Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Hi everyone I am new to this forum and to motorcycling. I finally got my first bike after taking the MSF course and waiting for months for the money and the right bike to come along. I bought a 2002 suzuki SV650 about 3 weeks ago and I love it. Its so much fun to ride and handles real well in LA traffic and on the freeway too.

I have a few maintenance questions. First of all, recently my shift pedal has been getting stuck and it has been hard for me to get the bike from first gear into nuetral when I am stopped. A few times I have been riding and the pedal got completely stuck and I couldn't get the bike out of first gear, I had to pull over and restart the bike. The problem is on and off so I dont think its an issue of the pedal being under-lubricated or something like that.

I did notice the other day that I had some green spot marks on the side of the bike and I think that might be from some transmission fluid leaking while I am riding and splattering the bike. Could these problems be connected at all? Hope someone can help me out. thanks a lot.

the green stuff is coolant (or bug guts, but you should be able to tell the difference) and no, that won't have anything to do with a shifting problem.

Have you tried changing your oil? Sure sounds like a lubrication problem to me.

Shifting problem is probably corrosion on the shift pedal linkage. Take off the pedal and clean/re-grease the bushing.
Previous owner must have loved his pressure washer.

Why are you putting it in neutral BTW?

Other than that, what CORSCO said.

I don't actually have any advice, but I am going to move this to the "Trouble Shooting" section. More of the bike techies hang out there and they may be able to help you out as well. Good luck - hope it gets resolved soon for you.

Cheers,
Loonette