Maybe your feet are bigger and you don't have the problem.. Regardless, your response seems quite condescending and uncalled for since you clearly don't want to comprehension of the situation..

Tooter may have had to do the same thing I have to do. I have a size seven foot. I have to get my heel part way on the peg to shift. With my foot on the peg in position like a size 9 or 10 foot person might be, arch on the peg, the shifter will be off the end of my shoe, won't even hit it. If a shorten shifter is used the travel is reduced but the effort to shift increased . I altered shifters on the MX bike and short tracker where I was a lot harder shifting, but with the stock shifters, the shifter travel and shifting effort becomes significantly shorter and higher respectively. On the street bike and dual sport I stayed with the stock shifters because I'm not wearing heavy boots and don't want to be hammering the shifter all the time.

Tooter found what works for him. I just continue to put my heel on the peg to shift. The bikes are built for riders with foot size from around 9-12. Riders with big feet will often complain and ask about getting longer shifters, Many will do the XR650L aftermarket shifter for a bit longer shifter to get their foot under it.

On the dual sport the shifter is a bit high to suit wearing MX boots, but I still have to lift my foot to shift up and down. No simple rocking of the foot, like riders who have the average size foot.

 

I frequently go clutchless with the 250 and sometimes with the XSR. With the smaller feet, I deal with less leverage from having to get my heel at least part way up on the peg to move my foot to shift. Leverage is not optimum and sometimes shifts are missed. I don't know if moving the shifter on the splines will help you I know it made a difference when I was able to adjust shifters when the bike had linkage to make micro-adjusting possible. Moving one full spline tooth is quite a change in comparison. With stiffer boots I can upshift with a leg lift versus rocking my ankle. but not quite so easy with regular shoes when riding general street riding.

When looking at the shift star and thinking about past bikes where I've seen the mechanisms, the 250 star has a pretty big detent area for neutral, requiring a bit more precise movement when shifting. If the neutral detent was smaller the ramps to either side would be a bit longer allowing a bit more "room for error" with less missed shifts, but harder to get in neutral.

I have cut and welded a shifter to locate in between what a full spline tooth would be on my old Suzuki TM125. Definitely helped. Cut about 1/2" out of the shifter on the Sherpa S, Bultacos had a long throw, so it was just getting it more in the right range on the short tracker. You could post a question about the XR650L aftermarket shifter to see if it kind of does that too. It might give that slight difference that can make a big difference.

 

I heel shift too.

You know you got me to thinking... my Grom had a little stubby shift lever. I ordered one just to see if it works. I'll let you know.

 

You've never test ridden a bigger CC bike at a dealer or demo event or anything just to see what it's like? There's whole load of excellent machines that you're missing out on, just saying. It's always good to get that extra perspective.

 

I said that to him in jest because one time I said that the KLX250 is a slow bike (which objectively it is) and "then you bought the wrong bike" is what he said to me.

 

For the record the Honda XR650L shifter is not longer. I just sent one back two days ago, because I ordered it after reading about it on here, and then I removed my stock shift lever and put them side by side and they were the exact same.

Also, the shifter on the KLX is adjustable as low as you want it to go. Saying it's set high doesn't make a whole lot of sense when it's just a screw that you remove to set it as low as you would like. Have you tried adjusting it at the spline? If you're shorter than you probably sit up on the tank more, which means your knee angle would probably benefit from having the shifter adjusted into a lower position.

 

Yes. I've ridden friends' larger bikes. I'm 5'5" and 138 pounds so smaller bikes are more comfortable for daily use. I don't need much power to get me around. I even rode a little 50cc Ruckus for years.

 

My bad... shoulda used an emoji. Sarcasm and inside jokes don't translate well in print...

 

Someone makes a longer shift lever, I remember posts about it here. Here is a link to the conversation in Thumper Talk, appears MSR carries a lever for the XR that is 7/8" longer than the KLX shifter click here

As for adjustment, splines really rotate too much in most cases that I've experienced. Figure if the shaft has 10 splines that means there will be 36° rotation moving one spline. That's a lot, too much in most cases for me. Be nice if they had a linkage in it like virtually all sport bikes and a lot of street bikes do, giving the ability to make a couple degrees rotation changes. But the extra complexity and cost on a dual sport must not be worth it, although I think the Kaw KLX140 has linkage.

 

Ruckus bikes are a blast! I'm sure that one has provided you with many smiles.

When it comes to the Internet, and (frackin' awful...all of them suck as a way to share info) forums as a way to communicate "not-in-person", assume the best from folks. It just isn't worth it to get dragged down over a psuedo person. Still, we all get sucked into making more of harmless humorous intent.

With regard to the shifting, I should have thought to ask about a shorter foot not actually reaching the lever. Sorry about that. A longer lever may reach your shorter foot, but will require a longer throw to up and down shift. It is an interesting problem that others may be able to help provide a solution for. I would think that a larger diameter end (like in a previous photo) would make things worse, as the rider would have to move that smaller foot much higher/lower to access the lever. I know that I wouldn't like it. Is there an option to (if you can't being the lever to you, bring you to the lever) move the pegs forward?