So when I reached about 1800 km's (a good 1100 miles) on my oil change, the previously perfect shifting went out the window again. I have Motul 5100 10w-40 in there. Admittedly I was out in the mountains on a season-opening event at the time, had great fun, used the whole rev range for a few hours, mainly the upper half to keep up with the 'big boys'
But the problem persists. Shifts perfectly until she reaches operating temp (after about 20km's), then comes the cr*p: false neutrals, dropping out of gear, you name it. I had a false neutral between 5th and 6th during overtaking, gave her proper throttle, you can imagine my surprise as she rev'ed into the red zone - hope I didn't hurt my baby...
Folks on the Hungarian GS board wouldn't believe me that it's the "worn" oil causing these issues... They think I have a worn out tranny. But I can't imagine that at 56k km's / 35k miles, and had the same issues for a short while before the oil change, which cured them all for this short time. I just hoped this expensive stuff would hold up longer...
What do you think?

I have seen that happen on katanas. In some cases, poor shifting technique leads to the gearbox getting notchy and slipping and crappy ... and that condition does not get cured ... ever. Crappy shifting leads to a dead gearbox.
Cool.
Buddha.

And what about the problem completely disappearing with fresh oil and then reappearing as time goes on?

I am not sure why that happens, but a katana as it starts to go will behave if you're shifting it correctly. But I have not observed if it improves with oil.
Also a GS is known for not being similar to the kat 6.
I dunno maybe you should run a oil flush and make the transmission clean clean clean. Like I used to put motor flush in a hot motor and idle it for 3-4 mins. Then flush it. Then run a few quarts of cheap oil through it.
Maybe more than 1 time.
Or say screw it and in a hot motor drain 1/2 the oil, then put gasoline to replace it. It wont hurt the motor if you dont ride it and go crazy ... even so quite a few of us have ridden bikes with the crankcase 1/2 full of gas when they had a petcock or float go bad ... so clean the innards with gas ... then drain, let it dry, run a couple qt's of cheapo oil through it. Then put the preferred oil and try and see if it gets better.

Also you could run 20w50 and see if it helps.

Cool.
Buddha.

How's the oil level?  Notice that the level has changed since the oil change?

Not saying that its a great comparison or anything, but... I know I need to top up the oil in my old truck when it becomes difficult to shift - it does have the original clutch which could be a contributing factor, but near oil change interval or down half a quart it gets tough to shift and wants to 'grind gears'...

- Bboy

I have noticed this between 3/4. I attributed it to sh!tty technique or because I was "gettin' after it" (usually resulting in sh!tty technique). When it happens, it feels like I didn't give the upshift enough toe to engage, no recollection of it ever happening on a downshift.

Running Rotella T6 syntho fwiw.

Are there any ratios where this is more likely to happen or is common for our bikes or is it always an indication of bad rider or bad tranny?

Thanks for the suggestions.

My technique could be bad of course, but it's strange this never happened for a while, and all of a sudden it happens quite often.

Oil's full, apart from consuming about 0.2 litre in the mountains (I don't blame her for that ), which was topped up later that day, it sits nicely at the F mark.

Buddha, I may try that engine flush if the 'fix' I want to try won't work: if I'm right and the bike (somehow, maybe because of some wear, I have no chance to know without splitting the cases) needs heavier oil than the probably sheared (and thin to begin with) 10w40, I might as well 'beef it up' with some 20w50. I put a litre of Valvoline VR1, which is a really thick 50 on order and will try to somehow get half of it in the crankcase without overfilling. If that's not enough, well, I can still flush, or just change to 15w40 or 20w50. I really hope this can be solved without opening her up...

Do you remember if it happened when you were trying to perform a quick shift or just while riding normally?

Not saying you're experiencing rider error, but kinda hoping we both are for our bikes' sakes.

Well, it may be rider error, since it was so smooth with fresh oil, it could have made me 'lazy'. I mean it was enough to just think about it and it was in the next gear. The 5/6 false neutral incident was trying to be real quick, that's for sure, 'cause I was overtaking. Then again, a 3/2 false neutral happened in the mountains (that was the first of the symptoms now), I think that had to be quick, too. But a 'dropping back from 2nd to 3rd' incident happened after a lazy downshift.
Also if I downshift multiple gears without releasing the clutch between them, sometimes I get stuck in a false neutral that's hard to get out of, but I probably shouldn't be doing that at all.
I still think there is some kind of an issue.. I hope a minor one. Or was it just 'too good' the first 1k miles and could it be that I'm not positive enough again? We'll see, I plan a longer ride some of these days, and I will try to pay more attention to why/how it happens.

