Any shifting issues please tell your story

[psych0hans]

I've had my bike come out of gear on the back straight at BIC... Not sure if it was fourth tho... Could be...

[seth hall]

I don't know if I am shifting correctly, I believe I am, however this is my first time riding a motorcycle.
My 250cc Ninja is shifting really hard. By "really hard" I mean it jostles me back and forth everytime I shift, no matter the gear I am shifting to.

Any suggestions on what this could be?

[M42]

What RPM are you shifting at?

Mine's a little jolty in lower gears, but only intermittently. Not really sure what it is, so I just chalk it up to not being smooth enough with the process sometimes.

[seth hall]

Well, currently I am practicing riding in a private property (my landlord's trailer park) and its 10 mph through there, so im only hitting 2nd (and when i break the rules) im hitting 3rd maybe 4th. I thought it was the issue of not going fast enough and im going into higher gears, thats probably the issue so i will test it tomorrow and see how it works, I will let you know if I figure it out!

Thanks!!

[Linkin]

I've had the bike drop into false neutral a few times (from gears 4,5,6). Probably my fault for not hitting the shifter hard enough. The only other time is when going from first to second, if you don't kick it hard it will drop into proper neutral.

Technique that my instructor mentioned when I got my L's: Hold the shifter up with your toes, and release the clutch after. This way you will always shift properly, any problems that arise will mechanical issues and not operator issues.

[cuong-nutz]

Seth, Sounds like you are releasing your clutch too soon and giving I a little too much throttle. Have you taken your MSF course? In the course they teach you the friction zone in the clutch.

[sharky nrk]

I have had all the same issues on both the track and street bike - false neutrals and popping out of gear

[seth hall]

I will be completed with all my courses and training by the end of the day today. And I did test out the "low speed" theory, and when I am going faster it doesn't jostle what-so-ever. Thanks :P

[M42]

Yeah, I was going to mention that you might be way too low in the RPM range in 3rd and 4th for the shift to be smooth. Shifting below 7k in higher gears can be jerky. You'll get it with experience.

[seth hall]

I was reading about someone who was shifting to 5th and 6th and their RPMS would drop from 10k to 7k, and then I was thinking, I am barely doing 2-3k when I am in 3rd.... so yea... I will get this eventually haha.

Thanks for the help everyone!

[Smoove]

Sometimes neutral comes on most of the time it doesn't i usually have to start my bike in 1st and stay on the clutch, the only thing I can think of that I did was waited too long to change my oil other than that there were no drops or anything that was a direct result of this problem, I see a lot of threads about this problem but I never ran across a definite answer concerning my problem, any help? I tried adjusting clutch, changing oil, anything more major just give me a lil details into how it's done, thanks

[csmith12]

Welcome Chance!

[sripalkr]

Originally Posted by Broc

I have almost all of the symptoms ztrack has mentioned.

When shifting from 2nd > 3rd the gear completely disappears, you press up on the shifter and nothing is there, the shifter actually moves farther than it would to shift. I have to roll off the throttle and back on for the gear to reappear. Sometimes this also leaves me in between 2nd and 3rd gear and I will have to put it back into either gear to get going again. This happens to me alot, almost everytime I ride.

I also get the false neutral from time to time but I have noticed this on almost every sport bike, dirt bike, atv I've ever ridden so I'm not too concerned. A firm shift usually eliminates this for me.

The other concern I do have is the bike completely dropping out of gear under high rpm acceleration. I can be in 3rd or 4th usually. Pulling hard into a corner and then you just hear the rpms scream and the bikes out of gear. I have to manually put it back into gear. It is very annoying when riding it aggressive. I have even tested it with my foot no where near the shifter (thinking it was me) and the damn thing pops out like no tomorrow. This also happens very frequently when riding the piss out of my bike.

I have never tracked my bike but I do ride this thing pretty rough. I'm WOT 80% of the time.

I have had these issues since brand new but they have recently gotten worse for me around 6,000 miles. I have never taken it in to the dealership for warranty. I use to run a Honda/Toyota service department and am a mechanic by trade and know the warranty side of things. Internal transmission and engine issues are usually not easy to resolve. Plus the dealers around here are not the best. I think they'd take one look at my 15t sprocket and give me the boot. I think I have 2-3 weeks left under warranty so I might check, we shall see.

