Please help, bike goes to neutral when shifting from 1st to 2nd - is it normal ?

[amina]

Hello, new rider and got my first ever bike, it's a 2015 ninja300 - I have been googling and researching on forums but didn't come across anything similar to my situation: basically I would be at a stop or red light on first gear, and when trying to shift to second, my bike goes to Neutral instead - I would have to shift it back to first and then push really hard on the gear pedal to be able to get it to second, I was wondering if this is normal or if there is an issue with the bike and might need to get it checked ? Thank you so very much in advance !!

 

[Ash]

This is Kawasaki's positive neutral finder. It's a feature, not a bug. It's designed to make it easier to get into neutral at a stop. The bike needs to be rolling a bit if you want to shift into second.

 

[Aens]

Let the clutch out fully, then pull it in again. It should shift from neutral to 2nd then.

If you keep getting neutral instead of 2nd, maybe you need to adjust where your shifter is.

 

[Brian P]

Not on a Kawasaki (as mentioned above). They've had the "positive neutral finder" for decades. It blocks the transmission from upshifting past neutral if the output shaft is not turning. An upshift from 1st while stopped, or moving slower than a few km/h, gives you neutral ... always ... it's designed that way. If you're moving more than a few km/h then you'll get 2nd.

Interestingly, the Kawasaki H2 series does not have that feature, because they use a "dog-ring" gearbox that makes Kawasaki's traditional design for this feature no longer possible.