Hm.

Well, I will say that, despite having gotten a few riding days over the previous few months, the past three days of riding a lot felt like re-learning. I realized that I was making some of the same mistakes I made when I got the bike back in September.

Now, let me go see if I can successfully Dremel these bolts off so we can attach this Chuck81 fork brace and point out a few more of my piloting flaws... (insert upward pointing thumb)

I have experienced all of the things you describe from new and sometimes still do. It needs a positive shift. Being lazy will result in false neutrals etc. I changed to 20w50 about 18 months ago and it is MUCH better when hot, no different (still easy) when cold. I use "car" oil and have had no problems. If you prefer a motorcycle specific oil try Casrol Active 15w50. It seems to work well. 

Macka

I used Motul 5100 too in my Ex-GS500, and didn't like it one bit! When hot, the neutral was hard to "find"! EVen in my present SRAD it would give me false neutrals and go out o 6th!
Can't suggest you an oil as I don't have the GS500 anymore, but in the SRAD, now I have Castrol Power Racing 1 and it's been great for about 3000Kms with some track action in the middle...

Thank you so much guys! I am now officially calm.
I was hoping it would be a general thing. Replacing transmission components is not something I'd like to do...
I am not necessarily a fan of motorcycle specific stuff, in fact I already have some Delvac MX for the next change... I'm just not in the position of dumping about $40 worth of Motul this early, so I'll try adding some 20w50 to it (I wouldn't have imagined that sometimes oil consumption can actually help with something). We'll see if that helps, if not, well, I can still flush it out...
I'm interested in how the Delvac will hold up vs. the Motul. If that isn't good either, I may have to try that Castrol Power Racing stuff. Or Macka, if I may ask, which automotive 20w50 is giving you good results?
And thank you once more, now I can sleep well at night.

Summer or winter i always wear motorcycle boots....they help with posative shifting.

yea I put my bike in for tyres about a month ago figured i'd get them to service it (cause well i was feeling lazy). dunno what they put in think it was motul something, but I get the same issues now. Drops out of second to neutral and then sometimes false neutrals always when you don't want it to.

Never had the issue with the silkolene oil I use when I service it. Thinking I might drop this oil and relegate it to the crappy oil bottle use it for flushing, it still looks pretty clean.

I use SG API rated 20w50 engine oil. The brand is Lubrimax but it is not easy to find. It is a Castrol base blended to their own requirements. Lubrimax is an Aussie oil company, mainly wholesale to workshops like mine but it can be found if you search for it. It seems to work well in the GS and is very good in older model car engines that need a heavier grade of oil. Any SG rated 20w50 oil should do the job and it is usually relatively cheap as SG is an old rating. Oils rated SH or later MAY have friction modifiers added which could affect the clutch but only MAY. There is a lot of BS in the oil selling business. I have been in it for 44 years and can assure you that there is a lot of "up-sell" as that is where the money is. Brand and price are irrelevant for the GS. It will not benefit from using an expensive oil. It is far better to use cheaper oil and change it more often (to get the contaminants out) than to use an expensive synthetic oil and leave it in for long periods. Often a "house" brand is simply repackaged well known oil. Both of my bikes get an oil change every 2000 km. We have a saying in the trade: "oil is cheaper than metal". If your owners handbook actually specifies synthetic or other expensive oil you should use it though. In my workshop/business I always use the relevant oil for the application and never "upsell". "Horses for Courses".
Sorry to "jack" the thread guys but I felt that is relevant here as some people say that youy should always use the latest oil- WRONG.

Macka

Still using Valvoline diesel oil 15/40 ... All good....

+1 on bike boots!

Thanks for the info.
Yeah, locating Aussie goods here in Europe is not always an easy task - though I managed to find a Penrite distributor, should I need some later.
I always wear motorcycle boots too, they really help - and I believe in ATGATT.

Wait...

What does Vegemite(tm) have to do with false positives?

BTW, I'm using the Castrol Power Racing 1 because I can get it for almost the same price of any regular semi-synth and even cheaper than the Motul 5100.  That way I can change it more often(will it change soon).
If the Castrol would be expensive for you, try something else that wont brake you budget untill you find one the GS likes!