[zorchdave]

3000mi on the 959 so far, trouble free except for one problem that's slowly getting worse I think. The transmission shifter cam or forks intermittently get notchy or feel like something inside there is binding. Shifts are not smooth, the shifter arm sometimes sticks like the cam is jammed or the forks won't move. Once or twice today on a 300mi ride it was actually jammed into 1st gear at a stop, unable to move the shifter at all. This problem comes and goes in 5 or 10 mile intervals (est) while at speed. I'm sportriding hard, but not flogging it. And this isn't the "it's hard to find neutral" problem everybody talks about. When this happens at a stop, neutral IS hard to find, but I know the difference between that and "this thing is really stuck and I have to really pull hard to pop the transmission over into 2nd". This happens with a warm or cold engine, going slow or going fast, hard acceleration or hard engine braking or freewheeling, slowly rolling or standing still. I tried everything, nothing seems to make a big difference. DQS is deactivated, so it's nothing to do with that. No apparent clutch problems. On the way home today I stopped by the bike shop and asked them for ideas, they hadn't run into this problem yet. I'll probably have them do a test ride if it gets worse or at the end of the year, or just ride it until something breaks.

Any ideas out there? My only thought is if there's an oil passage that's a bit blocked maybe some fork or cam bearing somewhere is not getting oil all the time.

Oh, and even with this problem, this is still a fantastic bike.

 

[Dingo]

Have you checked the mechanical fulcrum for binding? Perhaps its external to the engine and it's all in the linkage... there's inherent "slop" to begin with, maybe yours has gotten worse?

 

[DJ Shrug]

I have the same to a lesser extent, but figured its cause I have aftermarket rearsets (Ducabike). This on stock rearsets?

 

[PatrickR]

I had a similar problem, not as severe but the shifter would stick in the down position and I had to pull it up with my toes.

Turned out to be binding in the shifter, at the fulcrum just like Dingo said. There are rubber o-rings in there and one of them was out of place and jamming things up.

 

[dougo1199]

My 959 has super smooth shifting (stock rearsets) Sounds like there's definitely an issue there somewhere.

 

[zorchdave]

Finally figured it out today, when I discovered that if I matched speed-throttle-gear perfectly then shifting was smooth, which meant that the clutch wasn't disengaging all the way. Any pressure on the input shaft, especially when sitting at a dead stop, means the gear dogs can't break loose, which is exactly what it felt like was happening. Ever since I picked up this bike in the spring I thought gosh, the throw on this clutch is really short. A little too short I guess. So I pulled over and spun the adjuster nut on the handle a few clicks, and suddenly everything's perfect. The transmission moves gears around like a popcorn popper again! Dealer prep should have probably picked up on this before delivery, but oh well. As long as it works.

Thanks for the input everybody.