125 Slipping out of gear

[rossw]

Disclaimer, this bike is an Apollo/CHonda ;-) The engine is a replica of an older Honda I don't know which one "yet".

Anyways...

Just got this last fall. Have been out on it a dozen times, actually my son.

Today it starting slipping into neutral. Seems to do it when not under load, when I let off on the gas for a second. Seemed to happen more as the engine warms up, maybe or it could be my imagination.

I am running fully synthetic Shell Rotella T6. I have been running this since the start of the year and have been out 2 previous times without any slippage.

If you pull in the clutch and tap it back into gear it goes again... sometimes for only a few hundred feet though :-(

I verified the chain tension, clutch cable.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Ross

 

[Marilius]

Hey Rossw,

My 230 was starting to doing this, here's what i found out:

1. Oil could be low.
2. Oil is old.
3. Your Bike doesn't like the Type of Oil you are using. synthetic VS Reg. This normally is the case if you changed from one to the other.
4. Gearshift Cam could be worn down.(star shaped doohicky)make sure it looks good and the corners aren't rounded off or anything.
5. Gearshift Plate could be bent.

lucky for me it was because the Oil was a little low due to a log day of riding.

Hope this helps

 

[rossw]

Ryan, thank you very much for the reply and info. Some great info there!

I have changed the oil once already and that did not help, I went from Shell Rotella T6 to Shell Rotella T. I am going to try one more change tonight to something completely different and cross my fingers.

I have checked the level many times and it is good, was also good when it initially happened.

I would have to open the engine to look at the gearshift cam or plate... and that is not something I think I am not comfortable doing on my own but maybe after a couple more sleeps I may be willing to entertain ;-)

 

[Marilius]

Hey Ross

I would have to open the engine to look at the gearshift cam or plate... and that is not something I think I am not comfortable doing on my own but maybe after a couple more sleeps I may be willing to entertain

From what i have read it's an easy job, however i have not done this myself just something i read when i was looking into it. Also if they do need to be replace it's only going to cost ya about $30-60 in parts.

Here's the link to one of the forums that i found helpful. One of the post list off more links to other post with info, some of them are old so they don't work but they are all safe to open.

https://www.thumpertalk.com/forums/topi ... ng-issues/

 

[rossw]

Quick update, I came to the conclusion that something was wrong internally and I was not comfortable removing the clutch.

I took it to a shop and he confirmed my suspicion. He was able to identify a loose bolt behind the clutch. He applied Loctite and should be good.

 

[zedro]

Just a caution with oils, stick with JASO MA oils, they are designed for wet clutches. Some Rotella products have the rating, others don't. Friction modifiers on high efficiency oils can ruin some clutches.