Hope my story helps! I think I just kind of expect these issues from a small cheap bike, I dunno but new stuff breaks just like old stuff unfortunately.

Hi Broc, I have the same issue as your bike from last one week when shifting from 2nd > 3rd where the gear completely disappears. The shifter actually moves farther than it would shift, I need to push down and then put the 3rd gear. Mine is a 2012 Ninja 250R. I would like to know how your fixed the issue? I have around 13.5 K miles on my bike and I drive around 35 miles daily on surface streets.

[micoulisninja]

Well since the thread is up again, I will remind some of you my experience with the shifting issue... at about 25000miles of my driving (I am quite experienced but also quite a "hard-shifter") the gearbox started giving issues from time to time especially when upshifting from 3rd to 4th...

My 09 FI 250 engine had quite a lot of engine modifications and I was thinking that the extra power (39,5 rwhp) and revving (14350rpm) must have worn somehow some parts in it and was thinking about taking it apart for checking and changing any worn/damaged parts if necessary...so I changed oil prematurely just to be sure it was not an oil overheating issue but still no improvement... it would occur once every 60miles or so no matter the conditions or riding style...

Eventually on a friendly "drag-race" the engine blew up while shifting from 3rd to 4th... after having totally taken every single piece of the engine apart and having checked thoroughly ended up with the conclusion that it must have been a faulty shift drum... the metal had been slashed as if made of porcelain and pieces of it got scattered all over inside the engine and with the spin of the crank blew holes through every part of the engine as if from bullets !

Anyway, checked all gears, shafts etc to realize that their wearing was normal for 25k miles and would have lasted twice as much maybe if the shift drum hadn't done its thing... The rest of the gearbox was even ok to use on my new 300 project if I had wanted to !
Don't know if anyone has discovered anything like that so far...
The pieces and the rest of the gearbox were sent to some experienced mechanics who also concluded that the shift drum must have been faulty or rather "normal use capable only" which was originally the purpose the bike was built for...
So I guess I must be the exception to that rule since I haven't heard of any other such case in the Greek 250 community

[Spot]

I race my 250 in Wera and CVMA. I have issues in almost every race with my transmission. I normally have very good race starts and my bike will jump out of second repeatedly and the shifter arm gets stuck. I run GP shift so up shifting is easy. Then when shifting from 4th to 5th sometimes it seems to go into a neutral for a split second and then snap back into gear on its own. RevMoto in Oceanside, CA is going to tear it apart soon and inspect everything and replace springs and any thing bent.

[Norway]

My Ninja 250R is a 2011, registered in 2012. I used to get false neutrals between 5th and 6th, especially when the bike was new. It used to happen, in average,
twice during my daily commute of 80 kilometers, I guess.
When the bike was broken in, it happened more seldom. False neutrals have been almost gone for many thousands of kilometers, but then i suddenly experienced it twice on one trip, a couple of days ago. I think it always happens when upshifting from 5th to 6th gear.
Now it has 30500 kilometers on the meter. All services have been followed,
and i will have the 30 k km service any day.
All in all I'm very happy with the bike. I still have the original front tire. Apart from regular service i have changed an H4 lightbulb, chain and sprockets and the rear tire (once). That's all.

[Gavin_Coffey]

So my dad blew the engine in my bike, anyway I got a new engine and it will not shift passed 2nd unless you lightly tap the shifter like you were down shifting. You have to do this to go into all the gears except 1st and 2nd. It works if you do that and I'm not really concerned about it.

I must add that my bike will fall out of second if I am shifting lightly, it usually happens when I give it a higher amount of throttle and when its in the 9k-12k RPM range. It's when I shift light so it seems normal to me...

And something else while I'm thinking about it, when I stop and don't shift as I'm slowing down, it seems like I have to press it down 10 times for it to actually shift to 1st, I'm probably not letting the lever move back to normal or something, who knows.

[DCMoney]

Originally Posted by Gavin_Coffey

So my dad blew the engine in my bike, anyway I got a new engine and it will not shift passed 2nd unless you lightly tap the shifter like you were down shifting. You have to do this to go into all the gears except 1st and 2nd. It works if you do that and I'm not really concerned about it.

