Hey In Nairobi now 21'000km from home and 45'k km on the clock. I have been having a little issue with my gear changing. It started in Sudan about 5'000km ago. Changing up 3/4/5th would sometimes jam, only fighting and searching up and down would get them in. This I put down to the shit African cheep oil, As when I changed oil the problem would go away for the next 800-1000km. Fed up with changing oil every week or so. I put in terriably expensive fully synthetic real motorcycle oil in last week in Nairobi and expected the problem to go away. I have just ridden 1000km to Mombasa and back and the problem is still there, even when the oil was brand new. I have got used to the prblem and deal with it now.

When I could't shift up (down is never a problem) found it was beacuse the gear lever was't dropping back down to its orignal position imediatly, I would feel it drop down a second or two latter, or occasionly not at all. Just tapping in down works with no problems so I have learnt to live with it.

Has any one else had this problem? Any ideas what its is? Does the gear lever normal return by gravity or by mechanical means? The bike is 2004 TT600RE (45k-kms). Now Im here Chris in Jungle Junction is a great mechanic so I could fix it here-but with money I don't really have spare. However if it is just a new fecture of the bike and I can keep on using it I will carry on down to CT and have a look when I get back home.
Cheers George

The gear shift lever returns to its middle position by the force of a spring. If you remove the RH, or clutch, cover, you will see it at the bottom left corner, close to the kickstart shaft.
Check that everything is installed correctly, spring not broken etc.
A problem might be that the shift shaft is (slightly) bent in a fall, and sticking. In this case I recommend to leave it as it is; as replacing the shaft involves total disassembly of the engine.

Also, recommend to use oil 20W50 instead of the often recommended 10W40. Lubricates better at elevated tempratures.

Auke

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Auke
http://aukemarieke.blogspot.com

Yes I found out the problem the gear leaver was bent. I was so sure it was internal that I never took a proper look at it! there it was, each time I had crashed the lever would bend a little more and become more stiff as it jamed on the engine casing, a little tweak with a spanner and fixed! Well in that case I can say that I have not had any problems in 46k km. Great bike!
Thanks for your reply and help
George

George,

Nice to hear that you have a fix for the problem at no cost and it is not causing you any grief.
Also glad to read that the TTR is doing great service on your travels: I recall earlier posts when you were prepping the bike - the TTR does not get a lot of discussion in here compared with lots of other machines (especially the XT!). Perhaps it is just too damn reliable!!

Cheers and travel safe,

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Dave