Dropped her

DeplorableOne

Active member
So...I'll take some partial responsibility, but it wasn't my fault. Sounds like it's a common issue with these bikes. Anyway, I went to the store last night, rode the FTR. When I come out to hop back on I did my typical key on, switch on, wait for the fuel pump, make sure I see a green N and then hit the start switch to let it warm up for a minute or so... this time, with he side stand down and the bike showing a bright green N on the display she just took off on me. Now luckily I had my hand on the clutch side but she bucked like a bronco and I barely wasn't able to save her. Barely bent the rear brake and scuffed up my barend mirror, but no other damages. I mean I laid it down as gently as I could using one arm on a 500+ pound bike. Did some digging and I'm thinking this has to do with the gear position switch that a lot of people have been having issues with. I just could not believe the stand being down and no clutch didn't keep it from trying to start, even IF it thought it was in gear. Reminds me of the remote starters in manual transmissions I used to do, clutch bypass I guess...
 

Staedtler

Active member
Sorry to hear it! What year is your bike? Yes, some early FTR’s had problems with the gear position sensor, apparently a revised version cured the issue
 

edgelett

Well-known member
ouch! Yes the gear position sensor has been covered under warranty for a few people. not enough of them to warrant a recall though sadly.
Strongly recommend giving ALL those details to your dealer, maybe they can look in to the issue and you might get some covered under warranty?
 

DeplorableOne

Active member
I'm more pissed about the rizoma mirror getting trashed 🤬. I put a call in to the dealer but haven't received a call back. I'm gonna ride over Monday and shake the tree a little. The bike is a '19 and it was one of the first sold, I bought it barely used. I've heard of many occurrences of this on the scout as well
 

motocroft

Active member
Feel for you man, what a bummer.
Many years ago a had a Kawi that loved to play false neutral roulette with me.
Same deal, shouldn't be able to start in gear - but thinking it was in neutral would spring the trap.
Hope you can get the dealer to help out with the damage.
 

Scarecrow

Member
Is this an issue with all first year models or certain first year models up to a certain build date? I’m wondering if I should order this revised version to have on hand in case or maybe even changing it. Don’t know if I want the bike running away from me lol.
Sorry to hear it! What year is your bike? Yes, some early FTR’s had problems with the gear position sensor, apparently a revised version cured the issue
 

Keles

Member
I've had that several times with the Ducati models. Because of this or because of experience, I always have the clutch pulled when starting and I never let go of the clutch quickly, even if the lamp indicates idle. When starting, the clutch is always pulled and a finger on the brake is worth gold.
 

DeplorableOne

Active member
I've had that several times with the Ducati models. Because of this or because of experience, I always have the clutch pulled when starting and I never let go of the clutch quickly, even if the lamp indicates idle. When starting, the clutch is always pulled and a finger on the brake is worth gold.
Yeah that's why I say partially my fault I had it pulled in to begin with, but see the green N and let it out way too fast. Couldn't quite grab it again fast enough, but luckily my hand on the grip was able to let it down super gentle considering
 

DeplorableOne

Active member
So the new dealer(my old one aknowledged it's a known issue) is stating that they don't see any codes for gear indicator, no kidding...the bike didn't know it was in gear so of course the indicator wouldn't throw a fault. They've had the bike for a week and still haven't figured anything out. The issue has happened 3 times total. Twice at stop lights and only once while in the parking lot. The couple times at stop lights I just figured it was in between gears and slipped into gear when I released the clutch. Problem was the neutral indicator stayed illuminated the whole time. So doesn't sound like this dealer really has any idea what they're doing, they did say they've never heard of this problem before, which is weird that every other dealer I've spoken to have, and even they alluded to hearing about issues....
 

Breto

Well-known member
You’d think they’d replace the gear position sensor anyway wouldn’t you?…I mean it’s a warranty issue, they’ve got nothing to lose by doing it anyway…🤔
 

Staedtler

Active member
Seconded. Thought some early gear position sensors got replaced under warranty for this exact thing. Surely just replacing the sensor is the most cost effective and easy solution…
 

DeplorableOne

Active member
Ongoing back and forth dealer tried blaming my nrc tail tidy and won't do anything about it said they can't reproduce the problem. It's been intermittent. Anyone got a direct line to Polaris?
 

DeplorableOne

Active member
I called Polaris customer service, basically the same as what the dealer said. I get frustrated with modern technicians. They have little to no ability to think past their scan tool. They aren't going to do anything for me since it's not throwing a trouble code. I'll keep a tally and I'm gonna buy a GoPro so I can get it on video. It happened every couple of months, but I stupidly changed the oil right before taking it in. I had time and forgot about the appointment since it was over a month out. We'll see how it goes. Like I said luckily nothing was damaged badly. Just a little scrape on the mirror and bent rear brake I don't use much. Need to replace the levers anyway.
 

kiwi dave

Active member
Doesn't your mobile phone do video recordings? A GoPro might produce better pictures, but videos on a modern mobile is more than adequate.
 
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