Ok, starts in neutral, but when I shift to 1st or 2nd with the clutch held in, the bike jumps forward and dies. I can put it back to neutral and starts right up, but when i shift to any gear the bike leaps forward and dies with the clutch in. Thoughts???

 

Even if you soaked the friction plates for a day or so, in oil, which hopefully you did, the clutch assembly will be a bit "sticky" at first, until you run it a bit to get things all "broken in". This is typical, and not the sign of a problem.

What you want to do, is put the rear up on a stand, and keep adjusting the cable out, from the adjustment on the clutch cover, until you can put the bike in gear with the clutch lever held in, and the rear wheel not move, or just barely move, where you could stop it with your free hand - chances are that right now, if you do this the wheel moves a lot even with the lever in, and you cannot hold it still with your free hand.
After this you just start riding it, and soon enough, when things wear in together, and all the parts have heated and cooled a few times, you'll then find the clutch will start to do the opposite, and slip on you a bit, and at that point you simply re-adjust the cable for proper action, and you're good to go!

 

No where did it say to soak the clutches in oil. So I didn't. Could this be why the clutches aren't disengaging?

 

Yeah, that would be a snafu with the Honda manual - it's kind of just a "known thing" with wet clutches, but this information should definitely be in the manual... a lot of times I think they expect that everyone also has the Honda Common Service Manual, and omit certain bits of info from the specific model manuals.

You're not going to have ruined anything, by not pre-lubing the plates but it certainly does prevent excessive wear... I'd let it run in neutral for a good while, to get oil pressure built up, so the plates can get nice and wet, and then maybe let it sit for a day before riding it.

 

Would that loosen up my problem any? To where it is in neutral and I switch to 1st or 2nd with the lever in and jumps and dies?

 

Let's put it this way, not having the plates pre-oiled might exacerbate the issue, but the resolution I explained before, with going to the extreme adjustment, to stop the wheel rotating with the lever in, and then adjusting it the other way when it slips, just goes with the territory, for changing the clutch.

Like I said before, what you're experiencing is typical.

 

It has a crash bar, so going to lean it towards the clutch side and run it for 10 minutes tonight and tomorrow morning and after work and see if there is any progression.

I am not doubting if this is typical, but wondering why no one else has spoken up except for you and Conrice.

 

Took all the plates out and soaked them in oil and reassembled them carefully and adjusted the cables. Took me all afternoon with no avail. Scratching my head at this point.

 

So you're saying you adjusted the clutch cable at the cover, with the lever adjustment in the middle, and you came to the end of the adjustment, but the wheel still spins in neutral?

 

It was the clutch basket not fully engaged on the spindle. Had to take the whole half of the motor to go through everything. But it works now.