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Posted by Troll
- May 14, 2015, 15:59:08 PMMaybe the clutch is hanging up....seems strange to have happened while sitting, but it's a possibility. If it's not popping out of gear, that's a good sign
Posted by 49Reo
- May 14, 2015, 14:30:09 PMThanks Troll. Your knowledge and experience with the inner working of these bikes is highly valued. I too hope you are wrong. going to try it one more time, mostly to warm it up, then draining the oil and pulling the screen to look for "spare parts" That is the only time it did that in first; the hard shift to second was every time. I rode it around the neighborhood at low speed, so I could go from first to second and back, several times, everything worked as it should except for the hard shift to second from first. Definitely going to be beyond my mechanical experience; like I said to GB, it is about 75 years newer than what I am experienced at.
I'll keep updating this as I get more knowledge of what is going on; maybe this will be of use to someone else as a troubleshooting guide.
Posted by Troll
- May 14, 2015, 14:00:52 PMAs I promised, I went to the dealer and asked the guy who rebuilt mine. He wanted to know if it hops out of 1st all the time, and does it stay in second...possible displaced lock ring, but of course, he can't see it any better than I can.
Posted by Troll
- May 14, 2015, 11:42:38 AMI'm thinking...I have one idea, but I hope I'm wrong. When I bought mine, it was doing something quite similar. I had a bent 1-2 fork, a broken tooth on the output gear, and one of the lock rings was pushed out of it's slot. Can't say which happened first, but it sure did a lot of damage. Stayed in 1st, but it would hop out of second with a loud bang. I rode it a little bit, skipping over second but I had to rebuild the trans. VERY EXPENSIVE JOB...I'm going out for a little ride shortly, so I'll go over to the KAW dealer who rebuilt the trans and ask their opinion...Again, I hope I'm wrong...
Posted by 49Reo
- May 14, 2015, 09:23:05 AMFeel like weighing in on this Troll? Your experience here would be appreciated...
Thx in advance;
Posted by 49Reo
- May 13, 2015, 23:47:55 PMI've been running Kaw synthetic. This is the first winter the bike has been in cold storage rather than heated storage. Don't know if that us anything to do with it, but going to pick up fresh oil and filter next week when I am in the city. No source of oil or filter for it here where I live, so will be changing it at first opportunity.
Thanks for the ideas, PC and Jmbo
Quote from: jmbo on May 13, 2015, 14:28:17 PMNot sure if this applies to you but my "99'er had a similar problem when I first bought it. Only in my case the clutch would hang up between gears. As it turned out my problem was due to bad oil in the engine/trans/clutch. Apparently the clutch plates were not releasing properly. Not sure what oil the PO used in the bike nor how long it had been in there. Took two changes before the problem was completely gone. Now it is smooth as silk.
Posted by jmbo
- May 13, 2015, 14:28:17 PMNot sure if this applies to you but my "99'er had a similar problem when I first bought it. Only in my case the clutch would hang up between gears. As it turned out my problem was due to bad oil in the engine/trans/clutch. Apparently the clutch plates were not releasing properly. Not sure what oil the PO used in the bike nor how long it had been in there. Took two changes before the problem was completely gone. Now it is smooth as silk.
Posted by 49Reo
- May 13, 2015, 09:38:35 AMIt would seem to me that it would do it in all gears, not just second gear and first gear, like yesterday. Another strange thing yeterday; the cooling fan ran a lot. Was only about 75F, and this is the first time it did that, too. The fan virtually never runs. And the coolant level was good. Poor old girl having a few aging pains I gues. 
Posted by pcarrell
- May 13, 2015, 08:52:53 AMInside the clutch reservoir there is a tiny return hole. If that is plugged by dirt or something, it could cause that. A pin will clean it out nicely.
Of course, if you lived further south, it wouldn't be so long between riding seasons and the dirt might not have a chance to get in there! 
Posted by 49Reo
- May 13, 2015, 00:30:39 AMSo today I go for an hour and a half ride, got back to town, stopped for coffee, half hour later got on, fired up, kicked her down into first, let the clutch out, nothing. Hmm. Still in neutral. Down into first again, let the clutch out, 50 feet later pulled the clutch back in to roll between 2 parked vehicles, let the clutch out, and nothing, in neutral again. ?? So, kick it down into first again, out onto the road, shift to second, it shifted in to second like a Harley; calunk! ?? Never did that before. Shifted up through the gears, ok, all worked good. Back down to first, took off, into second, calunk! again. Rest of the gears, up and down, no problem. Just going into second from first. Any ideas, anybody? Only around 12000 miles on her, 2002 model year.
Thanks in advance;
49