Hitchcocks Forum

I have two late 90s 500 Bullets (one LHS, other RHS shift) same problem with both, from new.

Changing up from 2nd to 3rd sometimes ends up in neutral, have to keep pushing pushing pushing until it eventually engages. Sometimes will slip into neutral from 3rd after hitting a pot hole, usually at roundabouts for some reason. Frustrating and dangerous stuck in neutral trying to power out of a corner.

Is this something I have to live with or is there a fix ?

I guess this has been asked many times, two out of two aint good.

PS most of the time its fine with a nice clean shift.

Toddy, late nineties Bullets and they have been like this from new, after 15 years why worry now? Ok have you tried moving the adjuster plate, sometimes this helps, sometime it doesn't. Replacing the ratchet and outer ratchet sometimes helps sometimes it doesn't. What I often have to do is build the offending tooth on the ratchet with weld to make it catch on the outer ratchet. Very fiddly and you can spend hours getting them to work if they don't want to.

They all seem to do that Sir.

I think we all suffer from this problem Toddy. Once I accepted the limitations of the gearbox and changed gear in a more steady and deliberate way I very very rarely hit the dreaded false. If I go to the front of a cue of traffic and try and make a faster get-away I can pretty much guarantee an embarrasing false neutral. I have only jumped out of gear a few times but attribute that to not engaging solidly enough. Slowly slowly catchee monkey. (4speed rh shift).

A lot of this is to do with the design of the gearbox. You just can't treat it anything like a modern gearbox. If you do get a false neutral then as you say, it doesn't want to go in at all as the revs will then be all wrong and by the time it does engage you need the lower gear again. You have to be steady and firm with changes. They will not snick like a Honda - not even close. Having said that, yours slipping out at potholes suggests that the detent may need tightening. That's the thing that holds the sellector plate in position.

I had the same problems with my 2008 iron barrel 4 speed seemed bad after jap bike riding tried the slower possertive change a bit better but still found the odd neutral or mist gear had enought bought the Indian 5speed box from our hosts 2years ago not spot on but much more re assuring big inpruvment in gear ratios and with the advantage of a neutral light much easier to get on with Atb john

They all do that sir, you'll be wantin' a pair of bigger steel toe-cap boots!

Not Enfield related but I made up a bush yesterday for the rearset gearshift on my 30 year old Honda and it transformed the whole feel of the bike with gearchanges just so smooth and a solid feel, makes it feel like a new bike again. Also after welding the reachet on my Inter gearbox it certainly made shifting far more positive

Hope this helps, It's the 2nd piece at the bottom.

http://www.realclassic.co.uk/bullet_gearbox_fix.html

Thanks for the advice,it seems I am not alone.