Gear lever not engaging? What could this be?

[drewkoz10]

Hey everybody. I just want to start out by saying that I am new to riding so my knowledge regarding mechanical issues and technical terms is quite limited (for now at least), so please bare with me on this one.

I just purchased a 1999 Yamaha YZF-R6 about two months ago and so far it's given me nothing but problems, which sucks because I really love the bike. Within the first two weeks of riding it, the electronics completely started to die on me every couple of minutes. I brought it into the local yamaha dealer to have it looked at and turns out the entire wire harness assembly along with most of it's components were fried, I wound up spending over $1,600 to get an new wire harness, rectifier, and stator. The parts came out to around $750 and the labor was $800. It was painful but at least I get to ride my bike now right?

After I got it back I rode it for a week straight everyday. Everything was working fine, in fact it felt even better than it had before I brought it to the shop, so at this point I'm pretty satisfied with the work I had done. Now all of a sudden out of no where an entirely new problem has just sprung up. I'll do my best to explain exactly whats happening.

Basically my gear shift lever will no longer "CLICK" into place by kicking it up or down. This first started about three days ago when I was riding, I was coming to a stop at a red light and I kicked down into first as I was rolling to a stop (going no more than 5-10 mph). The bike made a 'harder than usual' click sound as it went into first. When the light turned green I took off, tried to kick into second and it wouldn't go. Instead it put me right into neutral and I couldn't kick up to second or even back down to first. I rolled to the side of the road and tried to figure out what was happening. When I move the lever up or down, it feels as if it's no longer connected or something. It moves more freely than it ever has but does not switch gears, or "click" when kicked up or down. WEIRD

After messing with it a little more I was able to figure out how to get the bike to move again, poorly I might add, but at least I was able to get it home. Basically the gear lever seems to always be stuck in neutral. However if I press down on the lever and HOLD it down with a little bit of force, the bike finds first, but mind you there is no click sound indicating that its in first. The only way I can tell is that the neutral light goes off as i'm holding it down and the bike starts moving when I release the clutch. At any point if I take my foot off the gear lever it will go right back into neutral (Including while I'm riding). As I was riding back I also figured out how to switch to higher gears. I have to keep downward pressure on the lever to keep it in first, then when I'm ready to shift I pull the clutch and kick up and literally hold the lever up as I'm letting the clutch out. Once again there's absolutely no click indicating that I shifted up, but I can feel that the bike has shifted into a higher gear. Now at this point I don't have to be holding the lever up until I'm about to kick up again, in which I have to do the exact same thing, kick up and hold up as I'm releasing the clutch and the engine engages. However, there were a few times where I was in 4th or 5th gear riding it out and all of a sudden I would feel the engage disengage and my revs start shooting up as if I was in neutral. The neutral light does not go on, but the engine is just not engaged and when I give it throttle it just revs. When this happens I have to kick and HOLD the gear lever up and slowly release the clutch again and I can feel the engine reengage.

So I got my bike home and I'm looking at it my garage. The bikes off and I'm just trying to kick through the gears. The lever feels completely loose. I try to kick down and it just goes right back up to neutral. However, If I sit on my bike and roll it an inch or two then kick down it "clicks" into first. From there I try to kick up through the gears and its a no go. On my first kick up it goes into neutral and every attempt after that it just stays in neutral. The only way for me to get it back into first again is to roll it and kick down again. Another detail that I want to mention is that there seems to be no divider between neutral and first. What I mean is that if I so much as apply a pinky-finger tip amount of pressure downward on the lever the neutral light goes off and the bike's in first, without any type of click or "locking" sound what so ever.

I'm sorry this was a little long but I really have no idea how else to explain this problem or what it could be. I called the dealership back and the earliest they can take a look at my bike is July 27th which means I'm off the road for ALONG time. The mechanic told me it sounds like it could be a tranny and in his own words it can be "Stupid expensive" to fix. I really wanted to get opinions from some experienced riders on the matter. Has anything like this ever happened to you before? Does it sound like something just fell out of place in the gear box or do you think its something as serious as a tranny? One thing to note is that a friend of mine who knows a good amount about bikes took it for a ride and he doesn't think it's the tranny because it still rides and switches through the gears fine, the lever just doesn't seem to be engaging.

I'd like to thank you all ahead of time for taking the time to read all this, and if you have ANY idea as to what could be causing the problem please offer it because I'm at a complete loss right now. Thank you for your time, and as always, ride safe my friends.

~Drew

[fireguzzi]

Just a thought. I believe it has a hydraulic clutch. (some one correct me if Im wrong) Check the fluid level, if its low fill it back up. May not be the problem but at least you can eliminate one possibility.

[HYPERR]

Just a thought. I believe it has a hydraulic clutch. (some one correct me if Im wrong) Check the fluid level, if its low fill it back up. May not be the problem but at least you can eliminate one possibility.

I'm pretty sure it's a cable clutch. Most japanese. sportsbikes have cable clutches.

You say the lever is loose?

[fireguzzi]

Just a thought. I believe it has a hydraulic clutch. (some one correct me if Im wrong) Check the fluid level, if its low fill it back up. May not be the problem but at least you can eliminate one possibility.

I'm pretty sure it's a cable clutch. Most japanese. sportsbikes have cable clutches.

You say the lever is loose?

Cable eh? Thats what a Polaris mechanic gets for assuming things about japanese bikes.
But yeah, basically what I was getting at is the clutch may not be adjusted correctly causing it to not disengage fully.

[BuzZz]

It doesn't sound like the clutch, I hate to say. It sounds more like trans problems. Likely a bent shifter fork, probably also other buggered shifter parts and trashed gear dogs. In summation, expensive. Those bikes have a rep for eating trans parts when shifted in a hamfisted manner or aggressively but without the necessary care and skill.

If you are lucky, it is just a bent shifter fork. But you still have to split the cases to fix that, and once it's open, hope and pray that is all you find damaged. Best bet is to have a good mechanic check it out.

Sorry to rain on the parade and I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am from what you describe.

[Wrider]

I'm with Buzzz on this too. Sounds like something a bit more than a maladjusted clutch and does sound internal.
Even with a maladjusted clutch you'd still get the click when putting it into gear.
Oh and just so ya guys know, only the thousands have hydraulic clutches, and they keep going wishy washy and back and forth every 2-4 years on average lol.

[HYPERR]

I think Guzzi misunderstood when the OP said the lever is loose. I think OP meant the shift lever but Guzzi might have thought he meant the clutch lever...

[blues2cruise]

Although my bike was not quite as bad as yours after my crash....it had shifting problems.......replaced the shifter fork and and cogs....and recently the clutch cable.

After replacing the shifter fork and cogs it was better. Actually only the first gear cog was worn in my bike, but I had them all replaced.