Well I reported it to the mechanic that I had working on the bike after the accident. He did something to the shifter. That made it worse. I was out and about and it suddenly stopped letting me up shift without stomping it. That eventually knocked something loose on the linkage, and now it's dark and I can't see well enough to see if I can fix it.
He did say the teeth on the shifter are smoothed down. The thing is, the new shifter came with its own linkage. If I can get the bike fixed enough to get it down to the shop (currently it's in 3rd gear) I can likely get the old linkage and use it until the NOS linkage that we bought yesterday gets in.
(edit)
I fixed the problem myself... I switched to the old linkage, which had better teeth to grab the shift rod, and adjusted the rod that links the pedals to that. It's shifting a lot better now, just like I've been used to.
KZs I own
1982 KZ750-H3 LTD (frame's bent, no longer rideable, RIP)
1982 KZ1100 LTD Shaft (thought it was a Spectre)
1988 KZ1000 Police
1989 KZ1000 Police (basket case)
2002 KZ1000 Police
Non-KZs:
1983 Hondamatic 450
2001 Honda Rebel
I don't understand soup. Put a flower on my nose.