Hitchcocks Forum

Can anyone suggest the most likely cause of my 2007 (4 speed, right-hand change) 350 Bullet slipping out of 1st gear into neutral? It happens under the gentlest of acceleration or no acceleration at all. I've had the foot control mechanism apart and tried adjusting the stop plate to no avail. The bike has done about 6 thousand miles according to the speedo. If I keep pressure under the gear-change lever by not releasing my foot the slipping out of gear doesn't happen. I've experimented by adjusting the neutral-finding lever, again to no avail.

Any thoughts would be gratefully received.

First thing, make sure the detent spring is tight enough. Its the plunger that keeps the selector from moving when it shouldn't.

Sounds like worn 1st gear dogs. The wear causes a slope to form on the dogs & then they repel under load.

The Redditch manual says that slipping out of 4th and 1st can be corrected by adjusting what the Indian parts book calls the inner ratchet plate, Indian part number 110253. I recently had real problems with exactly this problem on a Series 2 Interceptor which of course, has the same Albion gearbox design. I could get it better but not completely right. I tried replacing all sorts of parts but eventually discovered (by comparing parts with other boxes,) that the inner ratchet plate I was using had slightly shorter "teeth". I swapped this plate for one with longer teeth and the problem was solved. The Redditch manual actually suggests filing these teeth if you have difficulty engaging gears and this may have happened to mine in it's previous life in the USA but on close examination I suspect it was actually a slight variation in manufacturing tolerances and so it had always been like that. Which might explain all the butchery and extra washers I discovered when I stripped it that some poor soul had inserted in the mechanism to try and get it to work!

REgards, Mark

Thanks to PeteF, Cleggy and MarkM for responses. I'm hoping adjustment of the detente spring/plunger will cure the problem. I'd no idea what it was until PeteF referred to it. Careful reading of the 5 parts of Technical Notes on the Albion gearbox has enlightened me. My ignorance isn't surprising since the spring/plunger isn't shown on the gearbox diagram in the manual or on Hitch's parts books online diagrams. The expertise available via the Message Board Technical Notes is enormously impressive and invaluable.

Hi Himself,when adjusting detent plunger make sure that the screwdriver slot is locked in the horizontal position,(ie 3/9 o'clock) this makes shore that the 'chisel end'is in the correct position to mesh with the seletor ratchet teeth.

No luck. Adjusted the detente plunger in gradually as far as it would go but still slpping out of gear. Might experiment with ratchet mech before taking gearbox to pieces.

Worth try anyway.

If you're lucky, it might the ratchet in the gear change, but if it's done 6000 miles and then this happens, usually gonna be worn dogs. BTW, there ain't a detent plunger spring in the whole world strong enough to hold it in first gear.

I am probably barking up the wrong tree here but is there interference between the gear lever and the footrest? From the images I can see on t’interwebnet this is probably not the case but maybe if a non- standard lever has been fitted……? The interference may not be there until adjustment of the primary chain is carried out. Adam