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Gear shift lever sitting too low? Check this...

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RktWgn

RktWgn

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Mar 25, 2011
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Indian Trail, NC
So I took the inaugural first ride on my "new to me" Bandit two days ago. Loved it of course, but there was a problem. The gear shift lever was entirely too low and it was difficult to get my foot under it for up-shifts. No problem, I thought...just needs to be adjusted.

So I took off the sprocket cover before the second ride expecting to see this:

gearshift.jpg


But this is what I saw instead:

bent.jpg


I guess somebody thought it was a stirrup and used it to "mount up". Straightened it up and now all is well.
 
Think that's the 1st time I ever see a shift rod bent like that. WoW!
 
One more prior owner abuse uncovered. This was the burn-out bike with the rusty chain wasn't it? I would advise inspecting the air box for knucklehead mods or missing filter and looking over every adjustment the bike has. Full inspection time.
 
ed29 said:
One more prior owner abuse uncovered. This was the burn-out bike with the rusty chain wasn't it? I would advise inspecting the air box for knucklehead mods or missing filter and looking over every adjustment the bike has. Full inspection time.
Click to expand...

I see stuff like this and wonder to myself, what the heck was the person thinking that did this, as it had to have been done on purpose. It's looks like the previous owner had very large feet, and needed some more boot room, and was also a moron.

I do agree with ed, and I would go over everything thing on this bike with a fine tooth comb, and to start off, I recommend that you check inside the gas tank to see what it looks like, inspect the air filter, and change the oil and filter before riding it, then go from there.

There's no telling if the previous owner rotated the splined shift lever also that mounts to the shifter shaft on the trans along with bending the linkage rod. So after installing the new shift linkage rod and adjusting the shift lever, make sure to check that when the shift lever is moved fully up, that the end of the lever is not contacting the top of the shift lever mount.
 
I did this 1 time when I hit a cat at @50MPH. The cat hairs are still in the shift boot. I had to replace my shifter and rods to get it to shift properly. It was notchy going from 1st to 2nd till everything was replaced.
 
In response, yes, this is the same bike that had a rusty chain and a flat-spot tire (clearly from a burnout or 12).

That said, I also bought it from a Kia auto dealership where it had sat for months waiting on me to find it. It no doubt had more than its fair share of neanderthal tire kickers and kids climb aboard in that time... which could easily explain the bent rod.

New tires are now on (Pilot Road 2 - love them) and a new chain is in transit (DID ZVM2). After straightening the rod right after taking the picture, I proceeded to ride the bike 114 miles with no destination in mind. The day was perfect... and the bike wasn't far behind. I'm smitten.
 
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