My new bike is great but it engages a little hard. I was doing some rock crawling and it made it tough. When your just on the edge of tipping with one tire 2 foot in the air you need a nice soft engagement. Has anyone messed with their engagement?

 

My friend and I both got 09 demo 850's. His clutch engages harshly and mine is a lot smoother.

 

Mine engages very sporadically, unpredictably and jerkily. I figured this was a function of the CVT operation. It is definitely NOT smooth. If it should be smooth, then I need to take it to dealer for adjustment.

 

550 XP - same!

 

Both my 850 and 550 are harsh as well....That is just how they are I believe..Luckilly I do not do the technical trails!

 

Look at your RPMs when you take off, ours did the same thing but if I ease the RPMs up until the clutch engages and the motor is warm it is smooth. It seems with very little pressure on the throttle the RPMs jump 300 or 400 higher than needed to start moving. Must be all that power.

 

My 550 does the same thing, especially in Low. My dealer had to pick up my machine from my house to installed my winch and I saw it happen again for him when he was loading it in his truck. I asked about it and he said that it will always be that way because of how they redesigned the clutches and when it's "go time", it's "go time". I am finding with my machine as long as I get more and more miles on it, I can really get better at initiating the clutches and it isn't as rough.

 

My machine does the very same thing, that being cold or hot, reverse, low or high. At first, I didn't care for the clutch engagment but once you get used to it, it will be fine. I'm wondering if the aftermarket will have performance clutch springs like (EPI) had for the Kawasaki Prairie.

 

Not to beat a dead horse, but mine is "harsh" in reverse when the belt is cold, but fine after it warms up. Once the engine has a minute or so to get the fluids going, I rap up the belt in Park (4000 rpm) and let it rip for 10-15 seconds, then give it a few blips and off I go. I find it makes a difference when the belt is warm. I have no issues on technical areas in Low after it's had a few minutes on the trail.

 

I find my 850 has rougher engagement in reverse, but not so much in forward gears. I think anything with so much power will jerk a little when it engages due to the amount of low end torque. I agree with Funride, after the bike has warmed up a little, engagement seems smoother.