I just purchased my 1st bike this summer, an '88 sporty 1200. so i was just wondering if its normal that i have to lift my foot off the peg in order to shift. i do have forward controls and have tried adjusting them but nothing seems to work. downshifting is fine but when i go to shift into 2nd-4th its not just a simple lift of the toes. ive riden other sportys and it was very simple to shift up in gears and find neutral but mine is not. any thoughts would help. thanks

 

my first thought is if the clutch is adjusted right. pull off the derby and adjust it there, then in the cable.

might have nothin to do with it, but that is where i would start.

how tall are you? could it be you have really small feet

 

I would say start looking at the position of the shift lever first before you look at adjusting the clutch. The shift lever can be raised or lowered by lengthening or shorting the connector rod between the shift levers, (one at the pegs & the one sticking out the side of the engine/tranny). Then look at then clutch adjustment.

 

i have now changed my position and agree with this

 

ive tried adjusting the rod but it doesnt seem to fix the prob. you guys wouldnt happen to have a pic of the position its supposed to be in would ya?? and i recently had the clutch adjusted by a mechanic so i dont think thats the prob. oh and im 5 10 with a size 12 so i dont think thats the prob either

 

This is the only, (old), picture I currently have downloaded showing the angle my shifter is at, which is almost the exact angle of my brake lever on the other side. I'd say it's at about a 45* angle. I'm 5'10" & a size 10 shoe with no issue of needing to lift my foot off the peg to shift up.

 

is there a lot of play in the shifter? I mean when you have it in gear can you move the shifter back and forth at all? There may be some slop in them. Also, when you adjusted the linkage, did you oil it? Make sure everything is turning freely. If you're running the stock clutch, you're almost always not going to be able to find neutral while the bike is running. When I ran the stocks in mine I found that revving the motor a bit before I came to a complete stop would allow me to pull it into neutral from first gear. You can live with it, or spend 300+ on a new clutch assembly from demon or the like.

 

yeah sorry maybe i wasnt too clear in describing the prob. but slop does it perfectly. its like when i downshift i just bearly press the shifter and bam, new gear. but when i shift up i have to lift the shifter to get it to the point where its about to shift, then add pressure, bam new gear. i dont know if it has anything to do with the gear forks or whatever bein old or what but the guy i bought the bike from "had the trans rebuilt 500 miles ago" so i didnt even think that would be the issue.