I've had my Vaquero for 4 yrs now and I can say that this is a clunky transmission. Especially in the lower gears. It is normal for these bikes. The explanation usually surrounds square cut gears in the transmission. Seems to be a Kawi thing. My 900 was clunky too, but not as much as the Vaquero. I attribute it to larger gears to handle the higher torque. Don't know why the Meany would have shifted smoother, but I've never seen a comparison before.

 

Thank's Steve, I just want to make sure everything is alright. I might get uses to it with time !

 

Different oils make the shift more or less clunky, too.

 

They are all very loud when changing gears. My Yamaha was that way too.
Makes you think the transmission is ready to fall out.

 

Thank you friends for your answers, I think I'm starting to get used to it. Riding this motorcycle makes me forget these details.

 

This is common with many bikes for as long as I can remember (30+ years). It’s not an issue that you have to do anything about, it just means your not shifting correctly. On bikes you don’t do ‘the car’ shift on these (Off throttle, disengage clutch, shift, engage clutch while adding throttle).

You just have to preload the shift. The trick is to apply pressure to your shifter (like if you are going to shift, but not quite), and hold it, then off throttle while pulling in clutch and the pressure you’ve already applied to shifter should allow it to slip into next gear with no clunk. Thats the proper way (and cooler way ) to shift.

For down shifting, you don’t have to do anything special, but if you're clunking, it just means your down shifting too early, if you let rpms come down more it shouldn’t clunk.

 

Thank you Cobra, I have already experienced several ways to improve my driving and it is starting to pay off. It's just adaptation, I had a Mean Streak right before and the gear changes were much smoother, which is why I was worried.

 

I came from a V Star 950 and it was smooth, My Vaquero in the beginning made me start out in 3rd gear just so I did not have to hear the CLUNK, Now I just start in 2nd most of the time. You do get used to it sorta.

 

I have the 1700 Vulcan Nomad. Yes...I was surprised by the clunky and loud gear shifting. I to thought there was something that might be wrong, but I am told it is normal...WOW!!