Clunky gears on the XII?

[Heavy Armor]

I promise I tried to search this, but almost all the results were not related to the XII, so I decided to go ahead and ask.

I've literally just gotten my '01 up and running after 2 years of screwing around with it. New-to-me bike, bought from a wheeler-dealer that didn't disclose all the issues, yadda yadda. But we're finally on the road.

FRIKKIN. LOVE. IT. Man what a neat ride. That said, I'm noticing that the transmission is seriously clunky... basically banging into every gear but 5th. The clutch fluid is all new, and no air in the lines... I added to the top while draining out the bottom until it ran clear. Clutch releases at the very top, with very little friction zone to work with. I dunno if any of this is normal, but it's kind of a weird sensation and feels like maybe it's not supposed to be so... aggressive? I've had too many false neutrals and accidental neutrals already, but I'm thinking that I may just need to adjust the shift lever so that I'm not having to lift so high.

Any insight would be welcome.

[GrandpaDenny]

Yeah, the transmission on these is seriously heavy duty, and definitely positively lets you know when they go into gear. A very solid "click" or "clunk" indeed. I'd rather have the easy shifting with the clunk than most bikes' relatively hard and quiet shifting.

As to the clutch - yes, the friction zone isn't very far in, but if it's really close to the end, one very common thing to check is the spider springs in the clutch. Cheap repair (especially if you can do it yourself) and very common. The clutch plates themselves rarely wear out on these bikes (100,000 miles of Philly traffic finished mine LOL).

[Nails]

These trans have straight-cut gears, and so they are quite agricutural. That's why Loren uses his XII to pull a 2-bottom plow.

[cushman eagle]

These trans have straight-cut gears, and so they are quite agricutural. That's why Loren uses his XII to pull a 2-bottom plow.

I have an update on the plow,Nails,with the Commander tire,I now pull a 3-bottom

[coffeeboy4]

Hello, I thought the same when I got my 1996 but found if you take it to higher rpm.s when you shift especially from 1st to 2nd gear it will go smoothly. ;