Broke on the road

[Fault]

Was out riding today, and got to a red light, so down shifted. When I rolled to a stop, the furthest i could down shift to was to neutral. I've found my bike sticking in neutral sometimes, and it's really embarrassing at a light. So i rocked the bike a bit, and gave it a hard swift kick. i hit the kick stand a bit, so the engine shut off. i felt embarrassed, flipped up the kickstand, and saw that i had broken off the tip of the shifter. Pretty much the knob where your toes rest, broken clean off. Still in neutral, i was able to shiftusing the side of my foot, and pulled over to examine the damage. After calling the local dealer, it would be $80 for the part, which they would have to order. So i was hoping someone might have an old shifter laying around I could get for cheaper maybe. I sat and played with the shifter for a bit, and got a feel for how to work it. I got the hang of it, and made it home fine.

What i decided is I either need to try to find a cheaper shifter, or maybe just repair my current one. All that is missing is where your toes rest, and i was thinking i could possibly weld or drill a knob on there until i can afford a shifter. What do you all think? Crazy day, made me pretty mad, but that's life i guess

[arsenic]

I've done that. I had a friend that was just learning how to ride. He dropped the bike a broke that off. I just drilled a hole in the shift lever, put a screw with a nut on the back. And put the screw through a rubber bushing deal. No one ever knew it wasn't supposed to be like that. It worked.

[JayBell]

$80 huh?
remember. EBAY. DO YOU SPEAK IT

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=suzuki+katana+shifter&_sacat=See-All-Categories

[Vlad]

yea +1 on the ebay... ive got mine for my sv for like $15 ... and it wasnt only the shifter... for some reason a lollypop came with it !

[purplekatgirl]

Was out riding today, and got to a red light, so down shifted. When I rolled to a stop, the furthest i could down shift to was to neutral. I've found my bike sticking in neutral sometimes, and it's really embarrassing at a light.

I have found that I run into this also. I rock the bike and it goes into first. I dont get it. I thought I was doing something wrong. Does anyone know what it is that causes this?

[Vlad]

im not too sure if ur having same problem as i did but it might be cuz lets says ur going in like 5th gear and than u see red light and u brake hard and try shifting all the way to 1st. thats usually when it happend to me. right now i have no problem with it when i downshift pretty much through every gear all the way down to 1st or 2nd .

[hardlydangerous]

why in the %$#@ would you kick it?

The bike needs to be moving to shift. At the very least rock it back and forth. you will be lucky if you did not bend the shift forks or damage the cam or shift mech.

[akeithan]

It sounds like you were too hard on it and shifter seems to be little gentle...I would go with ebay also especially if you can fix it yourself. Bike shop near my house are charging 110 an hour ...

[Fault]

$80 huh?
remember. EBAY. DO YOU SPEAK IT

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R4...All-Categories

Thanks for the link. Just got access to a computer with internet (made the post earlier on my phone)

why in the %$#@ would you kick it?

The bike needs to be moving to shift. At the very least rock it back and forth. you will be lucky if you did not bend the shift forks or damage the cam or shift mech.

Rookie mistake, pretty much the only reason why. Shifting mechanism is fine, learned my lesson. The one thing though is noone ever told me about the whole bike needs to be in motion, which Im kinda mad I was never told. Thankyou for the input

[jjhussell]

My bike does the same thing if I try to shift from like 5th to first without actually letting the clutch out. I have found it better to use the engine to slow me down along with the brakes. This puts me in second gear just before I stop and I have plenty of time to get into first before putting my feet down.

[mammut89]

Thanks for the link. Just got access to a computer with internet (made the post earlier on my phone)





Rookie mistake, pretty much the only reason why. Shifting mechanism is fine, learned my lesson. The one thing though is noone ever told me about the whole bike needs to be in motion, which Im kinda mad I was never told. Thankyou for the input

hahah ok


well I will go ahead and tell you that you should not put a cat in the micro owen to dry it. will post other things to not do later..

[BadLuck]

Down shift as your coming to a stop. If your not in 1st when you stop, let the clutch out until it hits the friction zone a touch, pull the clutch in and then shift down to the next gear.

You shouldnt be braking to a stop with just the brakes in a high gear. Down shift as you slow down and your issue will go away.

[Fault]

Down shift as your coming to a stop. If your not in 1st when you stop, let the clutch out until it hits the friction zone a touch, pull the clutch in and then shift down to the next gear.

You shouldnt be braking to a stop with just the brakes in a high gear. Down shift as you slow down and your issue will go away.

Just want to clarify I am down shifting as I go, just didnt downshift all the way

[joedan]

yea +1 on the ebay... ive got mine for my sv for like $15 ... and it wasnt only the shifter... for some reason a lollypop came with it !

i got a creamsoda dumdum (my favorite) with a brake petal i recently got off fleabay.