Hey all,

I have a quick question about the '09 shift lever. Is there supposed to be play laterally? I had a tip over on asphalt yesterday (more on that in a second) and I ended up bending the shift lever. When I bent it back in place to ride home, I noticed it moves from where the shaft is flush with the mounting hole to about a quarter inch out. Is this normal?

Now for the frustrating story. After an awesome ride in the dirt, a friend and I went to look at a bike another friend is going to buy. When we were about to leave, I sat on my bike an noticed my shoelace was looped over my shift lever. Wanting to correct the problem before I took off, I put my right foot down to try and reach the shoelace. I wasn't able to reach, so I tried to slide my foot off, and when I did the lace caught the shift lever and there was nothing I could do. I had to fall with the bike. Not too much damage considering the impact. I bent the shift lever, broke the clutch lever, and I think I also bent the stock bars slightly. The case is scratched on the side where the shift lever scraped across it. At least the bike runs fine and I didn't get hurt. I am still pretty mad though, especially about the case being scratched. I can't do anything about it now!

I thought I would share my story as it taught me a valuable lesson!

 

Mine moves a little bit, in and out, and up and down, not a quarter inch. I'd just call it a little sloppy, but it's enough that I have always meant to check it out more.

 

Cool thanks, I'll see how the new one mounts as soon as it comes in. I stripped the bolt on my old lever when I took it off so I am out of service until it comes in...

 

My '07 had a loose bolt that holds the lever on. Several others on the forum had the same problem. I'm guessing that yours was tight since you stripped the bolt but you never know. Good Luck!

 

And the lesson learnt? .... don't wear lace up boots

 

Lockwired the bolt that holds the lever on. Not getting caught out bush with no shifter. I've lost a shifter in the past. "Not happy Jan!"

 

Also inspect that it isn't too bent. That thing is like soft butter. You can bend it with your bare hands. Mine got bent in on a crash and gouged by sidecase. I fixed it with some JB Weld (see my recent thread). I'm not too fond of the stock lever for this reason.

 

Yeah it's pretty soft. I was able to bend it with two pairs of vice grips, but the threads on the bolt it is secured with stripped when I took off the lever. My side case is gouged pretty bad, but it is probably not worth the cost to replace it at this point.

 

Tyler: JB Weld that mug. Go check out that thread I made a few days ago. Patched a gnarly chunk I had lost and it looks great. Unless you're looking for it, you won't even see where it was.

 

My case didn't chunk out like that, it is more of a deep scratch going from the bottom half way up the side of the case. I think I will still try a patch job with JB Weld. It can't look an worse than it does now! Thanks for the advice!