Stuck in 1st gear?!

[RoadKill]

Well, I felt confident enough to ride to work today, just over 50miles...

First off for those who don't know, i bought this bike knowing first gear was not working (PO says the dogs are rounded off) so I am planning on doing a dremmel fix at some point but for now, I'm just taking off in second.

I got just a few blocks from work and had to downshift, and went down into first accidentally. It sprang back to the home position, but is still in first. It will go down to first, but it will not lift above "home" to go into neutral or up into the other gears.. I waited a few minutes thinking it might be something that got too hot, but it was still readily jammed in first..

...walked to work...

any advice would be much appreciated!

[Ken Talbot]

The answer may be in this tech tip

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Roadkill,

Are you saying the you can move the lever UP but it won't shift up, or that you can't even move or bring the lever up above the neutral position??

Sounds more like either a bent/broken shift fork possibly due to the PO holding it in first with his foot before selling it to you!?
But, could also be bent or broken pins on the end of the shift drum.

When folks have trouble DOWN shifting after having shifted up several gears, it's quite often due to the return spring not lifting the lever back up far enough to reset the shift pawl to grab the next pin on the shift drum. But I don't think it's responsible for you not being able to SHIFT UP??

The easier thing would be first to pull the shift lever cover off and check out the shift drum and pawl assembly! IF it all looks good, then you will probably have to dig into the tranny pan!
Good Luck!
T.C.

[RoadKill]

thanks again gents, I get off work in about 15 minutes but it will be dark, so im gonna try and get a friend to take it to his garage till i can get a chance to get the shift lever cover off.

Well, looks like my first ride got me stranded 50 miles from home.. nice