| Author | Message | ||
     Mfell2112 |
when I was in second gear. I was coming to a light when I went too downshift the shifter would not move at all. I then let out the clutch, then heard a clunk, then pulled the clutch back in and finally it downshifted. This has happened before. I just changed the gear oil and that did not solve the problem. It seems on occasion I hear clunking in the tranny after I let out the clutch. Is this normal? BTW, I have a 2000 Cyclone basically stock with about 8000 miles on it. Thanks in advance. Mike | ||
| Spiderman |
My 2000 does the same thing once in a while. But like you said just let out the clutch a little and it clunks and downshifts. I am gonna change my clutch this winter so i'll post pics and description of whats in there if i see a problem. | ||
| Anonymous |
Downshift while you are still moving. | ||
| Spiderman |
Funny you mention that Anony cause thats when it happens. He said it also Quote __________________________________________________ I was coming to a light when I went too downshift __________________________________________________ | ||
| Blake |
Check your primary chain tensioner for proper adjustment and to ascertain if it is fully intact. Do you blip the throttle before downshifting? | ||
| Spiderman |
I noticed that too if you Blip it or rev it some times it will lock up even with proper adjustment. What is up with that?????? One of those Buell gremlins I hear sooo much about on other boards  | ||
| Doncasto |
I had a similar problem back a few years ago. After a great deal of muttering and head scratching I pulled the primary cover off and found the detent plate spring had sprung itself off where it was supposed to be and was resting in bottom of the primary. Anecdotal, to be sure. But it beats the snot out of an unresolved Buell gremlin. YMMV Don | ||
| Tavs |
Don, you're not the only one that's happened to. I had the stupid c-clip break on my detent plate twice! What's the chances of that? To add insult to injury, my dealer has a warranty of like 90 days on p&l, so the freakin clip broke 4 mos after they replaced it. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Mfell... that exact scenario was the first indication I had when my 2kM2 had a cracked primary chain tensioner. It quickly got worse and effected more gears, and upshifts as well as downshifts. As everyone here probably knows, the replacement tensioner is MUCH beefier. I can't think of a good way to check it without pulling the primary cover, the plastic part of the shoe will hold its shape (and tension) with little load, but on full load the plastic will deform. | ||
| Mfell2112 |
Thank for all the help guys. Reepicheep I just had the bike apart and checked to see if I had the old tensioner along with the correct sprocket nut. I did not have the old tensioner installed lucky for me I had the beefier version. I was very surprised since Buell told me I had the old one. I compared it with the old tensioner that my buddy pulled from his 99 S3T. Very obvious difference between the two. I put it back together and adjusted the primary chain. I did not see anything unusual while I had it apart. Maybe I should check my primary chain and readjust it. Thanks again Mike | ||
| Spiderman |
The 2000 models is when the introduced the bigger one. | ||
| Tgroghan |
I will second the detent plate clip problem. The clip actually broke completely off. During a ride I couldn't downshift hardly at all. Each time I wanted to downshift I'd have to slam my foot down on the shifter peg. I finally figured some trick way to get it to work 60% of the time so I could ride home. Needless to say I did alot less downshifting. When I got home I found my detent plate was all mared up from where I'd forced it to downshift. I upgraded it to the new style as well as the beefier tensioner. Good day, Thad | ||
| Reepicheep |
Spidy... must have been part of the way through the year, my 2000 M2 had the old whimpy plate. | ||
| Mcqueen |
help... just changed the clutch/engine sprocket assembly on my 2001 X-1. adjusted the clutch, refilled with synthetic fluid. Now I can't find first gear at all. won't shift into 1st; no neutral position either. what did i miss? | ||
| Henrik |
Sorry if this is too obvious, but I often find that's what I have the biggest problems with  - clutch adjustment - clutch cable adjustment - primary chain adjustment - shifter dentent plate adjustment - primary chain tensioner installation in general Let us know what you find. Henrik | ||
| Shazam |
