K75 - Engine Work & Shift Slip Between 4 and 5

[NickyV]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Finally picked up a K75 a couple weeks ago and have been doing research to figure out the direction I will be heading on this journey. Been wanting a K bike for a couple years and glad I finally found one locally. This bike has over 100k miles but still seems to run decent, maintenance history shows previous owner was great with regular oil changes. There was some oil around the oil pan but after my hour long ride back home I don't have any fresh leaks which is a great sign. Though on the ride I noticed that if I didn't kick hard enough from 4 to 5 then it wouldn't catch. On the maintenance notes, it shows that the "clutch hub shows almost no wear" and "swapped driveshaft for used."

Any recommendation on what to look for on this issue? Or if it's something I should worry about? Another piece is when I pull the throttle, there is some hesitation or delay. I picked up a shop manual for the bike as I'd like to handle most but would like some tips or a good starting point on where to look? I appreciate any and all support and am excited to join the club!

Thank you!

[K1300S]

these bikes like "decisive" shifts.  if you don't pull that toe up firmly, you will find "false neutrals" between all the gears.  preloading the shift lever helps.

[Laitch]

if you don't pull that toe up firmly, you will find "false neutrals" between all the gears.

Amen.

You should also review your clutch adjustment.
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[NickyV]

these bikes like "decisive" shifts.  if you don't pull that toe up firmly, you will find "false neutrals" between all the gears.  preloading the shift lever helps.

Ah got it. Seller mentioned clutch was replaced but I looked through the records he gave me and didn't see anything other than the note mentioned, so was a little worried it could be something else but that makes sense.

Amen.

You should also review your clutch adjustment.

Will do. I'm planning to do a small tear down, just going through to replace anything I can see that def needs it. If there is any old rubber or gaskets. Luckily, doesn't seem like I'm leaking anything and maintenance was done regularly but it hasn't had too many miles put on in the last couple years, so not sure how much sitting it has done.

[frankenduck]

When you disconnect the clutch cable from the clutch arm make sure that you don't let the clutch arm fall back too far. If that happens then there's a spring in the $50 clutch boot that can tear the boot.  In this case I used zip-ties to do that.

[Chaos]

Another piece is when I pull the throttle, there is some hesitation or delay.

Thank you!

Probably normal, if you roll on the throttle slowly it should rev up smoothly.  Whacking it open quickly it will hesitate, a symptom of the early fuel injection technology used on early K's.  The dealer demonstrated it when I bought mine in '86, guess they got tired of customers thinking something was wrong with their new bike. 

[frankenduck]

Probably normal, if you roll on the throttle slowly it should rev up smoothly.  Whacking it open quickly it will hesitate, a symptom of the early fuel injection technology used on early K's.  The dealer demonstrated it when I bought mine in '86, guess they got tired of customers thinking something was wrong with their new bike.

What I do is set the idle at 1200ish to get rid of some of the initial hesitation. (And adjust the TPS accordingly.)

[NickyV]

What I do is set the idle at 1200ish to get rid of some of the initial hesitation. (And adjust the TPS accordingly.)

Ah, appreciate the note, will keep that noted. The last thing I want to do is damage parts when I'm trying to clean up or fix things.

Makes sense though on the throttle, I'll have to look into how to adjust the idle and TPS. Appreciate the support!