Hard to shift when cold

[Wombler]

Hey all, I'm finally down to the final bug in my '96 1400 complete restoration! I've had this shifting issue since the first time I swung a leg over it and took it for a spin. That was probably 4-500 miles ago, now.
When the engine/oil is cold, it is damn near impossible to shift out of 2nd, either up or down. I've found I can cheat this by "preloading" the shifter and it'll slip into the next gear just fine as I pull in the clutch. Sometimes ALL gears are this way. Neutral to 1 when stopped is always okay, though.
Once the engine is warmed up, say like 5 miles or so, it'll shift just fine all day long. However, neutral is almost always impossible to find with the engine running. Doesn't matter if I rock the bike back and forth, slip the clutch, rev the engine. Nothing- gotta hit the kill switch and then shift into neutral.
The clutch drags a little bit the very first time I shift into first from neutral with cold engine, but the drag is gone by the time I'm at the stop sign at the end of my street. So, I just chalk that up to cold, thick oil and cold clutch. I just make sure to hold the front brake when I'm ready to go...ha.
I've made sure to let the bike idle in the driveway for a few minutes while I get geared up before leaving, just to give it some extra time to get warm...but doesn't seem to help much.

Anyone got any ideas?
I have not been inside the engine at all, I've even got a set of Designer springs waiting, but I seem to have the opposite of a slipping clutch, even with really hard pulls on a fully warmed engine and purposely riding a gear high or low, I got no slipping- I've been TRYING to make it slip! About 62,500 miles on the Odo. With the condition of this bike when I got it, what BS the previous owner did to it, and the fact that it was sitting for about 15 years- I really DOUBT there's already HD clutch springs in there....but maybe?
When it's warm and shifting fine nothing feels or sounds weird, no grinding or abnormal clunks or anything.

• Fresh 10w40 oil & filter (well, 4-500 miles fresh)

• Oil level still good

• Rebuilt clutch master cylinder

• New Clutch slave cylinder

• New clutch fluid- no slop in the lever pull, it's nice and firm through the pull. lever isn't bent. With the engine off, i can hear the clutch disengaging.

• Shifter linkage all clean and lubed

• Stock controls, no forwards

• No leaks anywhere

• Idle is set proper, runs smooth (I think it's 1100 rpm?)

[hillsy]

If the bike was sitting for 15 years you probably need to remove the clutch plates and clean them. More than likely gummed up.

[Pyritz92]

what's the weather like where you are? is it always cold? that could play a part in the oil viscosity since the engine and trans share the same fluids. just a thought.

[Herb]

from what I understand this bike has sat for a long time. There is a chance that the clutch plates are gummed up causing a drag on the clutch. The worst thing you can do with any equipment is to let it sit, causes all kind of problmes.

I would ride it for a couple of thousand miles and see if it clears up. You can always tear into it if it doesn't fix itself, you might also go to a lighter weight oil for a while. 10-30 is recommended for temps up to about 90 deg F.

[The1Chef]

I agree that with more use it should loosen up some BUT for me, oil made a big difference.


The synthetic kind.

[Herb]

I agree that with more use it should loosen up some BUT for me, oil made a big difference.


The synthetic kind.

That is a good idea.

[Wombler]

Thanks for the replies, guys. (Sorry for the delay coming back, had a lot of things come up since I made this post).

My thoughts pretty much echoed what all of you are saying, gummed up clutch from sitting so long, etc. I just wasn't sure if there was any possible known issues on the transmission side like worn gears or shift fork issues that could have these results.
...I'll probly do another oil/filter change here soon, maybe run some SeaFoam in it before as well. It doesn't look bad on the dip-stick...but who knows what's really going on in there. I usually always use full-syn in everything, I just didn't bother for the first oil on this bike since it'd been sitting and I wasn't sure what I was getting into.
Temps have been in the mid 60s°F and up when I've been riding it, so not really too cold. It's in the 70-80s now.
I kind of figured just riding it more would also loosen things up, but wasn't sure what a decent about of miles would be to do some loosening. I'm sure a lot more around town riding with stops and goes and shifting vs highway riding (which is what I've been doing) will be more effective as well.

Another thought, I've been talking to some other people I know that have a lot of years with other older motorcycles and gear boxes and they said there might be a high performance clutch set installed. Like a Barnett pack or something. With the stock clutch springs known to get weak over time, this might have been the PO's fix a long time ago? I'm not sure how long Designer Springs (or something similar) have been around for these bikes. Barnett doesn't seem to offer springs now, but they do still offer plates. Could be another brand altogether that isn't made anymore? One guy said a Barnett kit in his '76 KZ900LTD had the exact same thing I have right now (grabs really bad on first take-off, hard to shift, smooths out as it warms up).

I'm half tempted to open up the clutch side anyways and have a look at it all. Might do that while I'm changing the oil...

[Herb]

If it has a heavier oil it will be hard to shift when cold. A lot of people are using the 15-40 and even heavier oils in them, one guy was running the heavy oil for the older HDs and had problems with the lash adjusters and hard shifting. The 10-40 works much better.

I tried the 15-40 oil once and had a problem with the hyd lash adjusters ticking when the engine was cold.

[The1Chef]

I have a barnett clutch and designers springs.
smooth as butter when I was riding it a bunch of years ago mind you the clutch was much stiffer at the lever than stock stuff but the shifting itself was beautiful. Again that was synthetic and it had not been sitting it was all fresh..

Its been sitting now 12 yrs and is almost reqdy to start and go for that tell tale ride lol. I will let you know how my barnett clutch does after the long rest lol. But im sure it is in good shape, during wrenching sessions lately it feels the same as always.

[The1Chef]

Are you new to the 1400 or have you had it a while?

[Wombler]

I have a barnett clutch and designers springs.
smooth as butter when I was riding it a bunch of years ago mind you the clutch was much stiffer at the lever than stock stuff but the shifting itself was beautiful. Again that was synthetic and it had not been sitting it was all fresh..

Its been sitting now 12 yrs and is almost reqdy to start and go for that tell tale ride lol. I will let you know how my barnett clutch does after the long rest lol. But im sure it is in good shape, during wrenching sessions lately it feels the same as always.

Are you new to the 1400 or have you had it a while?

That makes sense! I still haven't had a chance to pull the clutch cover off and have a look at things, but I'm pretty convinced at this point that it is just old, gummed up clutch plates.
I am pretty new to the 1400. I've had this one for almost a year now, it was not running and needed a LOT of attention when I got it last summer as a "pandemic project". I've never ridden or been around one that is in good working order for me to compare this one to. And I've only had the time to put just a few hundred miles on it since I've gotten it running good.