I bought a 2018 Monster R a couple of months back and its always been a pain to find neutral. Ive bled and bled and bled the clutch at both ends, fiddled with span adjusters but its gradually getting worse. There is now a faint groan at the slave cylinder when i pull the clutch lever (bike not running else wouldnt hear it). Even the 'finding neutral whilst rolling to a stop' makes no difference going from 1st to N or 2nd to N. I know the previous owner had an oberon slave cylinder fitted. I believe this was asthetics rather than the original not working because the bike was, and still is, under extended warranty. Before i make the trip to the dealer to be charged a small fortune for something potentially simple, are there any obvious things i can check at home? Many thanks
I'd say you have a small amount of clutch drag. Whilst I know what to do on a dry clutch, I think yours is a wet clutch and I don't know whether the principles are exactly the same so I shall follow this thread with interest.
If it goes into neutral easily when the engine is not running then it is very likely to be the clutch dragging slightly causing resistance to moving parts when trying to find neutral. All you can do is go through the system.Engine Oil type can make a difference. If you have the original slave cylinder you could try swapping back to that.
So I can’t even suggest taking the plates out and cleaning out all the accumulated clutch dust . As @OMG says try refitting the original cylinder if you have it see if the issue is perhaps a slight incompatibility between the Oberon cylinder and push rod length. One further thought, when you bled the clutch you did bleed both ends didn’t you? At the slave and at the master cylinder?
Sorry, i should have been clearer. The standard slave was refitted before i bought the bike. But certainly only an issue when the engine is running yes, so a dragging issue. The oil in the bike, im told, is Motul 300V 15/50. I'll start looking around to see if thats a known issue. Its on the original slave and yeah ive bled at both ends, multiple times.
You'll have to excuse my ignorance, but how could this affect the clutch / neutral? The chain is within the tollorance suggested in the manual.
I find that gear changes in general are less smooth when the chain needs tightening and as finding neutral is usually the worst in a Ducati gearbox it just highlights it. If your chain is within tolerance then it must be something else causing the problem.
I guess the next question is, the clutch slave, being less than 2000 miles old 'should' be fine. But ive not removed/fitted one before but doesnt look like theres much that could go wrong.
I’ve got an Oberon slave cylinder on my 996, also fitted a new stock master cylinder last month. That was for cosmetic reasons only. I reckon my gearbox is one of the smoothest I’ve had but I do make a habit of finding neutral while I’m still rolling whenever possible. If I was suffering the issues you’ve got I’d try a different brand oil and hydraulic fluid. Something you can do yourself relatively inexpensively. I just bought a ‘17 M1200R, awaiting delivery.
I replaced my clutch slave on my M1200, with an Oberon unit. No problems lighter pull on the clutch, try bleeding the cylinder first. Cable tie the clutch lever back to prevent the fluid from draining out of the reservoir. Remove the connection to the slave undo the bleed nipple and top up the fluid so it comes up to the top of the slave. Replace the connection and close the bleed nipple, cut the cable tie, then bleed the system with new dot 4. The Oberon has a larger diameter piston which increases mechanical advantage, but reduces the stroke length. You could try a standard slave, to see if that helps.
Maybe just need to bleed the clutch. multi 1200 I had in 2013, started with a struggle to find neutral on an Alps tour, followed by almost no response to the lever. Turned out it just needed two minutes work to get the air out.
I had similar with my 1200R but check how much clutch lever free play you have. If you have too much, it will make it difficult to engage neutral.
