| Author | Message | ||
     Joojoo |
hey crew, I love my XB12. Love the motor. Love the design. BUT...I dont think the tranny is up to par with the rest of the bike. The tranny seems to feel different every day. Some days, itll go from 1st to 2nd with a perfect click, but often, itll feel like its grinding for a split second before it grabs into 2nd. The rest of the gears feel good most of the time, sometimes they feel soft though (especially when going from 3rd to 4th at high RPMS). When I say soft, I mean, that it goes into gear, but there is no direct feel to it. It doesnt really click into gear, and the shifter travel is sometimes short, and sometimes tall... Besides the inconsistent tranny, I LOVE MY XB12. for your records, Im running regular HD gear oil in the tranny , HD synth in the motor. I have around 1000 miles on the bike. Maybe the bikes tranny will work in and feel better over time.... Jack | ||
| Brucelee |
Get that garbage oil out of the tranny. Switch to Mobil One 75W-90 and give it about 250 miles to notice the change. Change with oil every 2500 miles! The change is remarkable and gets smoother over time. You will thank me. | ||
| Prof_stack |
Brucelee is correct. Have patience. | ||
| Darthane |
Ditto! I've used Mobil 1 75W90 Synth since the 2500 mark, change it with the oil, and the tranny is 100% better. That stuff stinks to HIGH HEAVEN when hot though. Holy CRAP it's the only smell that makes me want to throw up as soon as I get a whiff of it. | ||
| Captainplanet |
The sythetic, the miles, for both the bike getting broken in, and you getting used to how the tranny shifts, makes a huge difference. | ||
| Bomber |
the tranny on my tuber took the better part of 1500/2500 miles to "break in" . . . . . jsut realized, one day, that it was shifting MUCH better I imagine XB series are similar | ||
| Joojoo |
Bomber, Im hoping thats the case with mine too....crazy thing is, the tranny is a little different every time I ride the bike! Sometimes a little loud, sometimes a perfect smooth shift-click, sometimes a quick grind from first into second (like its stressing to grab the gear)•••••• HAS CHARACTER THOUGH!! Jack edited by joojoo on May 14, 2004 | ||
| Easyflier |
I don't think they're really broken in (engine or tranny) until they get about 10,000 miles on them. Also might want to adjust the clutch and cable, a lot goes on in the first 1,000 miles. | ||
| Kaudette |
go synthetic - it shifts 200% better. No need to wait - well worth the cost even if it is to swap out fresh oil. | ||
| Smadd |
Don't have XB experience, but my tuber shifts smooth as silk at 50,000 miles. I do think it got smoother as the miles wore on. Also... besides running good oil and changing it often, make sure your clutch (and everything else) is adjusted just right. Steve | ||
| Jasonxb12s |
Ditto Darth...Smells like rotten •••...I had to go buy a drain tub that comes with a screw on lid. I've had a noticeable diff with the Mo1 75-90 in the tranny for the better. Make sure you don't use too much, or you won't be able to find Neutral at idle very easy. I put in a whole quart and that was about 1--2 oz too much. | ||
| Blake |
In addition to switching to a higher quality lubricant and checking your clutch adjustment, you might do well to check your primary chain tension. Find the tightest spot as you rotate the crank around and adjust to within specified range. A loose primary chain can affect shifting and they do wear-in a bit during the first 1,000 miles. After that they stabilize fairly well, but still warrant checking every 5,000 miles or so. | ||
| Coldwthrrider |
Can anyone tell me where they actually get the Mobil 1 75W90? I've been looking all over and can't find any yet locally. I did find an Autozone that carries the Mobil 1 20W50 V-twin oil. I've seen other threads where people say they're using Mobil 1 15W50 in the primary, seems like quite a big difference in viscosity! Any explanations? | ||
| Reepicheep |
My autozone has Mobil 1 75w90, but they call it "Mobil 1 Gear Oil", and don't have the viscosity posted. Its over in the gear oil section. The viscosity scale of gear oil is a different scale then engine oil... to try and make things "simpler". Somebody plotted the scales together here before and 75w90 is almost identical to 15w50 (in case life was not already confusing enough). | ||
| Coldwthrrider |
Thanks Reep, that does explain a lot! Since everyone in the autozone was an "import tuner" I'm not surprised they didn't know what I was asking for. I'll try and grab some, because all the posts here sound just like my bike. It shifts beautifully sometimes and like crap other times, and I really need a heavy foot to ensure a decent shift. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Yup. Switch to Mobil 1 gear oil, and give your primary chain careful adjustment, and spend a little time adjusting the shifter linkage (external) for your foot, with the shoes / boots you ride in. Its a sequence of several little things that can have a HUGE net effect. | ||
| Coldwthrrider |
Is the chain adjustment simple? I don't have the service manual yet. I didn't even know the shifter was adjustable! I suppose that is covered in the service manual also. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Yes... I will have to look for the actual measurements when I get home (though somebody here will probably post them here before then). I am thinking that if you get it at exactly 1/2 inch at the tightest spot, you are good. Make sure you are at the tight spot, or *really bad things* could happen. The procedure is easy, pop off the smallest cover on your primary (two bolts) and measure the amount of play in the chain in there. You want to measure it at several different places, I just make sure the bike is in neutral (and my fingers are out of the primary) and blip the starter a few times. That will move the chain around. To adjust it, you loosen the big nut on the threaded stud sticking out the bottom of the primary case (this is the bottom part of your primary chain tensioner shoe). Once you loosen that nut, you can use an allen wrench inside that threaded stud to loosen or tighten the chain. Make sure you get the updated primary tensioner shoe, they changed to a much better part some time in 2001 as I recall. I have had three shifters on my Cyclone, the original 2000 model, the 2002 updated one, and now the banke, and I *think* all three were adjustable. edited by reepicheep on June 18, 2004 edited by reepicheep on June 18, 2004 | ||
| Coldwthrrider |
Thanks for the info. I am going to search for the gear oil tonight so once I get some then I'll pull it apart to change it and check the tension. At that point hopefully this will all make more sense. I don't have a stand yet so I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it quite yet...I think the bike has to be vertical for this right? I would prop up the side stand but not if there will be much wrenching involved! |
