Well, after 45k and lots of hard riding at times, last weekend I went to make a pass on a car going over Blewitt Pass while on a 400 mile ride around the Cascade Mountains, I down shifted prolly to 4th Im guessing and pinned it. half way through the pass and at 7-8k rpm the sucker popped into a false neutral, I clicked up a gear and kept going but that was shocker. Now I do remember being a bit easy on the shifter that time and didnt bang on it as hard as I usually do, I always clutch when shifting and the shifts are clean clicks (once past second of course)... Ive found a couple false neutrals while upshifting before but never just pop out of gear while accelerating... thoughts?

 

I think you have a valid concern but unless you can get it to do it repeatedly I'd chalk it up to a bad shift during a long day with 100's or maybe even 1000's of shifts that were fine.

 

There's lots of talk about shift kits for the Superhawk and for a couple hundred bucks I will probably do one. Not right now.

It's been a switch to move back the the Superhawk after months of riding the Interceptor how clunky the 'Hawk is but it's mostly me not getting the foot right. I have done the quicker-shifting mod but it's really about having your boot in the right place.

When you really look at all the parameters, it's not really hard to understand the comparison. The power delivery on VFR is very smooth, the Superhawk is volcanic. Bigger teeth on the bigger dog. God had it right the first time. Honda just followed step.

 

Yes, that is probably right, it was toward the end of a long day and it may have been a fluke. Just thought since I started hanging out here and that just happened I thought I'd bounce it off you. Thanks

And nuhawk, I like that description, volcanic... yamon.

 

thought mine might have been slipping but I think it was just bad clutch timing after a long day's ride. I tried to slip it on the highway this morning. at 90mph, in 6th I abruptly went full throttle and at first I got a little bit of that pre-launch shakiness and then just pulled hard right to 120. did that a few times but then I was at my exit before I new it. anyway, I couldn't break it loose in 6th so I think I'm ok.

 

The clutch didnt slip, it slipped out of gear several seconds after downshifting to pass while accelerating at full throttle.

Anyway, Ive been pretty happy with the clutch engagement on the SH, for having a hydraulic clutch you can fan it and it engages smoothly for me although on hard down shifts the backend will hop around which I dont care for.
My track bike is a TL1000R, its the reverse or was until I converted it to a cable clutch setup, it still engages suddenly and is a grabby on acceleration with its slipper style design but its nice on downshifting, the rear may hop just a little but it tracks well and is much better.

 

The rear hop is caused by too much preload on the rear shock. Basically it's topping out on braking. Maybe a hint more rebound and try setting rider sag at 25-30mm and see what happens.

 

Thanks, I did set the sag to 28 mm on both bikes and have played with dampening, the SH just is a bit harsher than the TL. I may be overstating the intensity of the rear wheel hop. I didnt say but this is all on the track so Im coming into corners full on. Ive not experienced the hop on the street, just dont ride that hard there. The valving in the shock may need some tweeking too. The problem with increasing the rebound too much in Seattle is the track is bumpy and its a fine line between wheel hop and getting loose over bumps because the wheel cant rebound quick enough.. more money, better equipment.

 

On very hard braking the shock will top out either way. You can crank the rebound up but then you're looking at possible packing down on a series of bumps, and that's not good either. The stock shock is a great doorstop. I suggest finding an aftermarket one sprung properly for your weight if you plan on doing a lot of track days.