Kawasaki Ninja 250 clutch help?

[Jedi Master Jordan]

Just getting my bike ready for the season - newer rider, first bike which has not been winterized well. It's a '99 Kawasaki Ninja 250. Needed a new battery (fully charged) which allowed me to start it up after some fiddling.

Problem is, once I have it idling, everything seems fine but when I shift into 1st gear and barely release the clutch while easing on the throttle, the engine dies. This is not the standard 'popped the clutch, killed the engine' problem. I've started a couple different bikes and am doing this as slow as I possibly can. Any slower would mean the clutch is not moving. I can feel the bike start to enter the friction zone as the clutch disengages, then dies.

Kickstand is up, and the switch there seems to be functional. Plunger does not seem to be stuck in place or jammed.

Any suggestions? Ideas? I just wanna take my new toy out for a ride finally! All help is appreciated.

 

[guardrailjim]

The symptom you're describing is the side stand safety switch.
It can appear to be working normally, but have internal problems.
I can never remember which way the switch works.
First try with it unplugged.
Then try with it unplugged and the 2 wires on the wire harness side connected to each other.

You can shift gears without stalling the engine - it stalls when the clutch is let out.
There could be a problem with the neutral safety system.
Do the same test with the clutch switch - it's at the clutch lever - follow the wires to the connection.

 

[Jancie]

And if you do connect the 2 wires together on the main harness that normally attach to the side stand safety switch, remember that it is only a "stop gap" measure. Meaning that while you have bypassed the safety switch, if you do start out with the kickstand down you will go down. Some of us have been riding since before all this safety crap and always remember to kick up the stand-(how do you think we remember to ALWAYS kick up the stand-<grin>.), others who are newer riders may not always remember to kick it up, or ease off the clutch, whichever safety device you bypass.