My guess is you got the bracket installed wrong on the end of the shift shaft. you've inverted the shift pattern. ie: all the way down is fifth all the way up is first neutral is a half click down from there....go ahead and check! I learned this the hard way back in '91 after putting a new motor in a VFR and it would stall every time I let the clutch out. fought it for a long time then finally took it to a local shop. after they introduced me all around (with requisite giggling) they then informed me what the problem was...... just my humble guess, check and let us know (or don't) hahahaha | ||
| Reepicheep |
Does the lever move normalish, but the tranny just not shift? Or is everything just stuck tight? Do the other gears seem to work fine? Sounds like some sort of foreign object or disconnect in that shifter pawl internal linkage... Got any parts left over  | ||
| Mcqueen |
shift lever moves; seems to be in second gear; won't shift into neutral;can shift from that gear up 2 gears. no left over parts. | ||
| Mikej |
Pull your plugs, put the bike into the highest gear you can, roll it forward, count the compression pulses for one revolution of the rear tire. I don't know what the number should be, but you just might be in 3-5 only. It's been too many years since I've had one of these engines apart that far to remember if you can put the cog on two-gears out of sync. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Did you have that shifter pawl assembly (shifter shaft) off? Or even loosened? Had you pulled the transmission cartridge? | ||
| Mcqueen |
nothing off of the bike except for engine sprocket,primary chain, clutch assembly. didn't pull the transmission cartridge. will try pulling plugs and counting compression revolutions...any other suggestions? | ||
| Mcqueen |
thanks to reepicheep,mikej,shazam, and henrik for the advice re: tranny not downshifting. you each had good advice for a solution and helped alot. Henrik said it could be the shifter detent backing plate out of adjustment and this adjustment fixed the problem. if your ever in the virgin islands, look me up and i'll at least buy some brews for you. | ||
| Henrik |
Yeah, I win!!! David, glad you found the problem, and it was a cheap and fairly easy one. Henrik | ||
| Buellseye |
Just bought a 2000 S3 and at first I thought, the stiff clutch wasn't too bad. After a week and a half though It's getting to be a bit ridiculous. Any suggestions? Someone told me the previous owner may have put a high performance clutch in it (and I'm trying to locate the guy now to ask him). There's also the aftermarket and Harley made clutch assisters (handlebar mounted and inside the clutch housing varieties). But the handlebar mounted version that I found at Toronto Harley-Davidson costs $199 Canadian and according to the mechanic only provides a 10% improvement, and it's not guaranteed to fit and is non-returnable. Some say the other kind that Harley makes that fits inside the clutch housing of the Sportster will fit the Buells, some say it may not. Anyone got any experience with it. My second issue is, does anyone know if the older style shifter mechanism from the earlier and some newer Buells (that pivots from the foot peg and has linkages that go up and then a long ways forward to the shifter on the housing) will fit on my S3 that has the newer shifter (that pivots from a point about 8-10 inches in front of the foot peg and goes a few inches straight up to the shifter on the housing). The newer kind is a really bad design I think because unless you want to ride and shift with your ankle at a 90 degree angle or less the mechanics of it don't work optimally. If you want to lower the angle of the shifter so your foot can be pointed downward below horizontal by about 45-60 degrees (comfortable for most riders I would think), you end up pushing into the end of the shifter which makes for less definite, more difficult shifting. Thanks for any input. Scott (buellseye) | ||
| Bomber |
Bullseye I've tried the clutch assister version that fits inside the primary housing (on a buddies bike) and it cuts the effort consierably -- I've heard claims of 25%, but, not having measured it, I can't comment on that, but it did feel like a great lessening in effort -- some say they rub inside the primary, others report no problems at all . . . . . shift linkages -- yessir, the older verswion will bolt right up to your bike, as the new ones bolt up to older scoots (my 2000 M2 has the updated linkage, for instance) .. not sure I understand the issue you have . . . .my linkage is adjusted for me, obviouly, and I love it . . . .took a lot of slop out of the linkage, overall . . . 45-60 degrees is a lot to drop the shift lever below horizontal . . . without meaning to get too personal, as we've just met, what size boot do you wear? perhaps lengthening or shortening the lever to suit you is the right way to go? | ||
| Buellseye |
