Downshifting after 520 conversion

[redwinger]

So I had a -1 +2 520 kit put on and now I'm having a hard time downshifting into 1st and 3rd. It's not every time, mainly at lower rpm's. Any idea's? Chain too short? Chain too long?

[Cerberus]

neither too long or to short of a chain should cause that problem..

[CB750F]

sounds like a bent shift fork to me.. but then again im no mechanic

[TTD]

Sounds like coincidence.

[jcbell1007]

check your foot.

chain and sprockets shouldn't do anything to shifting (except making you shift more in your case)

[redwinger]

ok lets try this again...i can be sitting at a stand still in 2nd gear pushing down on the shifter over and over again and it wont go into 1st.

i have over 20k of experience on this bike alone. probally 8k on these boots. i dont think it's coincidence

[RandyO]

unless you have the chain too tight it shouldn't affect shifting


when was last time you cleaned & lubed your shift linkage thoroughly

[Doc]

Very tight chain or bent shift shaft/shift dogs.

[BluGixxer]

MY money is on the chain is or was to tight and may have pulled and/or bent something..

[CBR929RE]

ok lets try this again...i can be sitting at a stand still in 2nd gear pushing down on the shifter over and over again and it wont go into 1st.

i have over 20k of experience on this bike alone. probally 8k on these boots. i dont think it's coincidence

roll the bike a little and try it.

[Cerberus]

ok lets try this again...i can be sitting at a stand still in 2nd gear pushing down on the shifter over and over again and it wont go into 1st.

i have over 20k of experience on this bike alone. probally 8k on these boots. i dont think it's coincidence

did you (or someone) adjust your clutch?
a dragging clutch can load up the gears and shift dogs with enough load that they don't want to move unless rpm matched. are you doing this with te engine running or off? do you not know how to determine if you chain is too tight? you should know that too tight of a chain can rip your countershaft bearing apart in short order..

did you or someone else do the job?
it sounds like someone else did it from your first post.
my suspicion is someone went to test the bike after doing the job and snotted your ride and either bent a shift fork or if you're lucky they just improperly adjusted your clutch as i mentioned before.

but seriously, how do you not know how to determine for yourself if the chain is too loose or too tight? go out side and check it yourself. usually, midspan, (if it is stuck i gear then get the slack to the lower span of chain) and move the chain up and down. if it travels up and down less than about an inch and a quarter, its too tight. specs vary.

[Cheese]

How hard did you work to remove the front sprocket nut? Did you tweak something?

Chain length shouldn't matter but chain tension might. Did you check that it's to spec?

P.S. Once you do a +1/-2, first gear is pretty much useless anyway. Just start up in 2nd.

[Kurlon]

Is this one of the bikes that has the clutch pushrod mechanism on the sprocket cover? If you mucked with that you're in for a world of fun trying to get it adjusted back to where it should be.

[TTD]

When I said it was a coincidence, I meant that the transmission doesn't know what size chain and sprockets it is connected to, so changing those cannot cause the problem.

My guess is that either the work was done poorly and something got bent (removing sprockets by putting the bike in gear?), or the chain is/was stupid tight, and somehow messed the transmission. (usually it takes a little while for this to happen, though).

[obsolete]

How was the front sprocket removed? Damage being caused during removal or tightening of the front sprocket nut seems like a likely culprit.

[redwinger]

idiots 128 did it. i'm thinking the tension was a hair too tight. i did about 400 miles this weekend and its happening less and less.

[Doc]

So you stretched your chain now...?

You might want to loosen it up a bit.

[redwinger]

correct me if i'm wrong, but normally when a chain is new doesn't it need to be tightened after 1000 miles or so. so if it was just a little tight and i did 400 miles it might be better than it was? it's not as good as it was before they worked on it, but it's not as bad as it was right off the bat. i dont know man, i ride bikes not work on them.

[richw]

Sticky clutch

[Cheese]

correct me if i'm wrong, but normally when a chain is new doesn't it need to be tightened after 1000 miles or so. so if it was just a little tight and i did 400 miles it might be better than it was? it's not as good as it was before they worked on it, but it's not as bad as it was right off the bat. i dont know man, i ride bikes not work on them.

A chain doesn't 'break in', it stretches. Stretching is the wear of a chain so yes, you have to tighten them now and then but not because they, 'break in' but more because they, 'wear out'. If it's adjusted properly it will stretch at a reasonable rate. A tight or dirty chain stretches faster. In addition the stretching of the links means the links don't line up properly in the sprockets. Assuming you have an aluminum sprocket for the rear, you have now shortened the lifespan considerably of both the chain and rear sprocket by riding it when it was too tight.

I'll also add that chains are not something that are serviced yearly. Unless you're going to bring your bike in for service on a biweekly basis you're going to have to learn to clean and adjust your chain yourself.

[nilez]

I didn't want to make an entirely new thread, and this one seems to be dead, so I'll hijack this one for a little bit, hope you don't mind redwinger...

Are there any serious concerns/considerations when converting a liter bike to a 520 chain and sprocket set up? Stock # of teeth on both sprockets, both sprockets are new so they can wear in with the new chain properly. Both sprockets are steel, not aluminum. Is there any worry about the strength of a 520 chain compared to the 530 that comes stock on the bike?

[BMFR6]

there was just a pretty good article posted on this somewhere around here. i'll look around

[Cerberus]

I didn't want to make an entirely new thread, and this one seems to be dead, so I'll hijack this one for a little bit, hope you don't mind redwinger...

Are there any serious concerns/considerations when converting a liter bike to a 520 chain and sprocket set up? Stock # of teeth on both sprockets, both sprockets are new so they can wear in with the new chain properly. Both sprockets are steel, not aluminum. Is there any worry about the strength of a 520 chain compared to the 530 that comes stock on the bike?

in a word, yes.
BUT if you go with a top-dollar high-quality chain and take care of it well and often, it should work fine and offer similar life as a 530.

however it is a long argued point as to whether or not it serves any purpose to make this conversion for street usage..
.. i say not.

[nilez]

Thanks. I actually didn't intend to convert my bike to a 520 chain/sprockets. I bought the chain thinking it was a 530 and didn't realize it was actually a 520. Had some servicing done on the bike by a dealership here in VA and they ordered new sprockets for it to fit the chain. Hopefully it won't screw anything up.

[KB]

Photoshop!

KB