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Shifter height adjustment - Proper procedure?

22K views 20 replies 11 participants last post by  kryton 
#1 ·
Can I get some advice from someone who has actually done it with success? I have done a search and found quite a few debates between rotating the shift shaft crank and adjusting the connecting rod.

I just got some boots and it's very difficult to shift. I'd like to make the adjustment without causing more problems.


Thanks in advance!
 
#2 ·
Rotate the shift lever on the splines. Do not adjust shift linkage. It will cause shifting problems. The linkage must be parallel to function properly
 

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#14 ·
The steel toed boots are your basic problem. Steel toed boots are for construction sites, not riding motorcycles. the soles are too thick and the toes are too high and hard to operate the shifter with any kind of precision and feel. You need a lot more ankle flex than should be needed for shifting.
 
#6 ·
Just bought a used 2007 Rebel 2 days ago and I'm having the same problem. I'm going to try it when I get home, hopefully it works. I'm not saying ladies aren't mechanically inclined but I'm certainly not! :frown:

I'll come back to this thread and update on how I do!

Nelis Perez
Linden, NJ
2007 Honda Rebel (250)
 
#10 ·
If you try and adjust it by the linkage, it makes it so your toe moves the actual shift lever more in one direction and not enough in the other.
Which direction is too much and which is not enough depends on whether you tightened or loosed the linkage as compared to parallel.
Either way, it leads to shifting difficulty.
That linkage it there because the Rebel has forward foot controls conpared to "standard" riding position. The leverage has to be evenly distributed as it would be if the toe lever was directly attached to the shift shaft.
On "standards" that have the toe lever directly attached, you would have no option but to pull it off its splines and move up or down a spline or two.

Pulling the bolt, sliding off the rear linkage and rotating a spline or two is also a lot easier that aligning the linkage anyway. Rotating a spline or two is as easy as a ten minute job including a five minute coffee break.


Here's Cagie's excellent drawing of the linkage alignment. It show how misaligned one way or the other limits the shifter throw.
 

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#13 ·
Welcome Bufftub. you are correct. Bear in mind the rear bolt has to be all the way out before the thing will come off the splines there is a grove in the splined shaft.
 
#16 ·
One of the first things I am going to do with a new motorcycle or a new to me motorcycle is to get the rear brake and gear shifter where it is comfortable for me, the last thing I want to do is to have to hunt for either one. Same way with the clutch and front brake lever.
 
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#19 ·
@01-7700 could you repost that last pic larger, can't read anything on it and zooming in shows it just pixilated... THX
 
#21 ·
It's a 4 bar linkage (the 4th bar is the frame as a fixed mount point for the 2 lever arms and the free bar linking them) and the "best" "most efficient" operation is when the thrust vector is perpendicular to the lever arm(s), though it does work at other angles which is why a crank-arm on a steam engine works.
(click on the picture to see it in motion...)
 

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