Gear Shifter????

[Ringo]

But difficulty shifting from neutral to first (especially at stop lights   ) or finding neutral is fairly common.

My '99 had both problems when it was young, but they're long gone now....

Kerry: Did the shifting problem just disappear by itself or did you do something about it? If you did, please let me know how.

[Kerry]

The shifting problems slowly sank into the sunset all by themselves.

[bluedevil]

I usually shift to 2nd between 2000 - 3000 rpms?  Is this alright?

[MarkusN]

I find that shifting this low is more of a problem than a bit higher. My theory is that with a cold engine the primary shaft stops altogether, and that you can get stuck in an unshiftable position.

[Kerry]

I usually shift to 2nd between 2000 - 3000 rpms?  Is this alright?

No, not really!

Try shifting closer to 5,000 RPM.  You can shift a little lower if you're not loading the engine (flat road, barely accelerating) but otherwise you're probably "lugging" the poor thing.

Running the engine at what seems like "too high" of an RPM number is better than running it "too low".  And with the redline being around 11,000 RPM you've got a lot of "room to rev".

I understand about not wanting to race the engine, or to make too much noise, but you gotta do what's good for the bike!  

[bluedevil]

Thanks for all the tips Kerry.  Ringo, about the clutch cable...all I know is that the tightened it and now I actually feel a friction zone with my clutch. :guns:

[glenn9171]

Shifting gears at 2000 rpm?  I usually was between 7000 and 8000 from what I remember.  The engine makes absolutley no power below about 5000 rpm.  And then shifting gears causes the rpms to drop even further.  Bogging the engine is not good.  I'm not telling you to act like you are drag racing, but a little more engine speed will do the bike and you some good.  

[aslam]

Clutch cable, doh.  Always check the easy things first.  We should all know that by now  

ASLAM.