Clunky Transmission

About six weeks ago I took a test ride on a 2006 RSTD that had about 6k miles on it. That same day I rode a Victory Vision and a Triumph Rocket III Touring. One thing that I noticed was how the shifting on the Victory and the Triumph felt like the H-D's I've had... a hard clunk in first and even going into the higher gears. The RSTD felt smoother, like my Road Star.

I bought a 2007 Venture 2 weeks ago and the tranny feels more like the other bikes than the RSTD. In fact, my wife thought there was a problem with the bike because of the hard "clunks" every time I change gears.

Is this normal for the Venture and not the RSTD or is it normal for both and I just happened to ride an odd one?

I also posted this in another forum hoping to get enough replies to know if this is normal on this bike.

Thanks!

I just happened to ride an odd one?

An odd one....

Is it possible that the Clutch needs bleeding ??

Might be worth haveing the dealer check that out.

I've always had good luck smoothing out a clunky shifter by using a synthetic oil.

But don't really want to start another oil thread.

My 05 is a smooth shifter most of the time. The only time its bad is when the driver (me) does something.

And it does get a little "rougher" at oil change time it seems. I use synthetic.

synthic oiul will help, but also checkout your shifter link and pivot bolt and make sure they are working easly. i've had times whenthe pivot get tight and i spray wd40 on it to free it up. or if the bolt comes loose it will bind up making it hard to shift. i did loose the bolt from the shifter not long after i bought it, may not have been thight from factory.

Well, changed oil (Amsoil 10w40) Saturday and made a 60 mile ride today. Wife mentioned how the clunk was gone. Synthetic comes through again!