I'm in the club. And a clutch question.

[yourfavorite]

First things first... After lurking for a while now, I'm finally in the club. Picked up my V7II today. I love the bike, but all the way home from the dealer I think I managed to get it into neutral one time. Whether coming from first or second, getting into neutral seems near impossible. I called the service dept and they said they noticed it too and that its new so all of that would get worked out at 600 mile service, but ideally I'd like to be able to sit at red lights in Neutral for the first 600 miles. I should also add that I didn't have such a hard time getting the demo bike into Neutral.

Anyway, here's what I'm experiencing:
1) With the bike off, it goes into N no problem.
2) When I first start the bike and put it into first gear with the clutch lever all the way in, the bike will roll forward a bit. This seems to only happen sometimes.
3) Rolling the bike backwards is much more difficult than when in N. (service guy said this is normal)
4) After doing some googling, I found people recommend revving the bike a bit and then trying to shift into N. This seems to have helped and allows me to get into N a little more frequently.

To me it seems like the clutch is dragging, but coming from the world of Vespas I default to those who are more familiar with this sort of thing. I'm also not really familiar with clutch adjustments on this kind of bike. On the Vespa I just adjust the bolts where the clutch cable terminates and we're good.

I appreciate any thoughts on the subject. Let me know if all of this is normal. Thanks!

[Vasco DG]

Peel back the rubber boot up on the clutch lever per hand you'll see the adjuster. Undo the lock ring and wind the adjuster out until you only get about 2mm gap at the never before the clutch begins to engage.  Re-tighten lock ring.

Should of been done before the bike left the shop.

Pete

[sib]

Do what Pete says.  My own method of adjusting the clutch is a little different, but either way works.  I like to put the bike in 1st gear with the engine off and on a level surface.  With the clutch lever fully pulled, roll the bike slowly (backward is easier than forward) and slowly let off the lever.  You shouldn't feel any resistance to rolling (indicating clutch beginning to engage) until the lever is at least 1/2 inch up from full pull.

That said, I find that the 6-sp gearbox is touchier about finding neutral than the 5-sp on my '13 Stone.  Not a biggie, I've gotten used to it, and can generally get it into neutral at stoplights.  (This opens a whole new can of worms about the wisdom of staying in gear at stops, but I'll let others take over the thread.)

[yourfavorite]

I do typically leave it in gear at lights, but there are a few lights that I know take forever and sometimes you just need to use your left hand for a minute. Once traffic is situated at a light I feel fairly safe flipping it to Neutral.

Thanks for the tip on the adjustment location. I had flipped back the first part of the rubber boot and didn't see anything. You have to push a little harder and it reveals the bolt. Made some minor adjustments there and N is much easier to find. Thanks for the help guys.

[fotoguzzi]

You can try to pre load the lever and feel it slip into N as you pull clutch in