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Downshifting problem

4K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  JPokerwinski 
#1 ·
This past weekend I had tightened up the shifter bolt. It was really loose. Now I noticed that when downshifting from 4 to 3 -2 -1 it sometimes doesn't down shift. You think I over tightened the bolt ? Should there be SOME sloppy in there ?
 
#2 ·
Which bolt? On anything that requires movement, you don't want binding to occur. Are all the pivot points lubed?
 
#3 ·
the bolt that i tightened is the bolt that holds the arm to the assembly. Maybe i should check the bolt at the end opf the linkage. it is pretty tight but the shifter arm just moves front and back . that SEEMS to be ok
 
#4 ·
While you are down there spray the bushings etc with a Teflon based dry lube.
Mask everything else off with paper. That might help. There are a dozen brands on the market. It all works good doesn't pick up dirt, slicks things right up.
 
#5 ·
I think I may have some BLASTER Dry Lube somewhere
 
#7 ·
LOL
Good point. Maybe you pushed the shifter peddle sideways to the point where the side is is contact with the bushing? Having it on there loose may have allowed it to wallow out the spline a little and now it goes in farther than it would have when assembled from new parts. You might have to pull it out a little to establish a little side clearance before tightening. Do spray it wit lube while your there. Kickstand pivot too.
 
#9 ·
Jim, sorry to be a little dense here. Can you post a pic of the bolt you're talking about, when you get a chance?
 
#10 ·
ok Bill I will take a pic of it at lunch time. But it is the bolt that holds the shifter arm to the assembly. The bolt that goes through the bushings
 
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#12 ·
#10.... this picture was not in the manual ? looks like a fiche ?
 
#13 ·
Long Return Stroke

I have a little story that may be relevant here.

For the first two or three weeks I owned my XCT (four+ years ago), I was having sporadic problems doing multiple downshifts. For instance, if I was doing local surface-street riding, I might be casually in 4th gear, and see a light turn red ahead. I'd pull in the clutch, keep in it, and go 3-2-1, coming to a stop. A lot of times, the bike refused to complete all those downshifts in one go. It was as if the tranny was stuck in some gear.

What I somehow discovered was that the Vic had the longest return stroke of any shift lever I'd encountered. (And I'd been street riding for about 15 years then, with three prior bikes owned, and many more ridden at demos and because I was an MSF RiderCoach for a couple of years.)

What I had to train myself to do was -- when doing multiple shifts in one lever pull -- to just raise my foot a little higher than I was doing, after each down-stroke. This let the lever come back sufficiently high so that the shift mechanism could reset itself, ready for the next downshift.

And then everything was fine. (And I realize that there are adjustments I could make, but that little change in my foot-height habit did the trick for me.)

I mention all this because one possibility related to the start of this thread is that some very minor binding may not have let the lever come all the way up in its long return stroke, or maybe just slowed it down a tiny bit when it was going back up, such that when JP went to push down again, it wasn't quite ready, i.e., hadn't actually reset itself yet.

Just a thought ...
 
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#15 ·
I have a little story that may be relevant here.

For the first two or three weeks I owned my XCT (four+ years ago), I was having sporadic problems doing multiple downshifts. For instance, if I was doing local surface-street riding, I might be casually in 4th gear, and see a light turn red ahead. I'd pull in the clutch, keep in it, and go 3-2-1, coming to a stop. A lot of times, the bike refused to complete all those downshifts in one go. It was as if the tranny was stuck in some gear.

What I somehow discovered was that the Vic had the longest return stroke of any shift lever I'd encountered. (And I'd been street riding for about 15 years then, with three prior bikes owned, and many more ridden at demos and because I was an MSF RiderCoach for a couple of years.)

What I had to train myself to do was -- when doing multiple shifts in one lever pull -- to just raise my foot a little higher than I was doing, after each down-stroke. This let the lever come back sufficiently high so that the shift mechanism could reset itself, ready for the next downshift.

And then everything was fine. (And I realize that there are adjustments I could make, but that little change in my foot-height habit did the trick for me.)

I mention all this because one possibility related to the start of this thread is that some very minor binding may not have let the lever come all the way up in its long return stroke, or maybe just slowed it down a tiny bit when it was going back up, such that when JP went to push down again, it wasn't quite ready, i.e., hadn't actually reset itself yet.

Just a thought ...
Bill I think you I are on to something there. Theory make sense.
 
#14 ·
Dang, I was looking to check the tightness of bolt #10 in that fiche a while back but I could not get at it without taking off too much stuff so I left it alone.

G'day,

Vinish
 
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#16 ·
It's really not much top take off. Two bolts underneath, you can loosen enough to get at it. The linkage at the tranny should come off. 10 mm.
5 minutes to take it off
 
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