Hey guys, I've got 140 miles on my klx and it seems like 4th gear is hard to get into, it seems to take more lever throw to fully seat. If I just try to snick it up into gear it will kick out. I mainly notice when pulling up through the gears at higher rpm. I've missed a gear a time or two from my foot slipping off but 4th just seems to be a bugger. I'm wondering if its from the metal shavings etc being in the oil and whether it will get better after the first oil change?

Some clarification:
I had the clutch cable adjuster nut come loose on the trail to the point that pulling the clutch in fully and it would still creap ahead, I have since adjusted it so that the lever is a half to 3/4 inch off the bar before the clutch starts to engage and I fully depress the lever when shifting so there is no load on the transmission while selecting gears.

Any insight into this? I've never owned a brand new bike or atv so I'm not sure if this is normal while everything is breaking in or not.

 

Hmm...dropping out of 2nd gear is/was a common problem on the KLX300R (do a search on star gear on thumpertalk.com)

However, in your case, I'd get the dealer to check the adjustment of the tranny. Should be covered under warranty.

 

Hey bryantjt, I had a few problems with my trany early on. It was a little cluncky and once or twice it popped out of gear. I did my first oil change at about 60 miles to get any metal shavings out, it seemed to help the more miles I get on it the better it shifts. and it has'nt popped out of gear since then. Hope this helps? There are a lot more experiened guy's on this forum that could help you more then me, I'm sure they will lend thier advice.

 

I think part of it is trying to shift too quickly, If I rev it out and clutch, shift, release it doesn't cause a problem. If I'm clutching and simultaneously shifting it seems to be more prone to do it. My 1987 Yamaha Warrior 4 wheeler was the same way. It'd be nice if I could rotate the shift lever down somewhat so I wouldn't have to have as high a rotation for upshifting. Looking at the spline on there I think it would put it too far down even going over 1 tooth.

Today I was pulling hard away from a stop sign and didn't catch 6th so I don't think its quite so much a bike problem as it might be a left foot problem. My riding gear isn't quite ATTGATT standards but its a bit better than sneakers. Brahma steel toed high top work shoes, the toe box has quite a bit of room so moving my toes up doesn't do squat, I have to rotate my whole foot and with the steel toe and stiff sole there is not much flex so while my toes are going up I'm not getting the same throw as when wearing sneakers. I've never had it miss a gear riding around the yard when I had sneakers on. However after putting some thought into it it made more sense to have something heavier even if just messing around in the yard.

 

I had the same problem with it dropping out of 6th gear once in awhile. But it hasn't done it in awhile. The more mileage I get on the bike the better the trans gets.

 

Well I had a 2001 KLR250 that would often miss the 2nd-3rd shift unless I did it really slow and deliberate. I switched over to Mobile one (red cap) and it literally never happened again.That was in 10,000 miles of riding.I've heard that red cap was changed and that another Mobile One would be the choice now.

Joe

 

Is anyone running with synthetic oil? Is it really that much better than non? What brand/type do you recommend?

 

AHHH!!! AN OIL THREAD!!! RUN!!!! RUN!!!!

Ok, I feel better.

FWIW, I use (and have used for many years) synth in all my cars and bikes. When bikes are under warranty like my KLX, I use the manufacturers branded synth not because I have to but because it reduces points of discussion in case of a warranty issue. I've been using Kaw synth since my first oil change at 50 miles.

I feel the KLX is a very good candidate for synth due to the small oil supply (truly dirt-bike like in this respect). It costs more but it's worth it IMHO. And no, I'm not worried about it being "too slick" for breakin. My Triumph came from the factory with Mobil One and it broke in just fine. Ditto on every Corvette rolling out of GMs plants.

 

bmwhd, being that you changed your oil at 50 miles I take it you broke it in via the mototune method or did you just change it early? As stated up above I'm at 160 or so miles and am debating on going the other 400 before changing it or should I just change it this weekend when I do my car?

 

I did the mototune method.

I'd go ahead and change it regardless. The KLX has got to be the easiest oil change of any bike I've owned. Just remember the vaseline on the spring trick and it's a 10 min. job.