won't go into 5th gear

[Guest]

Went for a ride and was pretty certain I couldn't get into 5th gear. Is it easy to skip a gear (1st to 3rd?) on these bikes? I thought I had read somewhere that the way the shifting is set up is one that does not allow for skipping over gears when shifting. I may temporarily hook my gear indicator lights back up just to see how they read. Should I take a peek in here? I found this photo while searching for other 5th gear issues...

[CartoonLifeStyle]

You should never be able to go from 1st to 3rd without hitting 2nd first. Going from 3rd to 1st without a choice could be catastrophic too.

[growler]

yeah, that's what i thought. wanted to confirm in order to rule out me thinking i was in 4th when i already was in 5th.

[growler]

anyone else have any ideas?

[growler]

a friend had mentioned a clutch cable adjustment, but all the other shifting appears fine.

[tkent02]

The clutch really doesn't have anything to do with the shifting into wrong gears.

[growler]

okay, thanks.

any idea what this could be?

[tkent02]

Make sure of exactly what it's doing. What hppens if you go through the gears with the engine off?

[CivilRock]

I had a similar problem with my used 1150 I bought.

Turns out the return spring that centers the shift shaft (and the gear going to the pawl) was not centering the assembly. I even made a video showing the problem. Because the shift shaft doesn't return exactly to the middle, it doesn't allow the ratchet mechanism to engage the next gear. In the video, it fails to go into 3, 4, and 5th easily. But while riding, I couldn't get 5th at all unless I very slightly tapped down on the shifter.

Probably easier to see in the video I made.

http://youtu.be/MWyF1HSGbtc

All I did was tweak the return spring ends a little so they put the shift shaft in the proper neutral spot and all is well. I could have bought a new spring, but there wasn't really a problem with the spring, it was more of just some manufacturing fine tuning that needed to be done.

Note: in this video, I had one hand reaching under the bike on the shift lever, and one hand on the primary rotating it as I shifted (or attempted to shift) gears.

-Kevin

[growler]

Thanks so much for your reply, Kevin. I'll check it out on my next garage day. (hopefully tonight ) I'm hoping that's it!

I had a similar problem with my used 1150 I bought.

Turns out the return spring that centers the shift shaft (and the gear going to the pawl) was not centering the assembly. I even made a video showing the problem. Because the shift shaft doesn't return exactly to the middle, it doesn't allow the ratchet mechanism to engage the next gear. In the video, it fails to go into 3, 4, and 5th easily. But while riding, I couldn't get 5th at all unless I very slightly tapped down on the shifter.

Probably easier to see in the video I made.

http://youtu.be/MWyF1HSGbtc

All I did was tweak the return spring ends a little so they put the shift shaft in the proper neutral spot and all is well. I could have bought a new spring, but there wasn't really a problem with the spring, it was more of just some manufacturing fine tuning that needed to be done.

Note: in this video, I had one hand reaching under the bike on the shift lever, and one hand on the primary rotating it as I shifted (or attempted to shift) gears.

-Kevin

[CivilRock]

No problem.

If you do have the same problem, the fix is easy and free. Just adjust a little at a time. Seems like it only takes .000001 degrees to make it right.

Here's another depiction of my problem:


And the fix:

[growler]

you're not kidding! i'll take it nice and slow with this....

[growler]

fixed!!!

right on. without your pics i would have been lost. thanks again.