kicking in neutral

[PunkBiker]

I bought a '95 kdx200 recently, near perfect condition...has less than 10 hours on it.

When I start the bike in neutral (in the freezing cold), the bike will make a little bit of noise in the transfer case and you can see the chain slightly kicking around, as if it is wanting to pop into gear. Since it is winter, I don't know if it does this under normal weather conditions.
The bike has 80 weight synthetic oil in it, and since it is cold, it is more like kyro syrup. Is this kicking normal, or do I need to make some type of adjustment somewhere?

 

[KelvinKDX]

Have you tried starting the bike and letting it warm up good and then repeating your kicking experience (say with theengine kill button pushed in) to see what happens when it is warm and the oil is not sludge??

 

[PunkBiker]

No I haven't...when I got the bike a few weeks ago, it was cold outside and I started it up and zipped it around the parking lot a few times, but it wasn't enough time to let it warm up completely.
I'll try it tomorrow and let it run long enough to get warm and see how it acts.

 

[PunkBiker]

ok, I just put the torque ring on and then fired her up...let it warm up, all the while it was kicking, I put the bike on a stand and the kicking was making the rear wheel spin.
After the bike warmed up, the kicking and spinning went away.
So is it just the fact that the oil is so thick that is causing this? And is this harmful to the components? Should I run a lighter weight oil in the winter? Does synthetic oil thicken in the cold more so than non-synthetic oil?

 

[skipro3]

I just checked mine and on the stand in neutral starting cold, the rear wheel will turn just slightly when I rev it up a little. After warming up, it goes away. So I think that is just normal.

 

[libskater]

a thicker oil can cause this in the winter. i use catrol 10w30

 

[Canadian Dave]

That would seem normal to me. Just ensure you warm things up well before riding.

David

 

[fitterod]

Do you have an owners manual? If so, see what type of oil it says to use. I just bought an 04 200. My manual says to use 10w-40 motor oil for most conditions. In colder wheather use 10w-30.

 

[bake]

Do yourself and the bike a favor and either change to a lighter oil for the cold or leave it alone until the weather warms up.

bake