2 Stroke Issues with Shifting Into First Gear

Hey everyone,

I’m pretty new with riding manual bikes, I grew up with automatic Mini Bikes when I was a kid and am confident riding in general, and now that I’m older I figured I’d upgrade and teach myself something new.. so with that I just bought myself a 1978 Suzuki RM125 (2 Stroke - 6 Speed - 800cc) MX Bike. I got myself familiar with how clutches and gears work, but I think my issue dives a little deeper into more than just how they work and more so a specific aspect of maybe the bike itself.

So, my issue is this: I kick start my bike in neutral, let it warm up a little bit, then once it comes time to ride, I pull in my clutch lever and try to engage it into first gear, but it dies every time I do that from a stand still… So I tried again, brought it back to neutral, started her back up, and this time I let it roll a little bit foreward with the clutch engaged, once I let it move, I then was able to put it into first gear just fine and was ripping all over…. Am I always going to need a rolling start in order to get it to engage into first from neutral? Are there any tips or advice to counter this? I’m just thinking long term as I plan to make it street legal, if I were to stop on an Incline like I did today and stall out, or if I were at a stop light and needed to get back to first if I accidentally went back to Neutral, what would be the best course of action to switching from Neutral to First and getting it to engage without having to walk it around struggling and looking like an idiot.

Thanks y’all
 
Last edited:

SRAD97750

Moderator
Staff member
There’s a little bit of slack, I’ll double check how much there is when I get back home, but would too much or too little slack in the cable be causing this?
Too much slack. Allowing the plates to remain together, even with the lever fully depressed. -BIG DAN:thumb:
 
If the clutch cable adjustment is eliminated as a cause, my next guess would be a notched clutch basket, especially since it is a RM were talking about. Also too low of idle rpm may be a contributing factor. I’ve had similar issues with my RM 250, and many times you can get away with just giving the throttle good twist just as you slip the bike into gear.
 
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