I guess it's normal

It's my first bike, so it doesn't seem strange to me at all. I have no basis of comparison. It certainly doesn't bother me. Twist to go, pull to stop.

One thing that was a little odd when I tried to press the scooter into service as an adventure bike was that the clutch suddenly disengages below a certain speed, just when you need it the most to hold you back during a steep descent. And, from a stop, it rolls downhill to practically ANY speed without the clutch engaging unless you blip the throttle. But, of course, it's not meant to be a dirt bike. I just use it that way. (All my vehicles end up being Jeeps at some point. Maybe I should just get another Jeep, eh?)

That is normal, coasting down a hill. The engine speed is low and the centrifical clutch slows down and kicks out. If you want to get it back in gear just blip the throttle. ( give the twist grip a quick open and shut, about 25% open )
Paul

Like Paul said, just blip the throttle some and get the clutch engaged and the engine braking comes back.

be careful on downhill slopes with that LH brake lever. you can't drag the back wheel for too long

Be ready to hold the left hand brake also.

Mickey,

Check out this message stream for some more info:

http://silverwing.org/cgi-bin/topic_show.pl?tid=3708


Mandy

I'm still getting used to this phenomenon as well. We live at the bottom of a mountain that has a 3000 ft descent over ten miles. There's a 60 mph speed limit and it's strictly enforced. The Swing zips up the mountain, no problem. On the way down it would also like to zip, but then there are big trucks to avoid (restricted to the right two lanes) and then there are the flatlanders (no offense, folks, but those of us who didn't grow up driving in mountains tend to ride the brakes going downhill, which is a big mistake on this particular stretch of I-40--it's got three runaway truck pullouts for that reason) who get down the first mile and then start to panic.
Again, I think it's just a matter of paying attention to the drivers around you--in each and every direction.