Background: New rider with new (to me) 620ie. Have had the bike for a couple months and haven't had any problems outside of a low speed crash courtesy of a bridge joint on the first day I owned it. The gear shift lever is bent, but has been functioning without any issues until today.
Went for a 3 hour ride through southern MD this afternoon, swung by the office then headed toward my place in DC. Pull up to a light, try to shift into first gear and the gear change lever wouldn't budge...up or down. I walk it over to the side of the road, out of traffic, shut it off and try shifting again...nothing, won't budge. (yes, I have the clutch lever pulled while I'm trying to shift.) I try to roll it forward and back a couple times and retry shift (somewhat more vigrously with my hand while the clutch is pulled). It finally starts to move again, so I fire it back up and drive the 300 feet to my parking garage.
Any ideas how to deal with this? Do I need to hit the shop and have something done? Is there an adjustment that I can tackle myself? Any help appreciated.
I suspect that when you laid the bike, your shifter linkage was affected. The linkage has two bolts on it that keep it aligned, when the lever takes a hit these bolts allow the linkage to shift instead of braking.
In order to check fix that you'll need to take off the engine's left side (alternator) cover. It's not too difficult, but you'll need to drain the oil and all the necessary tools.
There should be more details online or you can buy the Haynes manual (I would recommend it) on how to get the cover off and check your linkage.
Thanks. Manual is "in transit."
It may be less involved than that. Before you get in to all of that check that the small shifter arm that connects the shift linkage rod from the pedal to the trans is tight, If the small arm becomes loose then it will cause this same issue. Look just above your side stand for the small arm. Check the pinch bolt first.
I had the same thing happen to my 620 and a few people at shops told me that I had bent internal linkage and a bent sift fork. It took me 30 seconds to fix. It was the pinch bolt on the small sift arm.
Yuu showed me how to check this over the weekend and it failed to prevent further occurences. Also, Yuu schooled me on DuPontâ,,¢ Teflonâ,,¢ Dry-Film Lubricant for situations like a sticky external shift mechanism or for great chain care that doesn't fling!
Well, i'm sure i fixed your problem as the alignment mark on the shift drum was WAY away from the point on the shifter pawl. This is a common problem whenever you lowside on the left side. I always reccommend buying the alignment tool to guys that frequently go to trackdays. Its a fairly easy fix, just take a little while (cleanup takes longer than the actual job!) Anyway, like i said, bike shifts like new! (I also took care of that annoying idle adjustment.....now you're ready for the shity....i mean city traffic!)