Greetings. This weekend I was on a ride with some friends which ended up in torrential downpours, at one point I had to ride through about 9"-12" water. I only mention that in case it has an impact on the problem.

I noticed that when I got to a stop, I would depress the shifter lever, it would downshift one gear and stay down, not allowing me to shift down into first. Not wanting to continue starting in 2nd or 3rd gear, I started downshifting approaching any stops and noticed that when I released the clutch after a downshift, the shifter would pop up into the correct position for the next shift, and so on until I got to first.

At the stops lights, with the clutch depressed, there was no pulling, or sense that the gears were engaged or the clutch was slipping. Pulling away from a light, first gear felt normal, and all other gears felt normal when cruising. Downshifting was the problem.

Any and all advice is appreciated..
Thanks!

I'll be watching this thread with some interest, as I posted about having an intermittent problem with this since my bike was fairly new. Still get that occasionally, and I found the same thing...that if I let the clutch out between downshifts, it works just fine.

I'd suspect that the pivot shaft and rod lingage just needs a little lube job. I've seen the same problem on other bikes.

I agree with Marshall... I had that EXACT problem, and lubed the pivot joints at the shift rod ends, and whaddya know, it worked! I would have NEVER thought to do such a thing. The service manager at my dealer where I live recommended the exact same thing.

Kinda of a weird solution, but it works.

:-DD.

I had a similar problem last season, took off the shifter assembly and found that where the shift lever pivots in the mount it was frozen in the bushing. I mounted the bracket in a bench vise and sprayed it down with Fluid Film, worked the shifter up and down and kept on spraying it and working it, freed it up nicely and havent had a problem with it since. I used Fluid Film, which is a penatrating lubricant, but I am sure whatever penatrant/lube spray is your personal favorite will do the trick just fine.

I agree with everything that everyone else has said. The most likely culprit is the pedal shaft and lack of lubrication. Whenever you have a linkage, a lack of lubrication anywhere along the line can cause the same problem. A good cure for the problem would be: remove the pedal shaft and drill & tap the mount for a grease fitting, then put 'er back together and once in a while give it a shot of grease along with a drop of oil on each joint of the pushrod.

Clifford

KevinH wrote:
I had a similar problem last season, took off the shifter assembly and found that where the shift lever pivots in the mount it was frozen in the bushing. I mounted the bracket in a bench vise and sprayed it down with Fluid Film, worked the shifter up and down and kept on spraying it and working it, freed it up nicely and havent had a problem with it since. I used Fluid Film, which is a penatrating lubricant, but I am sure whatever penatrant/lube spray is your personal favorite will do the trick just fine.

Kevin, old thread but I am dealing with this now. I tried WD40 but will have to try something else or give it more time with the 40.

deadlion wrote:
KevinH wrote:
I had a similar problem last season, took off the shifter assembly and found that where the shift lever pivots in the mount it was frozen in the bushing. I mounted the bracket in a bench vise and sprayed it down with Fluid Film, worked the shifter up and down and kept on spraying it and working it, freed it up nicely and havent had a problem with it since. I used Fluid Film, which is a penatrating lubricant, but I am sure whatever penatrant/lube spray is your personal favorite will do the trick just fine.

Kevin, old thread but I am dealing with this now. I tried WD40 but will have to try something else or give it more time with the 40.

Take the forward arm off the shifter shaft. and work the Snot out of the shaft. Even take it out of the mount.

Clean it up and put it back together. Also, make sure the heim joints on each end of the shift shaft, are in good shape, clean and lube them.

I had this happen to me after I *REALLY* cleaned my bike with some "Simple Green" when I first got it. I let the simple green soak and remove all the lube there, then pressure washed the bottom side of the bike... about 2 weeks later... bound up tight as could be when some muddy water splashed up and hit it. Took me a while to figure out the issue.