Strange sound pulling away from first gear - advice please

[phatngo]

Hi all, noob help request please.

I'm 7 weeks into owning my first bike, a 2007 GS500. Runs great, although I noticed (after I bought it) a grinding sound when pulling away from first gear, about 80% of the time. It sounded like the chain wasn't catching the sprockets properly then suddenly 'grabbed', then all was good. 20% of the time take off was pretty smooth. I decided to change the chain and sprockets, and adjusted the chain properly, as there seemed to be some tight spots on the chain.

Long story short it sounds much better, and most of the time there's no grinding sound. I've also changed oil and filter. Sometimes though, there's a very short grind, as if the gear is clunking into place. It's not smooth at all, but 2-5 gear shifts all seem fine, with pretty quiet shifts. The clunk comes when I feather the clutch out from first, and roll the throttle to take off. No matter how softly I feather, the clunk is there.

I'm wondering if there might be a wider clutch/first gear problem, or is this what GS500s sound like. It's my first bike so I've no idea really.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Bluesmudge]

How much clutch free play do you have at the lever? I'm thinking your clutch is not fully disengaging.

Have you done a clutch adjustment recently?
http://wiki.gstwins.com/index.php?n=Maintenance.FrontSproketCoverRemoval

[lucas]

Interesting issue you got here... I don't know what is going on but perhaps you aren't fully in first gear when this is happening.

Try holding the shifter pedal down with your foot while you pull away and see if that makes any difference.  It might give you some clues if you can feel the grinding and clunk through the shifter pedal.

[phatngo]

Hmmm, when I changed the sprockets and took off that front sprocket cover, I did pull out that clutch pin it refers to in that flow. I wonder if I didn't put it back in far enough and that's affecting it. Will open her up again later and see if it will go in any further.

I have adjusted the free play on the clutch cable, but nowhere else. I might go through that process from the link you shared and see if that changes anything. Cheers lads