Sticky gears

**PaulJ** · #1 4 Oct 2006

My wife's XR250 has got very 'sticky' gears whic means its very difficult to get the bike in neutral.

If you are in 1st and try to click up to neutral you have to push with enough force that it jumps right past neutral into 2nd, and the same thing going from 2nd to 1st. Not serious but highly annoying (great fun to watch). Any ideas what would cause this?

**beat_** · #2 4 Oct 2006

too much rpm's at idle ?

**JonStobbs** · #3 4 Oct 2006

How much freeplay has the clutch lever got?Only needs a tiny amount just enough so that the cable isn't always tight.If you've got too much there the clutch may not be freeing off enough.Is it worse when the engine is cold?Maybe the oil is the wrong viscosity(15w50 instead of 10w40)?Sounds more like a clutch drag problem than a fault with the gearbox itself(hope it is,much easier to fix without taking much off!).If all else fails,pop the clutch cover off and chech the clutch plates arn't bent/cracked or the clutch basket isn't too worn.

**beat_** · #4 5 Oct 2006

or a bent clutch lever
like mine when i droped it

**PaulJ** · #5 6 Nov 2006

thanks for all the suggestions. Might need to look at the plates I think.