Gearchange sticking

Hi,

My 02 SV650S has developed a problem with the gear change. The changes had been smooth up until a week or two ago, when pulling off the motorway I could not change down from third to second. The problem was intermittent until Monday when it started happening the other way too: I was unable to change up from second to third pulling onto the motorway.

After pulling onto the hard shoulder I managed to devise a work around, which is to nudge the lever in the opposite direction to the gear change i.e. a down nudge after changing up. The bike then changes fine. This seems to me to be some kind of spring going missing.

Any ideas what the problem could be?

Many thanks for the help,
Matt

[yorkie_chris]

Salt and crap causing the lever to stick. Pull the lever off and grease it, grease the rose joints.
Common problem.

LOL thanks! Every day this week I get home covered head to toe in salt, and it never occurred to me it was that simple.

[dizzyblonde]

ermm, you want to take the plastic cover off from over the front sprocket too. I can bet you 10p that theres a whole load of crud stuck under it. All the oil from your chain gets flung in there and mixes with the crap flung off the road. Have a poke with a stick and you'll have a nice blob of cack stuck to it
Had it a fair few times on Suzy, once Im Indoors could only select a gear if you went up a gear then knock the gear lever back to centre ..eventually i think he managed to get it to 2nd, 3rd and 5th only but he did ride it into the ground through winter

Did cleaning the crud out sort the problem? I had exactly the same problem which turned out the be a snapped return spring.

[yorkie_chris]

That's also a possibility but start with the simple stuff

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by WelshWop

Did cleaning the crud out sort the problem? I had exactly the same problem which turned out the be a snapped return spring.

In my case, yes. Its the first place I go looking when i have gearchanging problems. I've never had a more serious problem than muck! .. touches wood!

mine was getting very clunky through the gears, and a pain to find first, just took the cover off, cleared out the sticky stuff, sprayed some cleaner in. then some lub. selects lovely and smooth now.

A bit of WD40 on moving parts every now and again keeps those moving parts moving. Its one of the three most important things you'll ever need in your tool kit, along with gaffa tape and a hammer.

[yorkie_chris]

WD doesn't hang around for long though, to do it right use a moly or PTFE spray or grease.