting better than all the damage should be limited to the clutch.  And it wouldn't be that bad unless you are really reving the motor and contantly on the clutch.  You might burn up the clutch, is the worst of it.

Answer 6

When i first bought my Ninja 250, the engine woudl not idle successfuly unless the choke was partially on for the first couple hundred miles, this could be contributing to your problems.

You shouldnt be damaging the transmissing by stalling when COMING TO A STOP since you are basically just engine breaking untill the engine stalls, infact the only time stalling a bike will damage your transmission is when your in nuetral, and you just kick it into first gear without holding the clutch, that will make it stall, and it will also make a lot of noise.

Stalling is a result of the engine being slowed to the point where it can no longer produce power, all of the energy is transfered through the moving parts that are there for the purpose of transfering energy, the force required to stall the engine at sub-idle rpms is far less than the parts endure at full throttle high rpm operation.

The only thing taking wear are the clutchplates, and they are designed to take wear and eventually be replaced, you dont need to worry about them though, because eventually you will find that in order to get a satisfiing acceleration from the bike you need to slip the clutch from 7-10k rpms, this is gogin to put a lot more wear on the clutch plates then what you are doing now, so dont worry about it, you need to fail to learn anyways.  Just let the clutch out untill the bike starts to move and give it gas, dont let out the clutch all the way until you are up to speed, eventualy you will be able to do it slower and slower, untill you can use the clutch like a normal person, wiht lots of smooth slippage and slow acceleration all while at minimal rmps.

Shifting gears at very slow speeds/when stopped, can damge forks in the transmission, howvere the ninja 250 was designed for the entree level riding market, and from what i have heard, there is almost nothign you cna do to them that they will not endure.

And if your still unsure, consider the fact that the motor is likely to blow before you have any problems with yoru transmission.