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Message started by mys40rox on 04/28/07 at 17:43:02

Title: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by mys40rox on 04/28/07 at 17:43:02

Okay, well its been a good while since I've had a bike . I just bought a brand spanking new "S4o" it's about 3 months old and sometimes when I  ride my gears get stuck. I can't seem to down shift when coming to a stop or slowing down. I know It's been a while for me, but I know that's not normal. I don't know whats causing this. can any one help? ???
What can I do to fix this problem?

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by jd06s40 on 04/28/07 at 19:38:31

i have an 06 s40 and have the same problem. sometimes it will not go into 1st after being in nuetral at a stop


Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by Grove_Tucky_650 on 04/28/07 at 20:46:25


jd06s40 wrote:
i have an 06 s40 and have the same problem. sometimes it will not go into 1st after being in nuetral at a stop


I too have this problem and somethimes it seems like it does not want to go into 5th all the way. If I don't shift into 5th around 45 it feels like it only goes part way in. There probably is not such thing as part way in but it does not have the same shift feel. I have to down shift and shift back.


Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by mys40rox on 04/28/07 at 21:21:07

well, It seems were at the same party.  
I just wish someone would give us some answers.
I think maybe the clutch needs to be adjusted?
who knows but I dont like tring to take off on fifth gear from a dead stop!
its embarrassing to say the least.  :-/

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by Grove_Tucky_650 on 04/28/07 at 22:03:10


mys40rox wrote:
well, It seems were at the same party.  
I just wish someone would give us some answers.
I think maybe the clutch needs to be adjusted?
who knows but I dont like tring to take off on fifth gear from a dead stop!
its embarrassing to say the least.  :-/


I was not saying start taking off in 5th. I was just adding to my issues. I can seem to get it back in 1st by rocking the bike back and forth and sometime a swift kick gets it in.

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by jd06s40 on 04/28/07 at 23:10:45

yea same here but it is annoying and embarassing when people are behind you. they see this nice bike and i cant get it in gear.

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by verslagen1 on 04/28/07 at 23:35:12

Yeah, a number of us have had a neutral between 4 and 5.  And hard shifting.

Try appling pressure to the shifter in the direction you want to go, squeeze the clutch, it should start to go into the gear you want.  Keep appling pressure and let out the clutch.  Pop, it should be there.   ;D

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by klx650sm2002 on 04/29/07 at 02:06:19

KLX has a neutral between 4th and 5th, so did 350 LC.

Clive W  :D

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by barry68v10 on 04/29/07 at 05:43:35

At a light, if you're in neutral, is:

1) Let out the clutch
2) Pull it back in
3) Immediately shift into first

For the 4-5 problem, always shift from 4-5 by bringing your toe all-the-way to the top of the shift, not hard but firm, and hold it there momentarily while you apply power.  It will slip right in every time that way, provided your shift linkage is adjusted properly.

Every m/c I've ever had, experienced some quirky transmission characteristics, but I've been able to find a "solution" for all of them so far.  Anybody old enough to remember the "famous honda mis-shift" from 1st to 2nd? ;D  I had an '82 and an '86 that both did the same thing...

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by verslagen1 on 04/29/07 at 08:27:54

And for those stuck in 5th at a stop light.

Apply pressure to shifter, let out clutch slowly but not enough to go somewhere just enough to get it to shift.
Repeat till you are in 1th.  Sometimes getting it past the first stuck gear you go the rest of the way normally.  I'd go 3 times then clutch it and repeat 2 times if I had time.

If you don't... get in the zone, the friction zone   ;D

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by officer studer on 04/24/08 at 19:13:50

im having the same problem especially downshifting sometimes but the best fix ive found for me is to slightly and i mean barely let out on the clutch then pull it back in.  After you do this it will go in gear this works every time for me but maybe thats just my bike

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by Robertomoe on 04/24/08 at 20:51:25

I sometimes short-shift the bike from first to neutral  :P

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by Oldfeller on 04/25/08 at 03:12:33

These are break in issues that tend to go away by the time 5,000 miles has come and gone.  Be gentle and patient with it.

Take care not to get your revs up any while doing these engagement tricks, damage to gear dog edges can take place if whapped into gear at very high rpm.

Oldfeller

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by jimco on 04/25/08 at 09:39:23

New owner with a '03 Savage, with 15,000 K, still experiences the stuck in neutral, appears to come an go.

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by T Mack 1 on 04/25/08 at 10:59:24

It's a bit of an old school tranny.  

Once in a while you need to double clutch, or be rolling ....

(in a bike, double clutch is used figuratively,  you can go into neutral between gears.... )



My 2001 5 Speed  (10,460 miles)

http://www.users.fast.net/~tommack/Tranny.JPG

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by Rockin_John on 04/26/08 at 07:39:37


76555D5F5C55555C4B390 wrote:
These are break in issues that tend to go away by the time 5,000 miles has come and gone.  Be gentle and patient with it.

Take care not to get your revs up any while doing these engagement tricks, damage to gear dog edges can take place if whapped into gear at very high rpm.

Oldfeller



I dunno about "break-in issues" since all three of my Savages have most of these different symptoms to different degrees...

But as someone else mentioned: "old school" transmission... and Oldfeller gave the best advice yet with:

"Be gentle and patient with it."

A whole lot of the problems I'm hearing sound like poor shifting technique, and not having a feel for the transmission...  I have learned to compensate for most of these little shifting quirks over the years. Different bike... different techniques.

The last thing you want to do is get frustrated and go stomping around on the shifter. Best case: you break a shift rod outside the box; worst case you bend a shifting fork inside the transmission; then you have serious and permanent shifting problems which cost a small fortune or whole new education to fix!!!

