Getting harder and harder to shift...

[greywolf40]

I looked though all the shifting related threads I could find and didn't find anything quite like what I'm experiencing...

I have an '08 with 8k miles, had it two years. When I first bought it, it shifted very easily, better than any bike I've had. Then after about six months I stopped being able to downshift at a standtill like a stoplight, three more months I would have to hit the shifter repeatedly to upshift sometimes. I changed the oil around that time and it seemed to help (not sure why), not like new, but better. It's been about a year and I changed the oil today and now it is MUCH worse, it takes a dozen or so jabs at the shifter to get through the gears.

For the most part this happens just at low rpm, if I give it some gas while holding the clutch that helps. If I let out the clutch a little bit that helps too. The bike is still ridable, but at this point if I need to tear down the engine to fix whatever the problem is I'd be happy to do it, it's that bad. The slow decline in functionality doesn't seem to indicate anything is broken, just worn, but I have no idea what it might be. What do you guys thing?

 

[aussiekeeper]

Don't downshift when not moving. There just may be bent or worn forks from that practice. Always shift while moving, much easier on the mechanism.

 

[NickSully]

Don't downshift when not moving. There just may be bent or worn forks from that practice. Always shift while moving, much easier on the mechanism.

+1

Before you tear it down have you put in new clutch fluid? You're suppose to change that every two years but I do mine every year because it really helps with keeping the shifting smooth. Also you may want to pull the clutch plates and make sure you don't have any glazed disks or weird ware patterns.

 

[Nicholas]

prolly forks, but i would advise no one to do any shift when standing still, roll back or forth and shift down while rolling

 

[Fastfrog007]

Don't downshift when not moving. There just may be bent or worn forks from that practice. Always shift while moving, much easier on the mechanism.

Learned something new today

 

[greywolf40]

Interesting, I'd never heard that before, I'll keep it in mind. Is it speed or rpm, because I've noticed a correlation between difficulty to shift and rpm but no correlation between difficulty and speed. I guess I'll also mention that I usually upshift without the clutch, but it seems like most folks do that and don't have any problems.

I'll take a look at the clutch. Are you suggesting that the clutch is too engaged or too disengaged when I have the handle pulled all the way in? When I slip the clutch it makes it much easier to shift, so I guess if I adjusted it so it was always slightly engaged that would make the shifts easier, but I don't know if that's a good idea or not. I'll do some research on that right now aswell. If the clutch is worn and getting too slippery I could totally see how that would make it too disengaged with the handle all the way in and hard to shift. I can also see how an oil change could make the clutch more slippery and too disengaged. But that's just speculation, perhaps that line of thought is way off.

 

[greywolf40]

Well, my research has told me the hydraulic clutch is not adjustable lol. I'll change the clutch fluid tomorrow and see if that helps, and see what is involved with pulling the clutch plates to take a look.

 

[atticdog]

have you adjusted you shift lever ? or removed the shaft? you may have it rotated incorrectly and can make it hard to shift