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Neutral Made Easy: Say Goodbye to Gear Hunting on Your Harley!

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#1 ·
Has anyone tried this part from Kraus Moto? Is it worth it? It is mighty pricey at $92 EZ-Shift (Twin Cam) .

 
#2 ·
Has anyone tried this part from Kraus Moto? Is it worth it? It is mighty pricey at $92 EZ-Shift (Twin Cam) .

I have it on my '23 Limited and it's tits. Satya Kraus (owner and founder of Kraus) personally installed it on my bike at Sturgis this year. Haven't had a problem finding neutral since. Also if you are like me with the black out on your engine...it completely covers up that ugly rear shift arm so you don't have to take your whole primary off to replace it.

Picture of me talking with Satya after the install and one of his guys helping me adjust my Thrashin shift arm and linkage (awkward...but he did see that I had more of his parts than theirs on the bike so he let it slide :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: )

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#3 ·
What about twin cam ? It's the one that started the finding neutral problem.
I never thought about raising the angle. Might have to fabricate something to test out.
 
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#5 ·
I was wondering the same thing. His video describes M8’s, then when you link to the Kraus website it’s kinda confusing because their listing describes both M8 and twin cam and does so almost interchangeably as if they’re the same bike 🤷🏼‍♂️?

When I put in my bike info (2011) it says it fits. I’m interested because my scoots next to impossible to find neutral, always has been, unless I'm slow-rolling. If I’m at a stop you can almost forget about it…..
 
#13 ·
Like I said, I love mine and haven't had any difficulties since installing it. I was fine in finding neutral until I had been running the bike hard all day. Then I would have an issue if I was stopped. Since installing I haven't had any issues.

Even if it didn't do anything for me on finding neutral, it at least covered up that rear shifter arm that was unsightly. It working was just a bonus. lol

I think I paid $87 total during the rally buying it at J&P Cycles.
 
#14 ·
Like I said, I love mine and haven't had any difficulties since installing it. I was fine in finding neutral until I had been running the bike hard all day. Then I would have an issue if I was stopped. Since installing I haven't had any issues.

Even if it didn't do anything for me on finding neutral, it at least covered up that rear shifter arm that was unsightly. It working was just a bonus. lol

I think I paid $87 total during the rally buying it at J&P Cycles.
I tried J&P if only to get around paying for shipping, but they didn’t show a listing for my 2011 so I ended up just ordering from Kraus.
 
#20 ·
For you gents having trouble finding neutral on your twin cam are you running an aftermarket tensioner in the primary like the Hayden? I never had an issue finding neutral till I started adding aftermarket parts in the primary. Went back to the original tensioner in the 09 about 5-years ago and finding neutral was easy again. Just a thought!
 
#26 ·
Mine sucked with the original tensioner, sucked with the Hayden, and still sucks back with original, especially when it's hot .
 
#21 ·
Wow this is timely. Two days ago I saw that you tube. I had trouble at times finding neutral on my M8. My TC was easy, just blip the clutch out a little and it would pop right into neutral. So being a little leery of whether this device would work and it costing $100 I made one yesterday. I moved the linkage connection vertically up about 30mm. It is a night and day difference. I am very happy with the results. Even just normal shifting seems lighter. BTW Ebay has Chinese versions for twenty bucks.


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#56 ·
Wow this is timely. Two days ago I saw that you tube. I had trouble at times finding neutral on my M8. My TC was easy, just blip the clutch out a little and it would pop right into neutral. So being a little leery of whether this device would work and it costing $100 I made one yesterday. I moved the linkage connection vertically up about 30mm. It is a night and day difference. I am very happy with the results. Even just normal shifting seems lighter. BTW Ebay has Chinese versions for twenty bucks. View attachment 490988
Called what on ebay? Or link
 
#33 ·
I have that same inner shift arm and found it didn't really make it easier to find neutral. Maybe the Kraus piece isn't what it's marketed as, but I do know that the combination of the two works well and I have absolutely no issues finding N any longer.

As @phillyfan1 stated...I found the $80 investment I made completely worth it just to cover up the stock rear shift arm just for the looks aspect. I was not looking forward to removing the whole primary to install a different looking one nor looking to mask off the entire bike to try and spray paint the existing one.
 
#28 ·
My '21 is no problem finding N from day 1. The '09 fought me until I started doing this, I think somebody on here told me about it maybe. Come to a stop, roll backwards some, neutral super easy.

That Kraus piece is very nice. I would buy it just to cover the stocker up
 
#29 ·
My '21 is no problem finding N from day 1. The '09 fought me until I started doing this, I think somebody on here told me about it maybe. Come to a stop, roll backwards some, neutral super easy.
Same, not a problem at all with my 21 in fact it's quite easy. I have the heel shifter on both as well as on the King, so maybe that makes it easier. I cannot shift without the heel shifter due to ankle mobility issues so I wouldn't know if it was hard to find neutral without it.
 
#31 ·
If you really wanted to make it easy to find neutral, you could install a Baker N1 drum. That would change your shift pattern to N123456. Then neutral is all the way down. I’ve used them on a lot of evo and Twinkie choppers just because most of them didn’t have dash indicator lights
 
#32 ·
Does the neutral and sixth gear light still work?
 