And yes, as someone mentioned: proper clutch adjustment is important to how the bike shifts. The 99 I just bought had the clutch lever adjusted so close to the bars that the clutch was dragging unless the lever was squeezed tight against the bars. Hint: that's not where/how a clutch cable should be adjusted to engage/disengage.

Other shifting techniques than the much mentioned: "slip the clutch to work it down through the gears" ... Why are you at a stop and it a top gear to begin with? Didn't you down-shift through the gears any while you were slowing down?? Tsk.. Tsk...  You don't really have to use real engine compression decell/braking like a truck going down a mountain, but you can at least snick it through a few gears as you slow down.

Just a tiny bit of clutch action with each shift will make each one engage easier on the way as you slow down. Besides, you should always be in the proper gear to accelerate at any given moment; even while slowing... you may suddenly find yourself in a situation where you need to accelerate, and that's not going to happen if you are at 20mph and still in 4th or 5th gear. You should be down to second by that point, and ready to drop into first just as the bike rolls to a stop.

Oops... who slipped this soap box under me??  :D  Sorry about that... carry on...  :-X

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by Digger on 07/28/08 at 21:29:26

Sometimes downshifts can be made to happen a little easier if, when the clutch is pulled, you put a little downward pressure on the shift lever and blip the throttle simultaneously.

IHTH someone!

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by BurnPgh on 07/28/08 at 21:57:56

the hard downshift to first seems to come and go for me. Its more pronounced when the bike is still warming up. Usually if I give it a bit of throttle before i shift it slides right in. Sometimes i have to roll the bike a few inches forward or back. The 4-5 false neutral issue is frequent. If I have the revs up a bit and am doing say...60 in 4th it'll slide like butter into 5th. usually i just let the clutch lever out a wee bit and it pops into 5th.

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by 07S40rider on 07/29/08 at 06:45:10


08353931333405103532345A0 wrote:
[quote author=76555D5F5C55555C4B390 link=1177807382/0#12 date=1209118353]These are break in issues that tend to go away by the time 5,000 miles has come and gone.  Be gentle and patient with it.

Take care not to get your revs up any while doing these engagement tricks, damage to gear dog edges can take place if whapped into gear at very high rpm.

Oldfeller



I dunno about "break-in issues" since all three of my Savages have most of these different symptoms to different degrees...

But as someone else mentioned: "old school" transmission... and Oldfeller gave the best advice yet with:

"Be gentle and patient with it."

A whole lot of the problems I'm hearing sound like poor shifting technique, and not having a feel for the transmission...  I have learned to compensate for most of these little shifting quirks over the years. Different bike... different techniques.

The last thing you want to do is get frustrated and go stomping around on the shifter. Best case: you break a shift rod outside the box; worst case you bend a shifting fork inside the transmission; then you have serious and permanent shifting problems which cost a small fortune or whole new education to fix!!!

And yes, as someone mentioned: proper clutch adjustment is important to how the bike shifts. The 99 I just bought had the clutch lever adjusted so close to the bars that the clutch was dragging unless the lever was squeezed tight against the bars. Hint: that's not where/how a clutch cable should be adjusted to engage/disengage.

Other shifting techniques than the much mentioned: "slip the clutch to work it down through the gears" ... Why are you at a stop and it a top gear to begin with? Didn't you down-shift through the gears any while you were slowing down?? Tsk.. Tsk...  You don't really have to use real engine compression decell/braking like a truck going down a mountain, but you can at least snick it through a few gears as you slow down.

Just a tiny bit of clutch action with each shift will make each one engage easier on the way as you slow down. Besides, you should always be in the proper gear to accelerate at any given moment; even while slowing... you may suddenly find yourself in a situation where you need to accelerate, and that's not going to happen if you are at 20mph and still in 4th or 5th gear. You should be down to second by that point, and ready to drop into first just as the bike rolls to a stop.

Oops... who slipped this soap box under me??  :D  Sorry about that... carry on...  :-X[/quote]

I could not agree more.  I learned really quickly that my bike does not like to be downshifted through all 5 gears while sitting at a dead stop.  I try to match my gear to my speed at all times - going up and coming down - and that seems to work really well and keeps me from getting 'stuck' in a gear.  also a little double clutch action has always gotten me out of those jams when it just doesn't want to go into gear.

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by Marin newbie on 07/29/08 at 23:19:21

Great post everyone.  Thanks for all the suggestions--very useful for this newbie.  

My issue so far has been inability to get the bike out of neutral at a stop!  Dealer said this was a break-in issue.   Hhhhmmm.......?  I'll try messing with the clutch and throttle.  Makes sense--sort of like trying to get a car into gear by going thru other gears first with clutch engaged.

Also -- I've started from a stop in 2nd gear when unable to get into 1st, then immediately downshifted to 1st once rolling.  Not ideal, and it lags to be sure, but at least i'm moving and not fusssing with pedals with traffic looking on.  TTFN.

Title: Re: My Gears are getting stuck? Help!
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 07/30/08 at 00:17:47

Sometimes I see a light change & just shift to Neutral while rolling at 30 or so. If it changes & I am still rolling at about 15 or 20, I blip the throttle in neutral, pull the clutch & shift to 2nd, no grinding, no drama.
I have pulled the clutch in & forgotten completely to downshift. Sitting at the light, in 5th, dead stopped. Downshifting thru to 1st without movong? Quick & easy, be deft with the clutch, bump the friction zone & shift down till it gets to first. I can do it in about 4 seconds, no grinding.
Neutral to first givin ya fits? Let the clutch out, bring it right back in & be steppin on the shifter as you do.

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