KZ1100 gear shifting sticky

Ok, my next biggest problem on this '83 1100 Spectre is the gear shifting. It seems sticky, notchy, much worse cold. It will miss gears if you aren't very deliberate with your shifts. 5th is the worst, it will get a false neutral there from 4th, but you know it, the gear lever does not 'click' and you feel that just as you let the clutch out. Anyone have any experience with this, or ideas about it? This is a shaft bike too, so wondering how hard it is to access the shift pawls and drum, if that's where the problems usually are.

Before you take anything apart, you should confirm that your shifter and clutch are adjusted properly.

Next step is: what motor oil are you running? The weight, type and brand of oil can make a very noticeable difference in shifting/clutch feel.

Clutch is perfect, cold engine, no clunk into gear, engages nicely, I can't fault that at all.
Oil, 10W40 I recall, it is worse cold but still does it hot, and the feeling I get is that the lever just sticks and wont move up. But this is intermittent, will shift ok, worst is 5th. I have to be VERY deliberate with shifts, and if I take my time, it will shift ok, can't rush anything. But it's not right. My Yamaha Virago never, ever misses a shift and the lever feels buttery smooth.

DGA wrote: Clutch is perfect, cold engine, no clunk into gear, engages nicely, I can't fault that at all.
Oil, 10W40 I recall, it is worse cold but still does it hot, and the feeling I get is that the lever just sticks and wont move up. But this is intermittent, will shift ok, worst is 5th. I have to be VERY deliberate with shifts, and if I take my time, it will shift ok, can't rush anything. But it's not right. My Yamaha Virago never, ever misses a shift and the lever feels buttery smooth.

Your Yamaha has a different transmission... The KZ transmissions are pretty clunky. It's not going to shift like a Honda, that's for sure. The fact that it changes when at all when it warms up indicates that the problem is oil related. A bent shift fork or anything else physically wrong wouldn't do that. The fact that you don't remember exactly what kind of oil is in the bike indicates to me that it's due for a change. I can vouch for Mobil 1 Delvac 1300 15W-40. Recently, lots of people have been saying that Rotella T is very good.

When you say you adjusted the clutch, did you just do it at the handlebar or did you adjust the push rod coupling on the side of the engine? If the clutch isn't fully disengaging, you will have difficulty shifting. You need to be absolutely certain that it's adjusted correctly. That is, to spec and not just "feels good".

If adjusting the clutch and changing the oil doesn't make it shift better, then I'd say you might have a bent shift fork.

No the oil was changed when I got the bike a few months ago, and I know it's Rotella, just couldn't remember the weight offhand, but am almost certain it's 10W40, which is what I use in the Yamaha. The clutch has nice free play, just a tiny bit at the lever. If the clutch was dragging and not freeing properly then it wouldn't go into gear from a standstill either, and it does that perfectly, better than the Yamaha ever does.
It has 30 K miles on the bike so it's not new, no, and I am not ruling out a fork problem. Guessing it has the typical three forks for five gears, and 5th is it's own fork? But still, a not so new fork would still shift ok, just not put that gear in as far etc, and might jump out, which this does not do. But I still feel the lever stick issue, like it's in the drum detent or ratchet somehow.

DGA wrote: No the oil was changed when I got the bike a few months ago, and I know it's Rotella, just couldn't remember the weight offhand, but am almost certain it's 10W40, which is what I use in the Yamaha. The clutch has nice free play, just a tiny bit at the lever. If the clutch was dragging and not freeing properly then it wouldn't go into gear from a standstill either, and it does that perfectly, better than the Yamaha ever does.
It has 30 K miles on the bike so it's not new, no, and I am not ruling out a fork problem. Guessing it has the typical three forks for five gears, and 5th is it's own fork? But still, a not so new fork would still shift ok, just not put that gear in as far etc, and might jump out, which this does not do. But I still feel the lever stick issue, like it's in the drum detent or ratchet somehow.

You can have correct free play at the lever and still have the clutch mis-adjusted at the push-rod. There's no way around it, you have to adjust it there if you want it to work properly. IIRC the adjustment is opposite on the shaft drive bikes. In any case, look up the procedure in the FSM for your bike and do it.

No matter where the clutch is adjusted, the end result is to get the outer plate to push free from the friction plates. The further it does that, the more the plates are free to clear each other. The goal is to use up as much of the lever travel with actually pushing the clutch plate free. There is NO crunch from a standstill on this bike, which is the worst time a misadjusted clutch will show up, when there is the most rpm difference between crank shaft and output shaft, There is little speed difference when shifting from gear to gear, both shafts are running at close to the same rpm. So how will this be a clutch problem? I don't see the logic, sorry.

There should be a clunk into first from a standstill. Look you can ruminate about it all you want, but you'll never know if its adjusted properly until you get out of your chair and check it... Are you really going to tear apart the transmission before trying these simple, routine adjustments? Weren't you hoping it would be something easy? Sheesh.

I just put a new clutch cable on my KZ1000 and adjusted the push rod and screw tonight. ... As per the FSM!
Wow!!! What a difference.
Tranny and clutch have not felt this good in years.

The procedure is in your MANUAL. Loosen the cable adjustments, set the clutch push rod screw and lock nut, then adjust your cables. Tighten it down until resistance and back off 1/8-1/4 turn.
Steve

The thing to remember is that the two adjustments in the cable has very little to do with the finite adjustment of the clutch hub, spring plate and push rod.
There must be zero pressure on the pushrod with the cable loose... No matter how loose that cable adjustment is, (you can even take the cable off!!) the real "adjustment" is in the pushrod and adjustment screw under the cover. That little gap space is wth the clutch fully locked up.

If the 1100 Spectre Shaft is like a 750 Spectre Shaft bike, mine has a hydraulic clutch release. And believe these are non adjustable. So only adjustments are in the clutch cable. I need to look in my manual. Last project on my N1Spectre 750. The shifter is a little sticky. And my new clutch cable is adjusted properly, so I'm guessing why mine is sticky between all gears, is I need new clutch disc's. This definitely isn't adjustable like an 81 750 ltd I had fixed up and sold. Where you can adjust the clutch with the lock nut and screw in the middle. Attaching diagram for an 82 Spectre 750 Shaft. Shows the hydraulic shifter assembly. I need to see if anything else is adjustable with this setup. And curious if the 1100 Spectre is hydraulic also.?