transmission / shifting trouble

[Squidley]

Just to clairfy what happened with Dale's bike back in the spring. He brought it to a Houston MD and he and I found out the problem to be his linkage. He lives off a dirt road and it got into all the pivot points and made it harder for the linkage to move freely. We took it all apart, cleaned the corrosion and lubed it back up and that took care of his problem.

[V7Goose]

I suggest you grab the linkage right below the middle gear cover and see if there is any play there. Mine has a bit of in/out slop, but absolutely no up/down or front/back play. Since you suggest that your bike may have had a bit of a problem from the beginning, it is possible that it was put together wrong and the shaft is not in the right position, or maybe there is something wrong with the cover. Any motion at the end of that shaft where the ball joint is would play hell with proper shifting.

Goose

[RJD]

I think that may be a good way to describe what mine does also. If I pull in on the clutch and shift slowly, it does not go smoothly into the next gear. I have always been used to going from 1 gear to another with a normal clunk. What I feel is coming out of 1 gear and then go into the next gear. almost like 2 different actions taking place. (hard to explain) I do feel this may be an internal problem..I know its not the shift lever.

 

I guess this may be something I should look into sooner rather than later.

 

Bob

[Condor]

There are linkage arms on the other end of the rod that goes thru the stator cover that will loosen up occassionally and cause all sorts of shifting problems. On the 2ndGen it looks like you can get to the linkage from underneath unlike the 1stGen's that have the collector in the way.

[spingley]

About once a year my 99 will have problems shifting, mostly down shifting, all I do is lubricate all of the pivot points on the shifter linkage and the problem immediately goes away, have you tried this?

[RJD]

to lub all the linkage as you have suggested.. I would hope that something that simple and something I should have been doing all along would take care of the problem

[SaltyDawg]

I had trouble down shifting on my 05 RSTD a few years ago. It would up shift just fine. Pull over a look at the heel toe shifter. The bolt holding the heel toe shifter on was loose. When I went to down shift with the bolt loose it was letting the shfter hit the footboard. Took me a minute to tighen up.

 

Same thing happened to me. Easy fix.

[LilBeaver]

Brian - if you want another RSV to compare it to, I think I might know someone in Lubbock with one that could meet up with you somewhere for further inspection.

 

Mine shifts relatively smoothly - not quite as smooth as an 07 I rode recently... well back in July, but still smooth enough as to what I would consider 'normal'.

 

Just let me know and we can work something out.

 

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Thanks for all the input...I think that since I am getting close to the valve adjustment interval I may rent a trailer and haul the bike to Watts in Lubbock and let them have it for a week or 2 to get this figured out...and let them do the valve service and maybe some service on the neck bearings and maybe even the swingarm bearings too.

 

The shifter does not seem to be binding in any way, externally, and the shifting troubles only appear then the engine is warmed up. I attached a short video to show that the shifter and linkage appear to be working normally. Of course, this is with the bike not running, in neutral, and simply shows the linkage movement. Please excuse the extraneous camera and outdoor noises.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-p3oQiC-f0]YouTube - shifter.MOV[/ame]

Edited October 27, 2010 by tx2sturgis

[LilBeaver]

Brian:

 

Just wondering what happened with your not so 'shifty' situation? Did it get resolved? What was the issue?

 

Hope it all got figured out.