Has anyone else encountered problems with shifting back into 1st gear after riding for a considerable length of time. It has happened to me 3x now - each time was at the end of a long day of riding. Coming to a complete stop I press the gear lever all the way down until it doesn't go any further. When I'm about to accelerate again I notice that I'm not in 1st gear and the bike stalls. I don't think it is due to fatigue because I'm pressing down to make sure I'm always at the lowest gear. But, each time it has happened it was after riding for at least an hour usually through some hills or canyons.

I'm a relative newbie and am no mechanic so if someone has insights could you advise? It seems like it happens when the temperature of the engine is high though.

There's a section for questions like this...

I run into this sometimes. Either roll it a few inches or slip the clutch a little until you hear it pop. I'm not too sure how a bike transmission works, but it seems that the gears aren't aligned. This problem can be avoided completely by downshifting before you come to a complete stop.

First, welcome to the wonderful world of motorcycles. Your manual transmission car and motorcycle have 4, 5, or 6 gears and a clutch. That's where the similarities end.

I won't go into the details of and terminology, but rather just cover the functionality differences. A car can be shifted while the car sits still. Hell, the engine doesn't even have to be running. But a motorcycle, ahh, completely different. A motorcycle requires the bike be moving, or, at a minimum, the gears in the transmission to be spinning around. So ideally, what you want to do is shift while the bike is moving. So as you go down to a stop, shift down through the gears, ensuring you are in first prior to stopping. Once you are stopped, it is mechanically best to tap the shifter up to neutral and let out on the clutch. HOWEVER..if you are in a traffic situation where you may need to get going in a hurry (a car approaching from the back, left turn lane and green light, etc) just leave it in first and hold the clutch lever in.

If you have to do an emergency stop, don't worry about shifting. Just get the bike stopped and then shift down to first once stopped. It may not want to go down through the gears. In this case, what you do is with the front brake FIRMLY APPLIED is let out on the clutch a VERY VERY LITTLE bit, enough to send a little power to the transmission gears while pushing down on the shift lever. Then it will grab the next gear and so on, so forth. Once again, I cannot stress enough how potentially dangerous it can be if you are not careful.

Along the same lines, if you start the bike in neutral and clutch lever pulled, you may find first impossible to engage. This is because the gears in the trans are still stationary. In this case, just let out on the clutch. The gears in the trans will spin. Then pull the clutch lever in and engage first.

I hope all of this helps.

What he ^ said... :thumbsup

Thanks guys. I think you just described my problem in each of these instances. Makes sense. Appreciate all of your input and the education.