Nigel, with my duke I have noticed that you have to give it a solid, but gentle nudge up from 1st before you find neutral. I jumped on a Blade the other day, and couldn't believe how easy the gear changes was, as well as the comfort level.... a good reason for buying another bike!! I

I have also noticed that my foot begins to ache after a while due to the gear changes... perhaps it's my boots, or I need to change the positioning of the gear lever... I will investigate at some later stage.

Sticky - have the same problem at lights... gets to the stage where apathy kicks in and you find it easier to whack the buggr in first and hold the clutch in.

Skidlids - just had a full service on my duke, picked it up last Sat.... £650 notes in total, including replacement clutch plates. My plates must have been slipping for quite some time as I have noticed that the bike now performs extremely well. So much more torque it's unbelievable. Glad I had them replaced. Looking to get a milled clutch cover as I hear this extends the life of the clutch.

Flanners - never tried finding neutral when it motion, I know on occasion that the bike goes into Neutral... must give it a go.