Painful to Shift CL77 - Advice/Opinions Please

[kleindorf]

My '67 CL77 has the stock all metal gearshift lever and seems to require an un-Honda like amount of force to shift up through the gears.It takes so much force that it is very uncomfortable to shift unless you use the edge of the boot unoccupied by the toe.I'm just wondering if the usual round rubber covered gearshift as on most bikes eliminates this problem or if I have to go inside the cases and adjust things.Riding in sneakers would be impossible.Thanks.

[Mike Mullins]

This will sound sort of dumb, but is the clutch adjusted ? (experience speaks- in a manner of speaking)
Mikeyrx

[kleindorf]

Clutch is adjusted properly.One other thing as a possible symptom is when shifting down,neutral can be somewhat hard to find.

[rustywrench]

Without knowing the maintenance history of your bike it would be difficult at best to say for sure what the problem is in your case. I can share some observations I've found recently and hopefully shed some light on your stiff shifter.

This last summer I acquired a few cl engines with xmsn's. In the process of tearing these things apart I've seen two that had very thick black oil in there which has left most of the tranny parts coated with a sticky film of black varnish making it very hard for the shift forks to move on the shift drum. Once I cleaned the parts with a good solvent, all parts moved with ease.


I"m not implying you don't change oil often enough, but perhaps a previous owner let things go too long. There just isn't much else in there to cause this until you get into shimming and such and I'm no help to you there.

Neutral is hard to find on these bikes but someone posted recently that they beefed up the spring on the shift cam follower and that helped. Hopes this gets you headed in the right direction.. RW

[kleindorf]

Thanks for everyones input.When I had the cases split years ago any crud was removed and since then oil changes have kept the bottom end in good shape.I think the only real solution is to take things apart and do some hands-on detective work.

[rustywrench]

kleindorf
In any case, If you do split her down, I for one would be very interested in knowing what you find.
I've read volumes of info here on pro's and con's of different oils and will not jump into that debate or touch it with a ten foot pole. So if it happens to be worn guide rollers or shift forks or God forbid oil crud, please share it. good luck,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,RW