So I was riding home today, and i had a couple of trouble all of which had to do with me and shifting. keep in mind I've never driven a standard besides this bike. first off i was going around a turn in first and went to put it in second I accidently went to neutral so I tried to put it into second from there and it wouldnt have it i felt it click clacking in my foot when i tried to drop it in, so I had to go back to first and try again and it did it fine..my question is is this normal, again i have no experience. secondly I was trying to put it into a higher gear and i guess "missed it" but it make this horrid pop clank crack noise it sounded like something may have broken but still rides fine through all the gears. second question is it that noise normal if you miss the gear and how bad could have i damaged whatever part that is?

Thanks for your help

 

Yeah its normal. I do it all the time by accident. haha.

It shouldnt hurt anything. Be safe.

 

First, buy some AMSoil it helps a lot with the smoothness of the shifting. Second, shift with authority.

Mike

 

It sure will with enough time. That noise is teeth grinding instead of meshing, you can rip the teeth off that way. It does happen from time to time when your light with the shift,as snowboarding82 said if you shift with authority [strong foot pushes, not taps] you eliminate it. Missingthe shift at a higher gear is a newb mistake that you shouldn't make too often but the 1st to 2nd haunts everyoneeveryonce in a while.

 

You can also purchase a shift kit for about $150 that will help tighten up the mechanism and make missed shifts more rare.

 

don't change gears in a turn. You should either be accelerating or maintaining speed in a turn. It doesn't matter at normal speeds and lean, but at higher speeds and lean, you don't want to upset the the bike with bad throttle management.

+1, don't shift like a *****.