2nd Gen shifting and braking issues, any ideas of the issue??

Howdy yall, I've had a couple issues come up recently and am looking to see if anyone has an idea of what could be causing them.
The first one is a shifting issue. It started off last month by occasionally missing 6th gear and free revving until it popped into gear, which at first I blamed operator error. Then it began to miss the other gears occasionally while upshifting when utilizing the clutch. After reading about similar issues in other threads, I tried out doing clutchless shifts only past 3rd gear and only moderate to rapid acceleration. That seemed to work great for a week or so, until the issue of missing gears came back again, tho now it is not only between shifts of any of the gears, it is also during upshifting and downshifting, with or without the clutch at any speed and any engine rpm. I've not been able to establish any pattern at all of the failures. The clutch does not feel like it is slipping at all, and I'm now noticing inconsistent shifter noises and engagement/disengagement feels. The shifter also feels spongy at times.

The pattern of my riding over the past month, if this may make a difference, has been 70 miles roundtrip daily for work, and its all highway. I typically stay between 90-100mph on average, engine rpm averaging 7k holding. New tires, new chain that is properly adjusted and lubed, fresh oil, correct tire pressure.

The other issue is the front brakes. The fluid level is correct, the rotors do not feel warped or grooved, and the pads are 80-90% with no uneven wear and do not appear glazed. I'm getting an inconsistent lever pull, and a sticky engagement. Sometimes it is smooth and firm, other times there is slack and a hard grab when it does engage. I'm also feeling what I believe to be drag, which leads me to suspect needing to rebuild the calipers but I'm not sure.

Unfortunately I do not have the money I'd like to have to be able to replace everything I can until the issues are corrected. This is the first bike I've really worked on, I do feel I am somewhat mechanically inclined, and to this point I've done everything on this bike myself except mount and balance the tires. I'm at the point now where I'm wanting to sell the Vfr, as much as I love how it feels, in favor of a cbr600 f2/f3 just because they have been easier and cheaper to mess with due to parts availability.

Hopefully somebody here knows an easy inexpensive fix to these issues, and if not the Vfr will have to stay parked until it sells. And because I forgot to mention this earlier, it's an 87 700.
Thanks guys

 

You may have to clean out the return hole in the MC reservoir with a small wire and flush old brake fluid out?
Have these brakes been rebuilt? (As in checking the piston seals and pistons for corrosion? It may be time to do this)

Have you bled the slave cylinder or flushed the brake fuild lately in the clutch?

 

There is a large wishbone-shaped spring (round at top with 2 long legs) that returns the shift mechanism to its (not the transmission's) neutral position, and that could be in failure mode. It's all under the outer cover and can be inspected without too much work, but front sprocket must come off.

Follow Dookies suggestions on the brakes, and also remove the lever, lube the pivot point, and inspect the head of the brake hydraulic piston for dents/damage and use some grease on the point betweern the lever end and that piston. If the contact point on the lever end is rough, use fine sandpaper to smoothe it out.

 

I haven't done any fluid changes on it at all, nor have I inspected the MC yet. I was told that changing the fluids may cause an issue on it's own, tho I suppose now is the time to do it if its acting up anyway. I'll dig into it when I get home tonight and see if any of your tips will do the trick. I'll post again with results, thanks guys

 

Be very careful whose advice you listen to, as most people, as most people know, are idiots.

No idiots here at VFRWorld, so you can rely upon our advice. Fluids need changing at regular intervals.

 

After being in the firearm sales industry for 5 years, everybody is an idiot until proven not to be!

 

Police tend to think the same way.

 

Well if this isn't perfect timing to see this thread... mine recently started having pretty much the same issues. The only differences are that I haven't really noticed mine doing it during downshifts, mainly only during upshifts when close to red line. I've noticed recently that it occasionally hops out of gear once it gets close to red line if I'm really getting on it, usually 2nd to 3rd and sometimes 3rd to 4th.

Now when it first started doing this, I opted to order the shift spring from Factory Pro and hoped that it would solve the issue. The newer beefier spring showed up and I read through the instructions and it explicitly said in capitalized bold letters to replace the OUTER spring in the shift mechanism. My dumbass looked at the mechanism and said "Naaaahhhhh, they made a mistake because it CLEARLY looks to me like the inner spring needs to be replaced" and replaced the inner spring, not the outer. Happy as a clam that I was able to use my mechanical intuition to save myself time and headache (irony), I buttoned it all back up and have been riding it since.

Is it safe to assume that I certainly DID make a mistake by thinking they made a mistake? The detent arms looked fine inside of the mechanism as did the roller wheels on the ends. I was just so sure that the spring that needed replaced was on the arm that rolled across the star-like profile, as opposed to the one with a single notch that put the transmission in neutral.... I really wish I had snapped a couple of pictures while I was in there now!

If I did replace the incorrect spring, I can get back in there and swap the correct spring, then hopefully provide some feedback as to whether the issue goes away with the Factory Pro shift spring in the correct location. Hopefully both Skunk and I can get these old girls shifting reliably again!

 

One of the biggest things you can do for shifting is to change the oil to Golden Spectro. I've even used other manufacture motorcycle only oils in my 1st gen. The trans isn't that different in the 2nd gen. Honda has always had loose and notchie trans. My previous oil change I couldn't get Spectro close to me, so I bought Valvoline MC oil. Hard down shifting when cold and at times notchie when going up and clunks. I just changed oil to Spectro, which I run 90% of the time, and all is back to smooth shifting (for a Honda) up and down. Try it you will not be disappointed.

Now for the brakes. Have you check the slide pins/bolts that the brakes slide back and forth on? If not take calipers off, clean and lube pins/bolts. Big difference in how the front brakes work. The 2nd gen got less brake swept area compared to 1 gen and later models. So your starting out in the hole.

 

I definitely should have mentioned that !! And thanks for teaching me something 2day; i didn't know about the swept area difference.

 

Well I just changed the oil to golden spectro and lubed the slide pins and the outside of the pistons, and so far it feels awesome after the first ride. So much smoother in the throttle and the Trans, and the brakes aren't perfect but much much better already. Thanks a bunch guys

 

Sure you did. You were just to embarrass to tell the man. :embarassed: