Hi, im new to the forums, and i'm sorry if this topic has been covered many times before.

I just bought my bike, its a 2005 s40, and it's got 10900 miles on it. Generally, the bike runs very well.I have had 2 instances, once in a parking lot, once about 30 minutes later at an intersection, where the bike did not seem to want to click down to first. the other gears seem to shift just fine. does anyone else have that problem?

as for the backfire, I am aware that these engines run far too lean for the EPA requirements and all. and I found a very good article, which i will post as a reply to my own post, since I could not post it here on my first post.

Other than the solution offered there, does anyone else have a solution to the backfiring, and does it actually harm the bike in anyway, or is it just annoying? it may be worth mentioning that the bike had aftermarket jardine pipes on it when i bought it.

thanks
Travis

Hello dave...
1st tech section is for "How to do's" not "How come it does"
the article which may or may not have been read here, is a well known answer to your question.
So drill out the brass plug and readjust your idle mixture already.

Now with your repipe, you may need to rejet.  So I suggest you try that second before doing the white spacer mod.  Search for rejet and you'll get 10 billion hits or look at the index of the tech sect.

check for the instructions here, but basically drill a pilot hole and stick a sheet metal screw in it and pull it out.

I helped one of our members who messed it up, but didn't get it out.  I dremeled the hole until it nearly was gone.  I had a end mill that fit the hole perfectly and once engaged, it spun the plug right out.  Important thing is, if you mess up, stop, don't drill into that screw, you'll really regret it.