01 SV 650 shift problem

Ok, go ahead. I tore it up already.

I was riding the wifey's bike in to work yesterday (6 miles) and coming to an intersection I down shifted and heard the rear tire chirp. No big deal. But when starting to accelerate I went from 1st to second, no problem and 2nd to 3rd not so lucky. It would not go into third at all, tried dropping the rpm's, clutch less upshift, using the clutch, nothing worked. The lever did not budge at all. I rode into work and parked it there. On the ride home it done the same thing, no 3rd. So I was going to just limp it home and check it out later. Of course I tried the whole way home to see if it would go in 3rd, it did when I had pressure on the shifter and hit a bump in the road. It was a smooth clutch less up shift, no noise or grinding. All the other gears go in good like they should. Oil is good and just changed by previous owner (suzuki mechanic). Bike has 29k on the clock now and looks and runs great.

I'm thinking shift fork?

Yeah sounds like a bent shift fork.

I need more information for an acurate diagnosis.
What OS are you running? Can you ping outside your segment?

I agree, but will put it up on a stand and see if I can replicate the issue and look for simple stuff before diving in the transmission.

Hey, they all break. I guess I should keep my fat ass off of it then.

Can you hear me now?

Before splitting the cases to investigate the gears/forks/drum, check out your shifting mechanism and all springs. It could be a soft or broken detent spring.

Splitting the cases is a last resort.

But I think you are on to something here. I put the bike up on a stand and run the bike through the gears and got it to shift into 3rd on the stand. 1st was fine and second was fine but 3rd still hung up but with a slight press down and then up it would slide right into 3rd. Now to figure out what is causing it.

Well, we found the culprit. Just as Evl alluded to it was a weak spring. It was up on the shoulder of the bolt and allowing the mechanism to not return to center and reset the gears.

How I found the spring

how the spring should be placed.


The wifey's SV. Which I am not allowed to ride anymore.


Spring and oil filter are coming from Ron Ayers and Amsoil will be ordered tomorrow.

Good job finding that and getting it back together.

SV's are a hoot to ride, it's fun to pass liter bikes on the track on one. Maybe if you ask nicely your wife will let you ride it again some day.

Maybe, but I'm not holding my breath.

that's what happens when she lets a squid ride it