Has anyway had any experience with degraded transmission performance?

You'll first have to forgive me as a relatively new rider and owner, but I'll do my best to try and make sense. Anyway...

Is there any common problems I should be on the lookout for the transmission? My 96' Savage has about 19,000 miles on it. I bought it used last year and have but about 1,500 on it myself. But I've always felt that the transmission may be a little weird on it. Mainly, I find myself usually having to double tap it into 5th. Sometimes it goes straight it, but usually not. I generally try to shift to 5th at about 45mph. Usually what ends up happening is the first tap will make it go about halfway in, and then the second or third time I can really feel the shift lever move all the way back. It never really makes a solid sound to confirm it either.

When shifting down from 5th to 4th, I sometimes have to double tap it as well like its getting caught up on something.

3rd gear always feels nice any direction.

1st to 2nd seems loose and grindy, but maybe I should just get into a habit of shifting at a lower speed there. And when going from 2nd to 1st, I'll get a lot of winding noise with the clutch pulled in and coasting- especially at higher speeds (like downshifting all the way coming up to a red light or stop sign and coasting in).

Still runs so that's a good thing I guess haha! =) But was just hoping maybe someone had some input on this. Long road trip planned for July, don't want to get stuck out who the heck knows where lol.

My 96' Savage has about 19,000 miles on it.


If it hasnt had a cam chain, its time to look in at it. & if that dude goes, it usually wrecks the engine.

Is it true running low on oil can accelerate this problem?


Low oil accelerates every problem I can think of on the inside of an engine.


Man, you really otta park that thing till you know what shape the tensioner is in. If it comes out, youre a pedestrian.

Unlike cars, motorcycle transmissions don't employ synchromesh, per se.   Instead, they use a concept based on gear dogs, which are robust protruding steel nodes attached to the sides of individual gears.   When shifting, these dogs "mesh" with each other ensuring the gears are spinning at the same speed before meshing their teeth.   This is why your transmission doesn't grind when shifting.   However, the shift process is rather violent when compared to smoother car transmissions because the dogs kinda slam into each other producing the "kerclunk" sound you hear.   Those times when the shift cannot complete is because the dogs have lined up in such a way that they are pushing against each other and can't mesh.   Simply easing up on the pressure (on the shifter) for a fraction of a second and re-trying will make the dogs spin slightly and give another opportunity to engage.

One of the things I am disappointed about on my 2009 is the 5th gear ratio.   Instead of increasing the ratio and making it a "hiway gear" like an overdrive, Suzuki chose to make 5th very close ratio to 4th. This makes any 5th gear benefit almost nil.  Here are my ratio's...

1st:   2.333
2nd:  1.578
3rd:  1.142
4th:   0.956
5th:   0.884

The percentage of gear ratio increase from 4th to 5th is only 8%.   I don't know about older models (I think early ones were only 4 speeds), but on the newer bikes shifting between 4th and 5th is scarcely noticeable.   To translate, if you're turning 4000 RPM in 4th and shift to 5th, you are only going to drop 320 RPM.  It would be interesting to see the torque and HP curves to see what advantages might be gained.

ralfyguy wrote on 06/01/12 at 17:34:04:


I know, but since 5th is only marginally useful it would have been nice if Zuk would have considered making it a high HIGH gear, for lower RPM and better gas mileage.   It would be intended for flat terrain cruising, like interstates.   If you start to go uphill, no biggie, just downshift to 4th.   BMW did this on some of their models going from 5 to 6 speed trannys.

Why not get the parts first,,limit the Indoor Parking time.

I had a GR 650 Suzuki that turned 4700 rpm in high at 60 mph,Change the sprockets to turn 3700 rpm at 60 mph,Loved it never had a problem in 28000 miles being geared 1000 less than stock.Best mpg on at trip 68.Yes as for as I'm concerned Suzuki really screwed up on the gearing.

Definitely gonna try some of this up shifting input about "holding up" next time I get on. Sounds like it could be a real winner! =D

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Wow. DO WANT. Best mpg I've been able to get so far was 43. Granted, I haven't done too many calculations, and I've been making a lot of changes to the bike in between fill ups, so I don't think its super accurate to call it anything yet. My goal is to hit that wonderful sounding 50mpg mark. Def hope to get back out of the the high 30's real soon. X_X