Second gear

[MAZDA]

- I just read that older kats that were ridden hard have a finnicky second gear. Sometimes going into second it just kinda pops back into neutral or doesnt go into second. Is this the problem/related? Im guessing so

(I have a 92 600, with 27k miles if thats relevant)

[arsenic]

yes thats related. You have a bent shift fork. It's not just "older kats" it's ANY bike with the trans inside the crank cases. It's caused by rider error. It has 0 to do with the design of the engine, what it is, and how it was built.

[scottynoface]

Ditto ^^^

It's not that the transmissions are finnicky, it's that some dont stand up to abuse (missed shifts, clutchless shifts etc...) like others do. Notorious bikes including the 05-06 zx636 and the yamaha yzf600 thundercat.

[MAZDA]

I seee. Its really not that bad. Its happened maybe 4 or 5 times. And its partly because im not assertive enough, sometimes i just dont lift my foot enough. But i work at a dealer so if and when this problem becomes bad, ill have them replace the shift fork . Ill do basically everything else, cept transmission and crank work

[arsenic]

get a Factory Pro shift kit NOW and it will not become any worse (this is arsenic BTW, I'm having issues with my login)

[The CyberPoet]

(A) I sell the shift-kit mentioned. This will help if the problem is actually rider-error (not putting enough force behind the shift) AND the forks aren't bent badly yet, by replacing the shift-indent spring with one that requires more force to come out of gear, but slamming home into the next gear harder/faster. $38.50 + shipping. See http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=58596 for details.

(B) 2nd gear failures are common to certain bikes, but only occur when there is rider error. Typically, the problem involves one of two habits, either shifting back down into 2nd at too high a speed without matching the RPM's to the speed on the downshift, or failure to use a clutch on shifting (esp. down-shifts).

(C) There is no easy "fix" for it. Repair is a choice of about 50 hours for a typical home mechanic (18 - 25 hrs for a shop mechanic) and $250 in parts, OR more commonly, you simply swap the engine/tranny as a whole unit with a known-good used one. The location of the parts is the issue - 90% of that time is getting to the parts to swap them. I'm not sure if Arsenic is offering repairs for them or not at a discount as an out-service repair (there was talk about him doing so at one point).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

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[arsenic]

at this point I am not doing that. If there was talk of me doing that, it was others talking and me saying no.

[cordani85]

I have a 1989 750 and this happend to me i bought the bike with 18000 mile and i noticed 2nd gear did this rite of he bat and about a month later pow going to second something broke the bike runs still but cant shift anyone know what it involes to fix this . I have a 2000 kat 600 moto and tranny with 500o miles should i sawp it and if so is is a hard thing to do

[arsenic]

yeah just swap the motors, that's pretty easy, fixing the trans, that's not easy.

[cordani85]

yea i have the tranny for the 600 as well it still in the bike and it runs and shift great just front end is toast i picked the bike up dirt dirt cheap do you think i will have to fab tons of tuff

[arsenic]

nope, you will have to fab nothing