CRAP! figures, i read this too late! im 35 miles west of Chicago and would have helped you out.....i have a slew of extra parts laying around!!

Try moving the shift arm, the one in the back one way or the other.

Had this problem and relocating the shift arm fixed it.

I think you don't have the shift arm centered and when that happens you can't shift all the way up or down.  depending on which way you got it biased.

then adjust the location of the peg so you can get your toe under it by twisting the rod.

If the bike is still shifting hard check the clutch adjustment. You need a little free movement in the clutch handle before you take up the slack. If it is too loose or too tight you can have shifting problems. Don't forget to check you oil level, if it gets low the gears won't shift as easy.

Ed L. wrote on 07/13/09 at 19:02:51:


I have a oil leak out of the dreaded cap.... I need to yank the head off and reseal it. I do not know how old the oil was in the engine before I changed it nor do I know what kind it was.... I bought this bike a month ago and put 800 miles on it. I changed it and the filter, I have to add about 1/4 of oil every 250 miles it seems like. To add the bike has 5600 miles on it now and its a 97.

I actually carry around 2 12mm wrenches when she and I go riding. If the clutch gets out of wack I tell her to pull over and I adjust it on the fly. Right now it releases really high but it does not slip, I figure that if it releases high, it will FULLY disengage the clutch if I press on the lever all the way.

I'm gonna try Rotella T oil in the engine to see if that Spectro I used has any side effects. My Kawasaki for instance did NOT like one brand of oil I used on it and when I went with Amsoil the trans shifted nice. I been using Repsol 4T Racing oil in my RC51 along with Motul, Amsoil, HondaLube. She doesn't really care what oil I use as long as its synthetic, 20K miles and I haven't had a single issue and the bike gets abused.

I don't have the time to wrench on it when its mid 70s in the midwest right now, and I try to get on 2 wheels as much as I can. Its my fiancees bike and she gets worried about all kinds of noises, oil leaks etc.

My shift rod broke shortly after I bought my bike. Found out the previous owner (all 76 miles of ownership) had run it up on a curb on the left side and bent the shift rod. Evidenced by the curb rash I had not noticed underneath the shifter mount. I had just pulled into work when it broke, 26 miles across town from home. I just put it into 3rd gear. Suzi' has enough torque to pull in 3rd gear from a stop even on a hill if you are gentle with the clutch. Even with my 326 lbs back then!! Ran 3rd gear all the way home on the back roads. New shift rod was about $5.00 13,000 miles ago. No problems since!!

1st to second, up or down, kinda tuiff clutchless, but I do the rest of it clutcholess anytime I want, Easy,