I was just at the dealer, and sat on a new KFX400 and was able to shift through all of the gears, including reverse, with the bike off, and not moving. I then walked over and sat on a LTZ400, and tried shifting through all the gears, and wasn't able to. The KFX has been in the store for at least a couple weeks, and looks like it has been ridden a little (like outside for display purposes) where the LTZ looks like they just rolled it out of the crate (judging by discoloration of the tires).

My question is, is the KFX tranny setup better, is the LTZ tranny misadjusted, or is the KFX tranny just a little more broke in?

I also noticed that the parking brake wasn't adjusted correctly on the Z. Is there much variation in setup on these things?

 

no, the transmissions are the same. lets put it this way, the two bikes a absolutely the same excact thing. i dont see why there would be a problem with the z, and not its clogne the kfx.

 

I know sometimes on my Z when I'm in netural and go to shift into 1st I cant every once in a while and I need to rock the bike back and fourth a little bit, just so it rolls a little bit foward or backwards, then it goes right in.

And thats weird that you said the parking brake wasnt adjusted right because mine got screwed up about a week ago, and I've had it for almost 5 months now and I need to bring it in to get adjusted (even though I know I can do it myself, I'm still just going to bring it in and have them look at it) but when I told my friend he told me how his parking brake got messed up too about 2 weeks after he got his. I just thought that was kinda weird [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

What do you mean by sometimes? Does sit USUALLY slip into 1st, or do you have to work at it pretty often?

I currenly have a Yamaha Warrior, and it has to be the worst tranny in the world...I was amazed when i felt how easy it was to shift the KFX, then was really disapointed when the Z didn't shift as well. I've also sat on an Arctic Cat that shifted easy too. Is it possible that some of these transmissions aren't as dialed in as others, or is this just the luck of the draw with how it happens to be sitting in the showroom?

I know most bikes don't like to be shifted when the bike is off, lord knows my Warrior wouldn't dream of shifting with the engine off!...so simply starting the bike up might have resolved the problem, but you can't really do that in the showroom... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

No, every once in a while when I'm just sitting there in nutural when I go to put it into 1st to take off once in a while it's like inbetween gears or something and it wont go into 1st easily unless I roll it just a little bit backwards or just a little bit fowards, then it'll go in fine, I'm sure im making it sound worse than it really is... its normal.

 

Your static shifting test, ryangibson, means nothing at all. It tells you squat about how the bike shifts when you're actually riding it. Any motorcycle type tran will need to be rolled back and forth to go through the gears, unless the dogs and slots on the gears are lined up, which is more a matter of luck than anything else.

 

Yes, thats what I ment... thats what I was talking about b4. What I was trying to explain is normal, when you're actually riding it the gears go in nice, I fly through mine w/o any problems every day [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Thats good. I know cycle trannys shift a lot easier when they are running/moving, but I was really impressed with that first KFX though, regardless of luck, there's <U>no way</U> I'd get my Warrior to "static shift" in a milliion years! Suzuki must have really done their homework when they designed that tranny!
Have any of you had your tranny pop out of gear under heavy load? My warrior does that too. Talk about suck. Half way up a hill climb, and suddenly you are going backwards! AHHHHHH!!!

 

Any of yalls back break disc squeek all the time?Like when I'm riding slow it will squeek then I can tap the break and its stops for a bit but soon as I slow down I can hear squeek squeek squeek...it looks fine and is very clean,infact it squeeked before it even went in the dirt after we put it together.I figured maybe it was a breaking in thing but now I'm starting to wonder.Not hurting anything though just sounds gheto when rolling through the pits lol.

On the KFX V/s Z400 tranny they are the same.I duno maybe its cause the KFX has been serviced out and run a bit lubing up the internal gears some duno just an idea...

 

LoL. I can just hear you screaching through the pits like you have a slipping fanbelt like some gheto racer! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Sounds like brake dust. I'd get a can of brake cleaner spray, and take your rear calliper apart and clean it off real well. Probably a simple fix.

....Do these have cross drilled rear roters? Cross drilled holes should eliminate a brake dust problem...If that's the case, I'd say they used a crappy set of pads. Some brake pad material just squeeks, and there's nothing you can do but buy better brake pads. My friend experienced that on his car when doing his own brake job...had to re-do the whole thing with better pads! You get what you pay for with pads.