I must add that my bike will fall out of second if I am shifting lightly, it usually happens when I give it a higher amount of throttle and when its in the 9k-12k RPM range. It's when I shift light so it seems normal to me...

And something else while I'm thinking about it, when I stop and don't shift as I'm slowing down, it seems like I have to press it down 10 times for it to actually shift to 1st, I'm probably not letting the lever move back to normal or something, who knows.

Check the position of the shifter on the shaft, should be a spot on the shaft and knuckle, make sure they are lined up.

As far as the bike not wanting to downshift at a light, that's because transmission output shaft is not moving. If you're waiting to downshift till you come to a complete stop try rocking back and forth while hitting the shifter that will help. Or better yet learn to blip your downshifts coming to a stop.

[Gavin_Coffey]

Originally Posted by DCMoney

Check the position of the shifter on the shaft, should be a spot on the shaft and knuckle, make sure they are lined up.

As far as the bike not wanting to downshift at a light, that's because transmission output shaft is not moving. If you're waiting to downshift till you come to a complete stop try rocking back and forth while hitting the shifter that will help. Or better yet learn to blip your downshifts coming to a stop.

I did not know that about the lever and the shaft, I'll have to try it, I'm not sure mine have any marks though.

Yeah I usually do blip the throttle, sometimes I slow down to fast... I suspect the bike has to be moved or reved a bit to go back into first after going to a light and putting it in neutral for the same reason? Is it normal for the bike to not want to go into first after riding to a light and putting it into neutral?

[DCMoney]

Originally Posted by Gavin_Coffey

I did not know that about the lever and the shaft, I'll have to try it, I'm not sure mine have any marks though.

Yeah I usually do blip the throttle, sometimes I slow down to fast... I suspect the bike has to be moved or reved a bit to go back into first after going to a light and putting it in neutral for the same reason? Is it normal for the bike to not want to go into first after riding to a light and putting it into neutral?

All 3 of my 250s had a dot on the shifter and the shaft.

This was the best picture I could find and it was for GP shift but you can see the dots have been flipped 180 degrees.



I've had to rock back and forth trying to get a bike in gear but I've never rev'd it to get it to go in gear, sounds like it would be hard on your transmission.

Check the position of the shift first.

[NaturalFlavored]

I do hate bumping old threads but this is good info, I too have realized that sometimes while down shifting i try to get back into first before coming to a complete stop and the neutral light doesn't come on but it gets stuck and don't realize until I try to go.
The only up gear shifting I have. Is if I take it up to 9-10k rpms and it's hard to try and shift from 2nd-3rd.

[redonninrf]

Yes, good info. Have a 2008 with 13K miles. It frequently pops out of 3rd when accelerating hard using full throttle and to redline. As I'm still a newbie rider I figured it was mostly just me, but now it sounds like it could be a mechanical issue. (Although still not ruling out the nut behind the handle bars.)

[NaturalFlavored]

Yeah that is a thought but upon reading this I figured that the RPM's and the gears aren't lining up properly and pre gens don't have synchro mesh gearing and it only happens from 3-4 around 10k. Only happened twice around that rpm range. If I shift before or after 9k-10k it shifts fine.

[Johny96]

This post is old so I'm sure I won't get a reply, but I have an 09 EX250 I've rejeted and is making around 33hp. I've also went up one tooth on the front sprocket giving a final 6th gear ratio of 1.1to1. Recently I've been having an issue where 6th gear is no where to found. With the 1.1 to 1 it gives me 6.1k-6.2k at 60mph. When 6th goes on vacation I'm seeing 7k+. I've noticed it mostly does this while hot and after I've already shifted to 6th and then down shift. At the last oil change (15.5k odo) I tore the filter apart for an inspection and noticed aluminum but did not pick up any steel with a magnet. I'm thinking it most likely came from the shift drum, but I'm not going to consider a tear down until I do a 300 swap and keep it carbureted. Would y'all that have been racing these bikes conquer with my assessment of this situation?

[sharky nrk]

^^ I have not experienced that kind of failure on any of my 250 race bikes but am going to reply to say good luck, and to bump the thread to help with responses.