kz650 missing 5th gear

Hi All,

I recently acquired a 1980 kz650 (E I think, from looking at the VIN?).

As I understand it, these bikes should have a 5 speed transmissions. On mine, I can't shift out of 4th. It feels just like trying to shift with the bike parked (ie, hitting the lockout).

Any ideas what could cause this?

One thought is that (if such a thing exists) somebody swapped in a four speed transmission from a different bike... Or my tranny is just broken.

Other than never finding 5th gear, shifting feels just fine. The bike has 11,000 miles, FWIW.

Would appreciate hearing the thoughts of experts.

~Arnold

I apologize if this is a dumb answer but sometimes the following can happen - I knew a person who counted gears up when in first i.e they started from 1 and counted the next gear as one, two and so on to four (which is actually fifth). Other then that I'm stumped, if the selector was bent it would hit Neutral from 4th so I don't think that's the problem.

Good luck.

No offense intended, but the KZ650 will pull away from a dead stop in 2nd gear without a problem, so is it possible you may not be using 1st gear at all? When the tranny is in neutral (the green indicator should be on) you push the lever down to go into 1st gear. From neutral if you lift the lever up you engage 2nd gear, and each successive time you lift the lever you engage a higher gear. So from neutral if you lift the lever up you can engage 4 gears; from neutral you push down on the lever to engage 1st gear.

One way to tell if you are in 5th gear is to compare the rpm to the speed. Assuming you are using stock sized sprockets and tires when you are in 5th gear traveling 60 mph your tachometer should be reading right around 4500 rpm. Ed

I guess you can count me as one of those people counted 2nd gear as first etc. You'd think after driving a stick shift for 15 years I would know how to count gears. I guess not though.

Anyway, thanks for the insight. I'm just glad its not broken...