Hello...I'm new to Honda-Tech and am looking for answers to a problem I'm with my '83 Honda Shadow 750.

When the motorcycle is running and the kick stand is up, I can rev the engine in neutral and when its in gear (with the clutch engaged) however, I let out the clutch and the engine dies.

We bled the clutch fluid line to get rid of any air bubbles but the engine still stalls when I let the clutch out...any ideas?

...and it is difficult to get it back into neutral after the engine dies...

 

The kickstand has a safety switch at the base. It's most likely faulty. Bypass, or better yet, replace it, and see if that solves the problem.

As for the difficulty of putting it into neutral, you'll most likely have to rock the bike back or forth to get it to properly align and drop into neutral. That's the reason why I love kawi's PNF (Positive Neutral Finder) because as long as you're not rolling, it'll go all the way down to first if you downshift. But it won't go into second when you up shift unless you're at speeds.

Is this the first bike you've owned/ridden/maintained?

 

This is the first bike I've owned...I've ridden before when I was a teenager on dirt bikes and it was years ago...

 

good luck with the bike, I have an '85 Shadow vt700c that I just got done putting in a new battery. The tach doesn't work so need to fix that but it seems to be in excellent mechanical condition for being such an old bike. Those old Shadow's were great and very reliable, some people say they were some of the best bikes that Honda has ever made, very low maintenance, also they didn't have too many issues either.

 

I've checked the clutch switch...I don't believe the Shadow kickstand switch was installed until '84. anyway the clutch switch seems to be ok. I bled the master cylinder again and now the clutch will not engage--trying to put it into 1st with the motor running grinds the gears...I'm at a loss as to what to do next. any ideas?

 

Might need a master cylinder it could be it's not pushing the fluid enough so it won't engage the clutch all the way.

 

Thanks for the post. I took it to a local mechanic and it turned out there was air in the hose--even after we bled it 3 times! If this didn't work it was going to be a new master cylinder. The bike runs great now!