My '02 had some wonkiness with the shifting, worse than the usual description of iffy downshifting. The PO was a little 20-something girl, and the shift lever itself was nearly impossible to get my size 12 under for upshifting, since I can't point my toes like a ballerina, especially wearing boots.. I went to adjust it and realized that the shifter rod had been bent and the shaft end of the linkage had been moved around a couple of notches towards the front. The PO finally admitted her boyfriend, who, "has a bike, too" had moved the shifter lever down so she wouldn't hit it with her foot accidentally. You could see where the shifter rod had been basically bent with something. Anyway, I straightened the connecting rod, moved the shaft arm back to the mark. (The little arm should be vertical,or nearly so, btw.) and adjusted it to a comfortable height. That solved the shifting problems. (It does need some occasional coaxing to get into 1st, but rocking it a bit with light pressure on the shifter does it.) It makes sense--- the best "throw" on the shifter shaft is going to be with the shifter arm and rod at 90 degrees. That gives you equal movement shifting up or down. if you move it one tooth forward, that would give you a longer movement back (upshifting) but it shortens the movement when downshifting. Some problems are "Previous Owner Source" Maintenance, POS for short...