gs850 1980 when shifting gear is a torture....

[ajk]

hey...
I'm french and feshly settle in SF....got the bike 2 days ago...about 80 000Miles...very cool bike but shifting is very VERY hard....

any idea how to make this bike 100% fun to ride?

thx

[DaveDanger]

Does the clutch seem to be 100% disengaging when the lever is pulled? Most of these bikes seem to have a slight tendency to drive the rear wheel if you crank it in first gear, even with the clutch pulled... that seems to go away as it warms up though. Is that noticeable with yours, and if so, does it go away after warming up? Does it shift with difficulty between any and all gears, or is it more noticeable at low or high gear? Is there a noticeable clunk when it does shift? Or does it maybe feel like the stiffness is actually in the shift lever itself? If the clutch seems to function normally otherwise, I'd begin to suspect that the actual gear cluster inside the tranny (80k miles?) has begun to wear some on the teeth and it's causing some difficulty with the gears actually sliding from one set to another. I've never been inside one of these trannies, so it'd take one of the other guys to address that.

[scotty]

Have you ever adjusted the clutch and is there about 1/8 inch play at the clutch lever???

[ajk]

Does the clutch seem to be 100% disengaging when the lever is pulled? Most of these bikes seem to have a slight tendency to drive the rear wheel if you crank it in first gear, even with the clutch pulled... that seems to go away as it warms up though. Is that noticeable with yours, and if so, does it go away after warming up? Does it shift with difficulty between any and all gears, or is it more noticeable at low or high gear? Is there a noticeable clunk when it does shift? Or does it maybe feel like the stiffness is actually in the shift lever itself? If the clutch seems to function normally otherwise, I'd begin to suspect that the actual gear cluster inside the tranny (80k miles?) has begun to wear some on the teeth and it's causing some difficulty with the gears actually sliding from one set to another. I've never been inside one of these trannies, so it'd take one of the other guys to address that.

Well unfortunatly there is no difference when the bike is warmed up or no and it's hard on any gears...
as for the clutch , it's slipping badly....And the clutch lever is somehow very hard as well...

so my left hand and left foot are in pain :?

[flyingace]

You will need to isolate where the hard pull is coming from. I think that's why the shifting is so hard - you aren't really disengaging the clutch.

I would disconnect the clutch cable at the clutch actuating arm (on engine) and make sure the cable is not binding. Maybe it just needs to be lubed. It should move freely.

[ajk]

You will need to isolate where the hard pull is coming from. I think that's why the shifting is so hard - you aren't really disengaging the clutch.

I would disconnect the clutch cable at the clutch actuating arm (on engine) and make sure the cable is not binding. Maybe it just needs to be lubed. It should move freely.

i'll try this and let you know.

thank you very much

[spchips]

i have a gs650 with 30K Mi and I almost changed the clutch cable, until i realized that the difficulty was coming from the clutch itself (stilll haven't gotten around to fixing this). however, i'd try attaching some vice grips to the clutch mechanism (with the cable off.) the torqu should be pretty low to turn it (6 ft-lbs?) also, free play is very important. 2-3 mm (get a ruler and figure out how big this is) at the cable. it should be similar on the top and bottom. i find that if you can move the arm on the clutch side a couple mm freely (or at all), you shouldn't have any clutch problems. however, if it was too tight or loose before, it might change again in a couple days as the cable gets used to the tension or lack thereof that's now in the cable.

[gsBert]

i know nuddin about clutches. i never use one to shift, but check for cable binding as they said. disconnecting it clutch side is good.

some aftermarket clutches have super stiff springs (barnett comes to mind) and that might be it...

on top of not disengaging, your cluch slips?

yank it out and look at the friction plates... they might need replacing to fix the slip. when you reassemble, the teeth have a slight round to their edge on one side. make sure you put them all in with the soft edge on the same side. (i have mine facing outward)

its probably time for an oil change anyways, so make sure you use 10-40 (avoid synthetics, and never ever ever ever ever use additives like teflon)

[ajk]

well well....I tried to lubricate the clutch cable....no appropriate lubricante so i put cooking oil in spray....and i did the job
easier now...still not perfect and i will probably change the clutch asap...
thank you again

antony