1st gear dead, other gears vague.

[sixpack577]

I've had my fair share of "face palm" moments where I was trying and failing to diagnose a problem only to find it was a very simple solution...

One time my son was having an issue with his Honda Civic in which he put an Acura engine in...it was literally running awful and had a huge tick...I was deployed at the time but I was told he figured the engine was no good...

When I got home, I told him to start it up and sure enough the sound was a loud ticking...a sound I immediately knew was valve adjustment being out of whack...I took the valve cover off and found one adjuster was missing and many other were able to be moved by hand as they were so out of of adjustment...within minutes I had all the valves adjusted to specs and even found the missing adjuster screw in the head buried in oil.....when he started it up, it was whisper quiet but the idle was very high and the idle adjuster on the throttle cable didn't do anything...I felt around and found a small tube that was cut and put my finger over the cut end and the idle went to normal....the engine was taken out at a wrecking yard and they cut lots of stuff to get it out...I fashioned a cap for the vacuum tube and the car ran perfectly....

I felt pretty good after that knowing I resolved an issue that most likely would of ended with the car being scrapped...

Long story short, diagnosing an issue can be a real challenge but it's always a good feeling when the "ah ha" moment is realized...

...and it's always cool when Dad shows up and fixes it.

 

[JSpeed]

I love that 2010/11 black with deep red decals. When I was beginning to hunt for a bike that scheme was at the very top of my wish list. I made the decision to get a newer bike as I do not wrench, but it was stinging to eliminate that scheme!

Yep, I agree the black and red is my favourite combo too and the Yoshi mufflers compliment this one perfectly. It also sounds awesome!

 

[mabupa]

Thanks again for the advice everyone, sorted the problem but I must confess I feel like a bit of a knob! Here’s a quick summary in case it helps someone else.

Finally got some time to look at the bike Saturday morning. Inspected the clutch hydraulic system. I noted fluid was a little low but the lever moved smoothly with constant hydraulic pressure throughout the range of motion (no slack early on). Fluid was starting to darken, so flushed and bled the system with fresh DOT4 anyway. I also took the oil filler cap off so I could see the clutch plates move in response to lever. Outside plate moved approx 2mm, so action looked ok.

It was then that I noticed the gear change lever! It was bumping the side stand when trying to shift into first… yep, the locking nuts had come loose on the adjuster shaft, which allowed the lever to slowly drop over time!

So I’m relieved to report a simple and free fix. I’ve been riding and tinkering with bikes since I was young, so also highly embarrassed to have overlooked such a fundamental adjustment!

Still have some drag on the clutch, and gear changes are a bit rough so I'll continue and take a look at the clutch plates...

Good find!!! I’m glad to hear it was a simple thing that was free to fix.