Hi

I have a 2012 XT660ZA, and on a 300-350km trip this weekend, I experienced trouble the last 50-100km where the bike first wouldn't shift down from 2nd gear - neither to neutral or 1st gear. After another 15-20 minutes, it got worse, where it was getting real hard to get it to shift from 3rd to 2nd. The pedal is moving down, but with no "resistance" or shifting taking place, it just freely moves down when pushing it, and then bounces back up. After several attempts, engaging/disengaging clutch, it eventually shifts down.

Any tips to what this could be, and how to fix it? A friend with a 2009 (no abs) had more or less the same issue on his bike about 6-12 months ago, and after a lengthy stay at the shop, they claimed it was fixed by replacing the shiftlever... Which of course makes no sense at all, seeing as it was gripping fine on the external bolt from the transmission. They did however disassemble and reassemble the entire transmission and clutch, so my guess is that they "accidently" fixed the real issue in that process, not knowing what they did, and then just replaced the lever afterwards.

I still have a year left of the manufacturer warranty, so I could of course just bring it in to the shop, but that takes time...

It could well be that they replaced the shift shaft and associated bits such as the stopper lever arm and bearing which are known to cause problems. I suspect yours might/could be something to with the shift shaft assembly.

Anyhow...

...Yes it takes time, but if you're still in warranty, use it! If owners don't take their bikes in a get things fixed under warranty then the dealers never record the faults, which in turn means they never get back to Yamaha. By taking your bike in to the dealer you could be indirectly helping other owners in the long run and also Yamaha to improve their products.

__________________

It could be a broken shift spring, this happened to me at about 16,000 miles on my XTZ.
It's a long job for such a small,and cheap part �2.80 for the genuine yamaha part.
Sorry for the non tech reply, I hope this is some help.

Thanks guys.

Having done a few short trips more, it seems to be more willing to shift down if I increase the revs slightly, it's definitily worse on idle. I've done the usual checks on oil (recently changed), chain slack etc.

The point on possible feedback to Yamaha is a good one, guess I'll have to give them a call and see when they can take a look. Thanks again.