As some of you lovely peeps are aware its been roughly a month since i purchased my brand new cbr 125r. But i’ve been having a problem. when i’m in neutral in traffic, I can’t change it to 1st when about to move off! I push down and it doesn’t go! it happens only once or twice though in a 20 mile journey…I have to turn off my engine and back on again to get it working. pls advise?
Have you tried releasing the clutch and reengaging it? It should drop in once you try again…
I’ve tried that and yes your right it does fix it that way, but not everytime…i just have to turn the engine off then on again…what could be wrong with it?
If this doesn’t work I would contact the dealer where you got it from. It’s only been a month and you shouldn’t be having these kind of problems. Was the problem persistent since the day you got it or has it just come around recently?
Just a temporary fix to the problem - When at lights etc or when you need to stop just leave the bike in first and just hold in the clutch. I don’t how many people actually do it this way but I find it is less hassle than to keep putting the bike into neutral especially as im quite heavy on the foot! 
my girlfriend occasionally has this problem on her cbr125r. Try rocking the bike forward as you push down on the gear lever. Works for her.
All good advice except please dont hold the bike in gear on the clutch lever.
That’s a test failure for a reason. It’s bad for the bike and what happens if the clutch cable breaks?
Don’t tell me clutch cables don’t break. They go whenever they feel like it.
And a hydraulic clutch would…?
Check the chain tension’s ok, in my experience that can make shifting spot on, or play absolute havoc with your gear shift on a smaller Honda.
Also, next time it sticks, try revving a teensy bit as you go to do the gear change. Again, being a smaller engine, sometimes it helps to get the guts moving to aid the shift (same as the previous comment about rocking the bike back & forth).
Ultimately though, as has been said already, if you’ve got a prob then take it back to the dealer as you’re still under warantee.
I didn’t actually think about the clutch cable breaking when I said that… Even though I am currently waiting on a new clutch cable from johns of romford after mine broke last week in the exact same situation
Is holding the clutch in when stopped just bad for the cable, or bad for a different reason also?
Sounds like clutch trouble to me, how close to the bar is your bite point?
doesn’t sound like there is anything abnormal about your clutch in this instance. Hold just the weight of your foot on the gear lever and ease out the clutch and it WILL engage every time. Its just a standard honda box trick. A bit of adjustment might help but won’t get rid of the prob completely. Feel free to not take this advice tho 
oh…and theres nowt wrong in my mind holding it in gear on the clutch. In all the oodles of years I’ve been abusing bikes I am yet to have a cable snap on me and its a wet clutch unlike a car so rev happily away if you so wish, you’ll look like a tool though sitting stationary revving your bike. If it does snap then the bike will stall unless it’s already moving.
I would not have thought it was bad for the cable…but dangerous for sure. Apart from the cable snapping, a mate got a light shunt from a car when he was in first, he lost his grip and the bike rocketed from under him…he happened to unfortunately twist the throttle as he was falling back :w00t:
Yeah - I have a brand new Honda CBF125 and it suffers the same problem - a mate who is an experienced ride of many years told me to move the wheels an inch or two, backwards or forwards, and try again - it will then engage - works for me every time 
Hopefully I’ll see one of you guys at the TLGP! Might even have a chance on my scooter!
I find ‘stuck in neutral/gear’ problems can be fixed by rolling a few inches forward, as Stevie Ramone mentioned.
I think holding the clutch in while at a traffic light, is about as dangerous as riding a motorcycle. The risk is so small its negligible.
Yes, the clutch cable may snap. Yes, your hand may slip and you may flip your bike as you tug on your throttle hand. OR a plane might crash land on top of you, and you would die regardless whether you had the clutch held in or not! seriously, whats the probability of any of those happening?
Also, I held the clutch in at all traffic lights in my DAS test, still passed.
I didn’t know that holding the bike in gear whilst stationery was a test failure? I’m sure I done that loads on my test!
It’s not a test failure in Holland, on the bike or in the car.
Curious. During my DAS training the instructors were insistent that we keep the bike in gear and hold the clutch in so we could be ready to move off without holding up traffic. Did it all through my test and passed without even a comment about it.
Sounds like this could be a debate similar to “Is WD40 ok for cleaning chains/does it damage the o-rings”
there is nothing wrong with holding it in gear on the clutch.
as for wd40 on chains - I don’t care what some g33k in a lab coat says i’ve used it on my chains for as long as I can remember and never had an issue - I do replace mine regularly though so maybe I haven’t had it long enough to appreciate the catastrophic results of the degradation of the O’rings…or maybe it’s just another bit of biker rumour passed down through bike meets the world over. Keep it lubed with decent stuff and keep it clean…simple.
If the cable snaps when you’re holding it in, the bike will just stall anyway. I only tend to put it in neutral if there is traffic stopped behind me, if there’s traffic still approaching behind, i keep it in 1st in case i need to get out of the way quickly.