I am a noob to motorcycles, so I am not sure if there is something wrong with my bike. When I am at a standstill and I try to shift from 1st to 2nd, it sometimes will only go to neutral. I know neutral is a half click up from first, but I tried to do a full click to get into 2nd gear and it doesn't work all the time. Sometimes it will go from 1st to 2nd in a full click up, but other times, it would only go to neutral from first no matter how hard I push up on the shifter.

I also noticed while riding, that what I thought was shifting into 2nd gear, turned out to be neutral. I know I am pushing pretty hard up on the shifter, so it should be going past neutral into 2nd. Is this a sign something is wrong with my bike?

 

Most likely it is related to being new to motorcycles. Most shifters are adjustable and can be adjusted for your particular seating position. Have a more experienced rider take it for a ride and give you their opinion. They can probably tell you if there is a problem or not.

 

I agree with what IDoDirt said. It's like getting in a car without adjusting the seat, steering wheel and mirrors to suit you. You won't be able to operate the vehicle in an efficient manner.

That being said, if you are getting enough leverage on the shifter and it won't shift from first to second very well, then your bike may have a problem. What year of bike is it? I know some of the earlier ones are prone to problems with 2nd gear where the dogs get worn off. Basically under upshift at higher rpm or under high load, it will kick down to N. I'd have an experienced rider take it out and see, because its not a cheap or easy fix to swap gears.