No Power - KZ440

Looking a buying an 81 KZ440 for my niece. Bike is in great condition with 19,000 kms. The owner has problems shifting beyond 2nd gear. I adjusted the clutch mech on the sprocket cover and the bike now shifts into all 6 gears. Although its hard to down shift.

Problem is the engine has no power beyond 2nd gear. At WOT between gears the bike hardly accelerates. I did notice the chain has about 4" of play.

Engine runs and sounds good with good throttle response at idle. Would the loose chain cause the poor acceleration?

Sounds like the clutch may be slipping. The hard shifting is likely the result of a problem in the external shift mechanism. Take off the countershaft cover and any inner cover and have a look at the shift pawls and the several springs associated with the external shift mechanism. One of the springs pulls the detent that holds the shift drum... if weak, the spring will make shifting difficult.

If the bike sounds like it is increasing in rpms but not accelerating as it should, perform a clutch cable adjustment per a factory service manual.

gaillarry wrote:

Looking a buying an 81 KZ440 for my niece. Bike is in great condition with 19,000 kms. The owner has problems shifting beyond 2nd gear. I adjusted the clutch mech on the sprocket cover and the bike now shifts into all 6 gears. Although its hard to down shift.

Problem is the engine has no power beyond 2nd gear. At WOT between gears the bike hardly accelerates. I did notice the chain has about 4" of play.

Engine runs and sounds good with good throttle response at idle. Would the loose chain cause the poor acceleration?

No, it can't. As George said, check to see if you hear the RPM's spin up without much acceleration because that means the clutch is slipping. If the bike just has weak power when you try to stand on it, that would be a whole different thing.

BTW, when my clutch springs were getting tired and the clutch started to slip, it did it WORST in low gears when I tried to accelerate and if I lightened up on the throttle it would hook up. In higher gears it didn't slip much that I could hear.

As for slipping clutch, I have heard (not personally seen) that some bike clutches get slippy when somebody uses the wrong auto oil with the "mileage" additives that make it too slippery. Before you tear the engine apart, you might try flushing the engine oil with Sea Foam and replace to see if it slips less.

Another thing that can cause hard shifting is if the oil is too thick. Some sneaky people will put heavy oil into an engine on something they are selling to quiet it down.:laugh:

The rpm's increase between gears. When I change gears I increase the throttle until its WOT but the power isn't transfered to the rear wheel.

When I checked the clutch cable I turned the adjuster on the sprocket cover counter clockwise until tight then 1/2 turn clockwise and tightened the locknut.

The owner showed me the oil he used, normal 10W-40 motorcycle oil. Shifting up is fine,but shifting down is noisey and very difficult.

Oil wouldn't be that big of a factor. I run 20-50 synthestic and my cluch is nice and grabby. It is not a big job to take the primary cover off and tear the cluch down. If your clutch is adjusted with a small amount of free play when closed then the plates are slipping for some reason. It could be the springs, or the clutch could be glazed and worn from being run too long out of adjustment. With that kind of milage, I would guess something is wrong.