Dammit! Lost all gears!

[Tapio]

Went for a ride yesterday. At first intersection, I couldn’t get the bike in 1st gear!
Second intersection, it worked again. It worked all the way home. No strange noises whatsoever. But now it’s not working at all! I shifted all the way up to top gear, by pushing the bike back and forward while shifting and can’t shift back to lower gears. I can shift between a “false” neutral between 5th and top and top gear, but that’s it.
Anybody had this problem, or heard of it happening?

//T

[Bikerhoss]

Internal selector fork failure or return spring on gearshift shaft Any clutch drag?

Had similar on my old GPZ900 and it was just the selector shaft return spring, typically only discovered after I had split the engine

[Corvus]

Assuming external levers onto splines are in order? Sorry for asking the obvious.

A slipping lever on a spline would also give this symptoms, no?

[Tapio]

Clutch operates normally.
I don’t think it’s the return spring. Pedal doesn’t hang sloppy like an old man in need of viagra, but returns happily to middle position when released.

Jerked it again now, just a minute ago. I was able to get it down to neutral this time, but still no 1st gear. Started the engine, put it into 2nd gear and slipped the clutch a bit. It wants to drive off just like normal. Don’t want to try that though as bad things could happen.
It’s a mystery since it’s not a binary problem (function/not function) but more of an intermittent malfunction. Except the fact that the 1st gear cannot be engaged.

I’m thinking: could it be some fastener in there that has come loose?
Or maybe a crack in the gear selector fork? This would explain the ability to shift up, but not down. That is, if the crack is located so that it widens when shifting down, but closes when shifting up.

//T

[Corvus]

Clutch operates normally.
I don’t think it’s the return spring. Pedal doesn’t hang sloppy like an old man in need of viagra, but returns happily to middle position when released.

Jerked it again now, just a minute ago. I was able to get it down to neutral this time, but still no 1st gear. Started the engine, put it into 2nd gear and slipped the clutch a bit. It wants to drive off just like normal. Don’t want to try that though as bad things could happen.
It’s a mystery since it’s not a binary problem (function/not function) but more of an intermittent malfunction. Except the fact that the 1st gear cannot be engaged.

I’m thinking: could it be some fastener in there that has come loose?
Or maybe a crack in the gear selector fork? This would explain the ability to shift up, but not down. That is, if the crack is located so that it widens when shifting down, but closes when shifting up.

//T

Does that explain the false neutral between 6 th and 5 th?

Is the ability to shift up but not down consistent over several attempts?

[70tno]

Had a similar problem once, not that bad, just 1st was difficult, turned out to be small stone lodged on top of the gearbox stopping the lever going down properly

[Tapio]

And the winner in troubleshooting is…drumroll…70tno!

Of course, I looked down there, but didn’t see the little fu**er sitting there, laughing at me.
Happy now, since I had planned on taking a short trip to Lithuania and Latvia next week. Now I don’t have to cancel it.

Another good thing is, I worked full tilt yesterday, with waking the K 100 out of its hibernation (dead battery, worn rear tire, ABS idiot light is on). Disassembling a gearbox is a good project for the winter, and I thought I have to have something to ride on til’ then.

@corvus: all gearboxes have neutrals in between gears. Otherwise you could have two different gear ratios working simultaneously. That wouldn’t work very well unless you also have two clutches. It’s just hard to find them, without putting a pebble in there somewhere.

Thanks, y’all!

//T

[slparry]

And the winner in troubleshooting is…drumroll…70tno!

Of course, I looked down there, but didn’t see the little fu**er sitting there, laughing at me.
Happy now, since I had planned on taking a short trip to Lithuania and Latvia next week. Now I don’t have to cancel it.

Another good thing is, I worked full tilt yesterday, with waking the K 100 out of its hibernation (dead battery, worn rear tire, ABS idiot light is on). Disassembling a gearbox is a good project for the winter, and I thought I have to have something to ride on til’ then.

@corvus: all gearboxes have neutrals in between gears. Otherwise you could have two different gear ratios working simultaneously. That wouldn’t work very well unless you also have two clutches. It’s just hard to find them, without putting a pebble in there somewhere.

Thanks, y’all!

//T

phew!!! RESULT!!!!! Good call 70tno!

[Corvus]

Tapio said: "
@corvus: all gearboxes have neutrals in between gears. Otherwise you could have two different gear ratios working simultaneously. That wouldn’t work very well unless you also have two clutches. It’s just hard to find them, without putting a pebble in there somewhere. "

Result! The answer was even simpler still.

I didn't mean the fact that there IS a neutral, but WHY you were finding it. My suggestion of play in the spline (or linkage) would give a similar result to the pebble. Movement at the gear lever not translating to full movement of the gear inside. I've leaned something though, with regard to pebble.

Enjoy your trip.

[70tno]

Glad to be of help! Actually happened to me this year on a trip to Le Mans, when we were staying at a place with a long gravel track. Got on the bike and had a job to get first gear, though sh*t stuck in France!!! Took it up the road and no better, so got on my hands and knees and found the little blighter sitting there!