superhawk22

The nutcracker not so sweet. Where in CT are you Hawk guy? I lived in Hebron till I was 19.

marmaladedad

Try letting your clutch out a little bit when you go from 2nd to 1st before going from 1st to 2nd.

The Hawk Guy

To Superhawk 22:

I live in Farmington, CT. Just moved there last month. Where are u now?

To marmaladeboy:

Either way it's happening. This happens everytime I ride, I also noticed that if I downshift into neutral from higher gears and stop the bike completely while it's in neutral, let out the clutch, put it in 1st, get it going and shift into 2nd the problem seems to go away; but if I downshift into neutral while the bike's still rolling at low speed, put it into 1st, get it going again and then shift it into 2nd then the problem occurs. It would catch on 2nd gear but it just doesn't feel right. I rode my friends' gixxers and R1's I never had any problem like this.

superhawk22

I'm in sunny Palm beach Florida now, I couldn't take the cold. I had friends in Farmington and Unionville, some nice roads in that area, a little bumpy though. I used to have the shifting problem as well and I stumbled on an expensive fix. I bought rearsets for more ground clearence for the track and it shifts much better now. I think it's got more leverage from the longer shift rod. You can try to adjust your shift lever down a spline or 2 somtimes it helps.

swordfish

the superhawk has always been touchy shifting from 1st into 2nd. the trick is to time your shift for the right rpm. if you get it right, its smooth as silk. if you get it wrong, it will stay in nuetral. and after a while, sometimes you second guess yourself so you don't get on it right after you shift to second, you end up feeling it out. don't know what to tell you about trouble downshifting, unless something's wrong wiht the bike. if you're at a stop and you can't get it into neutral, try rolling it forward and back while pressing down on the shift lever. I've noticed this a few times on my hawk, but I've had to do that with every bike I've owned from time to time. and at least with the superhawk, this trick always worked.

Thumper

Here is a couple of tricks to help your shifting one is free the other will cost some money. I have done both and shifting is greatly improved on the VTR.

Free Option:
By all means do this before you ride again.

-Set your bike on level ground (side stand or on a race stand)
-Measure from the tip of your shifter toe to the ground, get exact measurement from a good reference point on the shifter toe where your toe meets it. Write the measurement down as the "rest measurement".
- Now Push the shifter down as far as it will go and measure to ground again, write down as the "bottom measurement".
-Finally Push the shifter up as far as it will go and measure to the ground, write down as the "up measurement".

If i recall the difference between the up and down measurements will be 7/8".

So the trick is to change the up to down overall measurement to 3/4" or an 1/8" less than it is now. What this does is when you move the shifter toe 3/4" it still moves the internal shaft the same resulting in more leverage.

Now for the adjustment
-The goal is to shorten the shift throw while returning the shifter "rest" position back to the original location so your toe fits as before you started.
-Loosen the shifter adjuster jam nuts; note one is reverse threaded.
-Remove the shiter arm from the shaft and move one or two teeth Clockwise (best i recall it is clockwise, its been 2 or 3 years since i did this) on the spline and tighten back to factory specs.
-Adjust the shifter back to the original "rest measurement" you made to the ground when you started and tighten everything.

You should notice a better shift from 1st to 2nd and all other gears.


Cost Option:
Install the Factory Pro Shift Kit.
This sucker makes the shifting pop into the next gear.

DavidH1172

GILLES REARSETS BABY!!!!! THAT WILL SOLVE ALL YOUR PROBLEMS!

shayne

Have a look at a thread I started on this issue a while ago. Not sure what it is called, but it is something to do with shifting anyway. I think I called it "improving the gearshift".

The short version of the story is to replace the joints in the gear linkages with heim joints to remove all the slop in the standard set-up. Works very well and is well worth the small effort and minimal cost.

RickB

Occasionally the shift still gives me problem but its a lot better wit the Factory Pro detent arm/spring kit. Like others have mentioned, rpm and speed do seem to affect how it shifts first to second. I believe its just a Honda "quirk" as I have had the same thing on other models including my '92 Nighthawk 750 I bought brand new...

Rick B
02 SH

Jim TT