What the...

[getaddicted]

So I'm out for a short ride to run a few errands, minding my own business, you know, same old same old. Over the course of the ride I begin to think I am noticing that the bike isn't shifting as smoothly as usual. It gets progressively worse and worse, and by the end of the ride, what's happening is the bike is grinding gears going between first, neutral and second. Above that there don't seem to be any issues. By the time I was near my house, it was BAD. I would have to go from second to neutral, then each time I tried to downshift to first it would GRIND until I was going about 2 mph. Also was grinding pretty badly going from neutral to second.



What the fuck is going on?

[getaddicted]

[burnham]

Have you done any work to the bike recently? I had a similar situation with an older GSXR and it turned out to be a gummed-up shift linkage. How much slack is there in the clutch cable? How many miles on the bike? It sounds like the clutch isn't disengaging all the way.

[getaddicted]

about 12.5k miles. I haven't done any work to the bike recently, I just bought it a few weeks ago. There's a fair amount of slack, I can pull the lever about a inch and a half- two inches with zero resistance/floppyness.

[MattyC]

If you shift without using the clutch, does everything work fine or does the mess continue regardless of clutch use?

-Matt

[getaddicted]

dunno, never tried. you mean shifting by matching revs? (or however you call it)

[MattyC]

dunno, never tried. you mean shifting by matching revs? (or however you call it)

YES. Just thinking that if the bike shifts smoothly without the clutch, but is a mess when using the clutch, you might want to investigate the clutch and its various parts.

[getaddicted]

I'll go check right now.

[burnham]

Too much slack in the cable. Turn the bars all the way and adjust the lever so there is no more than .25" gap between the lever and the perch. Did the adjuster at the lever loosen itself? You may want to inspect the cable, there should never have been that much slop in the lever. There may be another issue causing the slack to be there, but it's hard to say sitting on my couch.

[getaddicted]

shifts fine without the clutch, albeit a little jerkily though I'll put that to inexperience.

[getaddicted]

Clutch cable tightened.

Fixed.

[Ericthejet]

You may want to check a few other items while your in the mood.
chain, lube, oil, etc.

[OreoGaborio]

fwiw, you can never grind the gears in a motorcycle as it's a constant mesh transmission... what you ARE grinding are the shift dogs.

woof woof. Er should I say... yelp yelp!

[OreoGaborio]

interesting read
How Motorcycle Transmissions Work