Shifting problems - shifting to neutral stuck

[liraz]

Hi,

I have a 92 GS in pretty good shape, other than having an annoying problem with shifting transmission to neutral. I'm trying to diagnose the problem... here are the symptoms.

1. After coming to a full stop, in first gear, pulling the shift lever to neutral is problematic.

Sometimes its stuck. Won't shift to neutral (or second gear) with reasonable force. When this happens you can see the shift light kind-of turning on (not fully) as you pull, but it doesn't actually go into neutral. (I'm hesistent to force it, as I'm pretty sure doing that often enough will break the shift lever)

Sometimes its slippery, so it shifts straight to second gear, even when careful pressue is applied.

Sometimes it just works.

2. Once the bike starts moving, shifting to second gear (or neutral) is usually smooth.

3. Current workaround: shifting down to neutral from second, which is pretty reliable, if I can get into second. Or just turning off the bike in first gear.

I've bought the cylers manual for the GS, but I'm not much of a mechanic. Does anyone have an idea what's going on?

Cheers,
Liraz

[The Buddha]

If it seems like its stuck ... rock the bike back and forth as you try to shift. Sometimes they do that, most likely oil or somehting else needs a change. Or it just does at random.
Cool.
Srinath.

[jason_S]

Mine does that also, and it's an '04.  Rocking back and forth and/or letting the clutch out a little or pulling it in a little has always worked for me.

[Vball24]

I'll have to try that.  Mine gets stuck in first also, only when I'm stopped and the bike is on.  The minute I turn the bike off no problems getting to neutral.  Most of the time I try to go from second down, but even going that was is spotty.

[Gisser]

Does anyone have an idea what's going on?

What's going on is that the clutch plates tend to drag when the oil is cold which puts a load on the trans even with the clutch lever pulled in which makes it hard to shift out of gear into neutral.  Turn the engine off and the load goes away and shifting is easy as observed above.  Make sure you don't have too much play in the clutch lever, also synthetic oil can do wonders.  

[weaselnoze]

sounds like its all covered already but i had most of those problems too.  turned out to be a broken clutch cable adjuster at the lever end.  replaced it, readjusted the free play and everything was smooth.  just take a look at it

[Roadstergal]

If it seems like its stuck ... rock the bike back and forth as you try to shift. Sometimes they do that, most likely oil or somehting else needs a change. Or it just does at random.
Cool.
Srinath.

Mine did it at random; I would just ease the clutch a little so the bike would barely roll forwards, then pull the clutch back in and shift...

[red_phil]

I had this.
I loosened my clutch for replacing the front sprocket and forgot to re-adjust it.
With the lever pulled all the way in the bike sat ok, but the plates were close enough to drag slightly, possibly just with oil friction.
This made shifting whilest stationary nearly impossible after a while.
I kinda kicked myself when I noticed the clutch was so loose.
I must have got used to the clutch like that when it cleared things just enough then a slight stretch in the cable or a knock on the adjuster
(which wasn't locked) and the problem appeared out of nowhere.

[tdan553527]

I have an 04 also, mine did this one time, warm or cold. The cause was too much oil, drained some out and it went away. Check you oil level. Hope this helps.

[gerharddvs]