Hi, so I started having this problem a couple months ago. It started out intermittent and infrequent, but it's gotten to the point where 80% of the time I upshift from 1st to 2nd, the bike will drop back out of gear. Not immediately, but after a second or so, enough time for me to give it some gas and start pulling, only to have it pop into neutral and pin the rev limiter as the engine suddenly gets un-loaded from the final drive. At first I thought the shift lever was just being sticky and causing it to snap back down past 2nd after I moved my toe away from it, but it seems that isn't the case. There's no sudden noises or movements or gear stripping or anything that I can feel through the shifter, just that I'll have torque at the rear wheel, and then suddenly not. It doesn't seem to matter how much gas I'm giving her. I could be at damn near idle, and she'll silently slip out of gear and I won't even notice it happened until I twist the throttle some more and she revs without moving. Any idea how to fix this? I just changed the oil and filter last weekend, and if anything the problem got worse instead of better. 57,000 miles, shell rotella t6 5w-40 with purolator filter. New clutch fluid and final drive sprocket and chain. All maintenance is up to date except for spark plugs and valve clearance inspection.
You're probably NOT the original owner, right ?? :laugh:ray2::scared::joker: Cuz alot of those problems could have been caused by riders in- or under-experienced with manual transmissions, some fool trying to shift from first to second at unreasonably high throttle openings too quickly or in an uncoordinated clutch manner just a few times. Abuse, in other terms, and we must assume you weren't responsible ??
ahem....My '99 with 86K on the clock has the same issue. It's gotten steadily worse the last 10K miles and anything other than a very, very gentle roll on in 2nd will cause it to pop out to neutral. I've put all but a couple of those k's on the bike myself. I won't swear to being over-experienced, but after 100+K on bikes I think I know how to shift. Or I have some really bad habits, which could also be true, so assume I'm responsible! The problem could be: bad dogs on the 2nd gear (my bet), bent shift forks or a bad shift drum. Only a transmission rebuild is going to solve the problem, at least a few hundred $ minimum. Or, the route I've taken, pick up a gently used motor for a few hundred bucks and swap it. I'm working on prepping a new motor now for the swap. Sorry, but there is no easy answer, oil changes and filters won't help.
Damn. Sadly, I can't afford the time or money to do that on her right now. She's my only bike and I'm more or less broke until further notice. I got her with around 30,000 miles. She's now closer to 60, after just a year of my having her. I'm heavy on the miles, and won't deny hooning the fuck out of her in the hills on a pretty regular basis. A lot of engine braking and speed shifting. I know it's hard on the tranny but I didn't expect it to go -that- fast, since I'm fairly experienced and know what I'm doing.
