My wife on a few occasions has said that when trying to keep up with me that the KLX has jumped out of gear and went down into a lower gear. Like shifting into 3rd with high revs in second and it goes back into second. She says it has done it from 6th to 5th and maybe even 4th to 3rd. I tell her she is just not shifting hard enough and she somewhat agrees but I want to make sure that this issue isn't common and all I need to do is the shifter star mod. From what I read I thought the shifter star mod was for 2nd to nuetral shift problems but the mod clearly shows all of the teeth on the star get the same treatment. Anyone experience this or is she just shifting too light on occasion?
Thanks,
Dave

 

I had similar issues... dropping down a gear, falling back into neutral, and falling into neutral in between higher gears (where there should be no neutral).

I did the shift star mod myself (i.e. I ground down my own shift star).
Don't get the FSW shift star - it doesn't work... I posted two lengthy threads a while back on the subject.
The star fits, but your neutral indicator won't work, which will prevent the bike from starting unless the clutch is in.

 

KawiKawi, So you are saying the nuetral indicator won't work with the FSW star? Or even if you mod the star yourself? I will do a search for the other threads you started. This is interesting as I didn't think a bike trans could go into a nuetral between the high gears...
Thanks,
Dave

 

On the shift star there's an indicator pin, which, when aligned with the electronic sensor, indicates the neutral position of the star. The FSW (KLX300) star is identical to ours, except that the little indicator pin is not in the same relative location for whatever reason. At first I thought I had installed the star 180 degrees out. But upon further inspection, I determined that the star is just different and did not work for a KLX250S. (the only difference being the radial position of that indicator pin).

P.S. frequent oil changes and synthetic oil seem to help for smoother shifting...

First thread:
https://www.kawasakiforums.com/m_58966/tm.htm

Second:
https://www.kawasakiforums.com/m_60746/tm.htm

 

Sorry, I didn't answer your questions...
With the FSW star, the neutral light engages in 5th gear rather than neutral.
If you mod your own star, everything is fine - the pin stays where it is and neutral indicator works great.

 

Ok, thats what I wanted to know (about the nuetral light). I will just order a new start from Kawasaki for the 250s and mod it and keep the old one just in case or for a souvenir.
Dave

 

One more thing...I change her oil about every 750-1000 miles and that includes a filter so that wouldn't be it. So after you have done the mod would you call it 100% success and you are happy with the gear changing now?
Thanks again,
Dave

 

Yes, I'm happy with it. The only thing that happens now is the occasional missed 2nd gear, usually my own fault for not shifting hard enough. No slips out of gear though, and no false neutrals...

 

Just my 2 cents. You may want to be sure that the shift lever is not loose. I had similar problems with the high revs and not catching into the next gear when shifting. Found that my shift lever was loose and just needed to be tightened.

Now I just have to stop being lazy when I shift past N into 2nd gear. Becuase its really fun when your in N trying to go forward.

 

My wife gets so annoyed that a missed shift has completely ruined her day and she is visibly upset (not crying, just pissed) as she is trying so hard to do everything right I had her quit running high rpms in 1st and that helped her immensely from hitting nuetral. It always happened when she wanted to "go fast". I told her 1st gear ain't gonna get you going very fast by winding it out and have her short shifting into 2nd sooner and then cranking on the juice. The shifter is tight as I originally was adjusting its position to see if one way was better than another for her and we found the sweet spot. She only has this issue with the gears occasionally but I want to fix it if its the bike as to restore her pride
Thanks,
Dave