Bomber Thanks for the info. Regarding the stiff clutch I'm going to try that assister that goes inside the housing. As far as the shifter goes though, do you know where I can get a used old-style shift linkage so I can try it out. You still got yours kickin around? The 45-60 degrees below horizontal I was referring to was the angle of the foot, not the shifter. See attached pictures (before shifting and while shifting). I find that before shifting, my foot isn't pushing at a perpendicular enough angle to the shifting rod, as you can see, often making the shift somewhat difficult and indefinite. My foot is pushing more into the end of it which makes me miss-shift sometimes, especially if I'm not wearing heavy foot gear, which is actually kind of painful. If the pivot point of the shifter was 2 or 3 inches lower it wouldn't be a problem.   I do however have a smaller than average foot (size 8) but the shifter still lines up with the correct area on my foot, the same as every other bike I've had (somewhere around the first, and largest toe knuckle or slightly behind it). I don't think a longer shift lever would help and raising the angle of the shifter would mean that I'd have to keep my foot at a higher angle with my ankle way too flexed to be comfortable. I'd still like to try out the older style shift linkage because it seems to me that a shift lever that hinges from a point closer to the natural hinge point of the foot (at the foot peg) would work better. I've heard of sloppy linkages being a problem with this type but maybe something else can be done to keep this from being too much of a problem. Anyone got one they'd like to sell, or loan (•; for an hour or so. I'm in Toronto. Thanks... Buellseye | ||
| Bomber |
Buellseye -- I see what you mean, sir . . . .I've never taken a pic with my gunboats on the pegs (size 12), so I have little data to compare to yours ;-} let me look around the entropy lab tonight, and see if I've still got the old style parts . . . drop by your local dealer -- many of them have bikes with the old style shifters still installed, and you could check it out for real | ||
| Henrik |
Here's a late and possibly silly question; isn't the push rod between the two pivoting levers length adjustable? If so it should be possible to dial in the shift peg location and retain decent leverage?? From the pictures it looks like there ought to be plenty of thread left  Henrik | ||
| Bomber |
Henrik yessir, it IS adjustable -- I'm not sure it would solve the problem, though, as it seems (if I'm understanding correctly) that the issue is the fact that the lever pivots around a point that's not optimal for this rider's foot -- he seems to be pushing the lever back into the pivot point, if I'm making sense (which you should no longer expect, btw) pivoting around peg is a better ergo design, for sure, but difficult to do well with the reach to the shifter on tubers -- hence, banke et al and Buell's new design good suggestion though, one I'd try before I went back to the old-style shifter | ||
| Henrik |
Gotta be honest with you; the general ergos don't look bad in the pictures. Scott's heel is still on the rear side of the peg. The real problem - as I see it ... - is that because of the angle of the dangle, his leverage is shot. Looking at the pictures, none of which look optimal ... if you lenghtened the lever, it should be possible to achieve a better lever arm relative angle, while having an acceptable toe peg location. From what I can see in the pictures, the push rod is almost at it's shortest, which ought to leave at least an inch of additional length for adjustments. Certainly worth a try. Henrik | ||
| Buellseye |
Thanks for the observation Henrik. I managed to track down the previous owner, showed him, and he said the angles were not adjusted right too. No matter how I adjust it though I can't have the shifter peg lower than it is or I'm just pushing more directly into the pivot point, and that is what I'd like is to have it lower. However, lengthening the vertical linkage would help the angle between it and the shifter on the housing achieve more of a 90 degree angle which would at least make that shifting point easier. And thanks Bomber, I'll check out the shops to see if I can switch linkages to test it out. My other problem is the stiffness of my clutch. The original owner told me it was adjusted too tight, and the mechanic he referred me to said it was pretty well adjusted, but that I should try lubing it, which the guys that sold me the bike said was already done to it. I've heard of the "Easypull" (or something like that) in-the-housing clutch assisters but some shops tell me they won't fit on newer Buells. They're meant for all Sportsters so some guys say they should fit. Anyone have any experience with them? Thanks, Scott. |
