1st to 2nd gear change

IDK, regarding what you have said below about the 1st-2nd gear change, you may remember me saying a while back that I broke a bolt in the selector mechanism that meant the gearlever flopped around uselessly, and in an earlier post that the bike was snatching out then back into 4th gear, when I pulled the engine down I found that the dogs on 4th gear were worn, hence the jumping out of gear.

I think that the reason the selector bolt broke was, one time when it jumped out of 4th, I "kicked" it back into gear.
It made a "sound" that made me think "ouch" but then thought nothing more of it, a short time later the bolt broke.
So, worn dogs, jumping out of gear, kicking it back in gear => broken bolt.

But I've always had the problem of quick shifting from 1st to 2nd, it just wont, I have to shift slowly.
Any thoughts on why this may be ?

This bike, a 2006 model Classic, does have the later version of 2nd gear fitted.

idk said:

If the gears change smoothly, and you can get neutral easily (especially from 2nd), and it doesn't jump out of second on hard acceleration, and it goes from 1st to 2nd without problem when accelerating "briskly", then I would probably give it a go. However i would also try to negotiate a bit.

Mine had the update kit at 35,000 miles. That would be one of the higher mileages. However, the symptoms appeared, and the repair approved, at about 25,000 miles. The reason that I waited two months was that I was doing a bit of riding at the time.

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Thanks IDK, I read erlier about the importance of the clutch free play, this may well have some thing to do with it as I dont "think" the bike had this problem when I bought it, but appeared later on, I did fiddle with the clutch cable at some time.

Just a pennyworth chucked in here, I find that my bike changes from 1st to 2nd a lot smoother if I preload the lever with my toe prior to the actual change.

I remember having to do this as one of the owner's "methods" of riding the old BMW gearbox bikes like the 1100 GS, I tried it on the Rocket and it does seem to make a diffference.

The dogs on second gear changed from 6 to 3 with a change in the ID of the gear the dogs mesh into. The only other internal changes werea couple belville washers on the on one of the tranny shafts (I think it was 2nd) the rear out put drive, and a change to the aluminum timing chain guide with full Timing chain kit. Then ther e was a change in the detent roller mechanisim where the roller went from a solid disc to a roller bearing of the same size.


I do have a opinion Paul on your other failures but it as good as your guess.