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#37 ·
Interesting reading. I had pretty much decided that my 09 only had a neutral till your started the motor. After that neutral didn't exist. Stock primary chain wise, but running Alto Carbonite plates with Aim hat. I had blamed it on clutch drag from the hyd clutch. Even stopped there was enough friction that feel. Swapped to ATF in the primary and that reduced the drag, but neutral is almost impossible to hit.
Interested to see what the thoughts are once someone installs this
 
#40 ·
Like I said in the 2nd post...I think it's the cat's ass. I has made finding neutral child's play at this point. I never even think about it when sitting at a light. If you decide to do it, I don't think you would be disappointed. As stated before, aesthetically it is worth the price too in my opinion.
 
#38 ·
f me I gotta stop hanging out here, keeps costing me $...lol. Neutral been a PITA since I got my new bike. I installed the short front arm from Thrashin... better but still an issue sometimes. Adjusted clutch, experimented with diff trans fluids. Just ordered this part on hopes of resolving the issue. Was gonna order from Kraus, but $22 shipping give me a break. J&P for the win, free shipping. Will report back once I get some miles on it.
 
#39 ·
f me I gotta stop hanging out here, keeps costing me $...lol. Neutral been a PITA since I got my new bike. I installed the short front arm from Thrashin... better but still an issue sometimes. Adjusted clutch, experimented with diff trans fluids. Just ordered this part on hopes of resolving the issue. Was gonna order from Kraus, but $22 shipping give me a break. J&P for the win, free shipping. Will report back once I get some miles on it.
Because of the ridiculous shipping rate, I also looked at J&P as they seem to be the only third party selling it. Unfortunately they don’t stock the one for my 2011 so had to go back and order direct from Kraus. Got notice it shipped today and will be here Tuesday.

Interesting reading. I had pretty much decided that my 09 only had a neutral till your started the motor. After that neutral didn't exist. Stock primary chain wise, but running Alto Carbonite plates with Aim hat. I had blamed it on clutch drag from the hyd clutch. Even stopped there was enough friction that feel. Swapped to ATF in the primary and that reduced the drag, but neutral is almost impossible to hit.
Interested to see what the thoughts are once someone installs this
Same. My 2011 has always been impossible to find neutral, UNLESS I’m at a slow roll, and then it’ll pop right in…. 🤷🏼‍♂️. And it was the same with the OE tensioner, a screamin eagle tensioner, a gen 3 OE tensioner, two different clutch packs, and two different cables. I’ve also used four or 5 different primary and trans lubes. Aaaaaand, I’ve adjusted it probably a dozen times both in the primary and also with the cable. Nothing has made any difference:
 
#41 ·
Has anyone tried this part from Kraus Moto? Is it worth it? It is mighty pricey at $92 EZ-Shift (Twin Cam) .


I think the real issue is the non adjustable clutch cable on the M8 platform. I've never had to hunt with my hydraulic clutch. Yet I've never been happy with the free play in the new clutch cables after the factory adjustment procedure. There are several companies out there that make a proper adjustable clutch cable for the M8 platform that would actually be a real solution instead of this gimmick.
 
#42 ·
I’m not sure what played bigger role me switching to FB adjuster on my (totalled) 22 and whole upper cable (on my 24) or the fact that I’m trying to not overfill the primary but I didn’t have to hunt for neutral in over 30k miles. It’s just right there when I need it.
 
#47 ·
I have a question about this finding neutral problem. It's puzzling. I've owned 7 Harleys over the years - 1 dyna, 1 softail, 5 touring, and while finding neutral is sometimes a bit wonky, it was never bad enough for me to pine for a solution. When it happens, a couple tries and I've been fine.

The question for those who've found this to be the cure, was it just happening on one particular bike, or have you always experienced difficulty finding neutral?
 
#49 ·
It’s not that I couldn’t find neutral, it‘s that this makes it effortless. There is no need for the two or three tries that normally came with shifting to it from a standstill after installing this. It just pops right in. A simple change in the geometry made it easier along with the added bonus of covering up the stock rear inner shift arm that is always an eyesore yet requires way too much work to replace with something better looking.
 
#52 ·
I installed one yesterday but didn’t have time to test it out.
The Kraus Website states it is made for a stock OEM Shift Lever. I have a Baker Shift Lever and it would not fit without a slight modification.
I used a Dremel and smoothed out the Shift Lever to make the Kraus piece fit. Worked nicely.
Mike U.

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#53 ·
Thanks for that info Mike. That's exactly what I asked Roosterman about because I also have a Baker shirt lever on. Now I'll just wait to hear how you and Roosterman thinks it works on the Twin cam.
 
#58 ·
My son came by the house after work and installed mine today. I have Thrashin linkage which required no modification. He rode it around the block a few times and said that the overall shifting feels much smoother and for lack of a better word he said it “clicked” into gear rather than clunked like before……. He’s gonna take his girlfriend for a ride Saturday and will give a full report…..
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#59 ·
My son came by the house after work and installed mine today. I have Thrashin linkage which required no modification. He rode it around the block a few times and said that the overall shifting feels much smoother and for lack of a better word he said it “clicked” into gear rather than clunking……. He’s gonna take his girlfriend for a ride Saturday and will give a full report….. View attachment 491206 View attachment 491207
Uh oh, he's gonna convert to bagger life! 😄

In all seriousness I hope your health issue isn't too concerning an ordeal