Gear selection problem after crash - Curvy.

Hey what's up SV riders?

Well I have a pretty big issue with my SV. About 2 months ago my SV unfortunately kissed the asphalt when I lost traction going around a turn in rainy weather. I wasn't going too fast, ~25 mph, but my bike flipped when it went off into the grass. Most of the damage is on right side, but there's some minimal damage on the left side as well. At first it didn't look too bad; broken handlebar brake lever, bent foot brake lever, bent shift lever, a few scratches here and there. However, when I tried to get the bike into neutral to start it up I couldn't properly shift gears. I was able to shift through 6, 5, 4, but then I couldn't feel it engage the gears anymore. I kept on shifting down, and after way too many clicks it cam to a dead stop. I tried to find neutral, but the light never came on. I took the clutch apart and put it back together and I removed the shifting rod and used my hand to shift. Now I can get the bike into neutral and what it seems like 2nd gear, but that's it. I haven't started the engine since I laid the bike down, because I couldn't get it into neutral. I don't know what to do next or how to troubleshoot. The bike had almost 70,000 mi on it and I bought it for $900, so I'll do the required work myself, because it's not worth taking it somewhere to have it repaired. Also, it's pretty stock, besides the aftermarket exhaust. I would like to figure out if it's a clutch problem first, because if it's not I'll have to drop the engine to get to the transmission and that'll be a pain in the ****. Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated!

[jambo]

It's unlikely to be an internal problem with the gearbox, so hopefully it's something fairly simple.

First off, rule out the linkage mechanism. If you have a pair of mole grips carefully attach them to the gear selector shaft on the left side, where the shift linkage would normally attach. You should be able to shift up and down gear using that. Note that bike gearboxes are built differently to cars, and sometimes shifting down several gears while neither input or output shaft are moving can be a problem. Rock the bike back and forwards and see if that helps.

I have seen one case on here where after a crash the bike would select a couple of gears but get progressively harder until you couldn't select the next one. That turned out to be the gear selector shaft itself, which can be changed without removing anything too major.

If using the mole grips work fine then re-check the position and straightness of components in the shift linkage and lever.

you should be able to go up and down the box without the clutch rocking the bike back and forth and applying a positive, but not hard pressure to shift, provided the bike is moving or being rocked back and forth.

If the bike can be pushed in gear with the clutch lever pulled in, and stops when it's released then the clutch mechanism is good enough for now.

Jambo

[johnnyrod]

I had a similar problem inthe last few weeks, and I dropped mine over winter on the left side. The circlip on the gearshift shaft was displaced i think when I dropped it. The sideways play in the shaft built up over the next few months to about 5-6mm as the circlip worked its way leftwards. By this time the shaft could move in and out enough to disengage from the shifter bits under the clutch and gearchanging gave up. So check the shfat for play, shoudl be essentailly nothing, and check the circlip is in its groove - at first I saw it was still there but hadn't twigged that it had jumped out.

Failing that, pull the clutch cover off and have a look at the bits on the right hand end of the same shaft.