very stiff shifter

Lately the shifter on my 86 interceptor 500 has been very stiff to change gears. since ive had it its never really been the softest shifter in the world. but its getting to the point where i can barely change gears some times. the first time it got really bad, i messed with the shift linkage. and that did help some, but it still wasnt easy like other bikes ive ridden are. once its in gear it has no problems. so i dont think something is too wrong. but im not entirely sure what could cause this.

 

have you tried bleeding your clutch?
had a similar issue on my 85 500 and bleeding it did the trick

 

Yeah, i bled the clutch recently to try and fix an issue with my clutch slipping. did not help either problem. there were no bubbles, how ever i think the fluid was original...

 

How fresh is the oil? A decent semi-synthetic might help a lot, if it is an internal binding versus an external (linkage). Speaking of which, have you tried lubing the linkage and shift pedal?

 

the oil has less then 500 miles on it, i changed it before i put the bike away for winter. it seems that at some point, the shift linkage was broken and welded back together. so im going to grab a new one of those off ebay to see if it makes a difference. a lot of the difference in force may just be due to the fact that all the other bikes ive ridden dont have crazy linkage systems for the shifter.

 

what kind of oil? Automotive oil? If it is get rid of it and use a good motorcycle oil. It does make a difference in the older bikes for some reason.

 

yes motorcycle oil. ive done pretty much all the maintenance things. im looking for more of what mechanical part could be worn out to cause this issue.

 

Ya know, this might sound crazy; but...

I had a similar problem on my old V65 Sabre, and a fellow Sabre guy pulled out a can of WD40, aimed it at the shifter pivot, and just blasted it while wiggling the hell outta the shifter. Took a half-can of WD40; but the problem was solved.

Try it - if it doesn't help, at least you'll know your shifter is well lubed. :biggrin:

 

i dont like using wd40 for lube, but i took a tube of white lithium grease to it a few weeks ago. didnt really fix the problem. im going to take the assembly apart and give it a good cleaning this weekend i think.

 

I should have been a little more thorough there. I think the combination of the 'pressure' from the WD40 spray and the 'wiggling' of the shifter did exactly as you've suggested - it cleaned out the works. Hope a more proper cleaning does the trick for you.

 

I don't know the 500's at all, but if the shifting shaft runs though an outer aluminum case for any distance, the passage can accumulate a gritty mess of old chain lube and road dirt. The WD40 bath that FoothillRyder mentioned might have been referring to that particular area.

 

It's a long shot but did you put TOO MUCH oil in when ya changed it before you put it away? Too much oil, even a little bit, can be really bad for cycles. It messes with internal pressures and can blow seals and gaskets and will make it much harder to shift. My friend changed his own oil one time and was having the same problem as you. I trouble shot some stuff with him and nothing seemed to help. I noticed that his oil was about 1mm over the line and so I started researching doing some research on "motorcycle shifting hard" and found out what a nightmare overfilling oil can be. We drained some of the oil and voila, problem solved.

 

Ill look in to if it has too much oil but my bike burns a little. So its unlikely that its over. Also this started after I had left the bike not running for a week after I had pulled it out of storage. ill take a look at how gummed up the shifter is. And I'm going to replace the shift linkage, since it looks as if it was welded together at some point. That probly isn't helping anything.

 

I go with clutch problem. Try pushing bike in any gear while you're squeezing clutch lever. How much resistance do you feel ???

A dragging clutch caused by warped plates or air in hydraulics always causes hard shifting cuz the clutch never fully disengages.

 

True that; but if the clutch is dragging you would also notice it when engaging 1st from neutral (a lurch forward) and when trying to get to neutral after stopping.

 

actually, it kind of does learch forward when i put it in to first... i never really thought any thing of it...