Posted by Bruce Clarke on July 28, 1999 at 17:24:36:
In Reply to: Re: Tink I hurt my bike posted by Bob on July 27, 1999 at 09:09:49:
>I have troubles between 4th & 5th in both directions.
It is very interesting to read the comments about the 4/5 gear shifting. When I first bought my Savage 650 two years ago, I noticed right away that although the first four gears are very smooth and easy to shift, going up from 4th to 5th was much more difficult. The throw (the distance you have to move the lever) is less, and the feel of the shift is much stiffer and requires more force. Shifting down from 5th to 4th is not a problem.
I quickly found that about half the time the gear gets 'stuck' in a false neutral between 4 and 5, and I have to try a second time to get into 5th.
I went back to the dealer about a month after buying the bike and complained. He took it for a test ride and told me that it happened only once when he rode the bike and so it must be a problem with _my_ shifting technique (yeah, right). He then said that because he couldn't find a problem Suzuki wouldn't cover the problem under warranty.
I've always suspected that it's a common problem (I've read one or two other Savage owners mentioning it) but that Suzuki doesn't want to pay the big buck$ to rip open the gear box and fix it.
If it is any conciliation, I decided to just keep riding and wait for 5th gear to stop working in the first year - I figured that Suzuki would then have to fix it under warranty. The problem never went away, but it has not become any worse either with 17,000 KM on the Savage. I just live with it and assume it to be one of the Savage's funny little quirks. Unfortunately, unlike the white spacer fixing the backfire, I don't think there is an easy fix for this problem.
I suspect that it's because Suzuki is cramming five gears into a space that used to hold only four, the first four gears are wide enough that they mesh properly on shifting, but the 5th gear is more narrow (to fit in the transmission) and doesn't mesh as nicely.
It would be nice to know if anyone else has gone into this problem in more detail and knows what is the cause.
Bruce