Shift lever not returning to the middle after upshifting

[DreamTheater]

Hey guys,

so on the way home from a ride yesterday I noticed this problem heading down gt northern hwy, whenever I shift up the lever stays in the upwards position so I cannot shift up another gear unless I gently tap it back to the middle, too far and it may downshift.

I can cycle through all the gears 1-6 no worries and it isn't an issue with downshifting, it pops back up to the centre spot normally after a downshift and only sticks whenever I shift up..

I find it really weird that it worked no worries for the whole ride through the twisties which meant alot of shifting throughout the ride and I only noticed it on the straight on the way back.

I've tried searching on this and it could be a return spring thats faulty. Would it still work when downshifting or might it use two springs one for each direction?
Another cause could be dirt lodged somewhere causing it to stick which I'll check tomorrow.
I've still got the OEM rearset so I might also try and swap it over and see if it's still an issue

Has anyone come across this issue or know what it could be or what to check first? My bike is an '01 R1

Cheers!
Graham

[Stephan]

Sometimes they get a bit sticky from dirt and grime in the ball joints. Check that the allignment for the shift rods are correct and that your locknuts on the rods are still tight.

[Samuelg]

Yeah my gear lever was sticking. was a smashed ball joint on linkage. i had a thread i just updated. some suggestions from other's maybe more inline with you issue.

[DreamTheater]

Cool, cheers guys I'll take it apart and check the joints/regrease them tomorrow
Just found your thread and had a read of that too

[edmands_3]

I had it once when I put a bit too much loctite on one of the screws and it made its way into the ball joint and seized it. Mine was also easy to check, I just grabbed the shift rod and tried to rotate it and it wouldn't move. I have also heard that these older R1s do break shift springs sometimes though.

[Falcore]

Personally what the others have said is most likely the problem an easiest to fix/have a look at.

However, yes there generally is two springs. One to lift it up an one to push down. At the moment the one to pull up is broken on the 1098.

[DreamTheater]

Just finished hopefuly fixing the issue today

Had a look at it and made sure all the connections could move freely, re-lubed them and then noticed this...



The "shifty thingy" was getting stuck on the cover for the front sprocket, no idea why it had only just started happening because the last time I had the front sprocket cover off was 3 months or so ago. You can see where it's been rubbing against the sprocket cover shaving a bit of the plastic off.

Anyway, I made sure the sprocket is in tight and wasn't poking out and then adjusted the shift rod 1mm further away from the sprocket. I guess it could of moved closer over time until it got too close and just got stuck?

Seems like it's fixed now but I'll find out tomorrow when I ride it!

[agrid]

you could try rotating one spline on the shaft end then lengthen the thread to compensate

[DreamTheater]

Yeah that's a good idea, the last time I had that shaft part off though I had problems fitting it in, some of the splines didn't like lining up for some reason. I'll see how this goes first though cheers

[Stephan]

It looks like the shift bracket is the wrong way around. If you spin it 180 degrees, you should get more clearance. Basically, the bolt should go through from the back of the bracket and the rubber boot should face the sprocket cover. Hope that makes sense...

[DreamTheater]

Ohh, I get what you mean, yeah it makes sense.. I'll try swap it over when I get some new sprockets in the next few weeks/months

cheers for the responses all, rode it today and it's all fine again