Hitchcocks Forum

Hi ... I hope that someone may have some suggestions for this problem. My 2015 B5 has done just on 10,000 km. On downshifting from 3rd to 2nd it goes into neutral. 2nd can be selected by lifting the lever with a bit of a clunk. From the 'neutral' where 2nd should be it is difficult to select 1st. This has become a real concern on a recent trip on steep sharp corners where suddenly there is no drive. I'd appreciate your suggestions/remedies. It is also difficult (and takes some time) to find the 'real' neutral when this problem occurs.

In the early half of 2013 the gear-box was modified to improve cam plate indexing and stop problems associated with missed gears...


What is the bike's VIN number? Have you owned the bike from new?


It is a known 'problem' so you may want to talk nicely to your dealer/importer to see if they will come to the party?




A feature that I dislike about the UCE is that you have to strip the entire engine to get to the gearbox...

I purchased the bike new in April 2016. The VIN is ME3CKEDT5FK002574. Unfortunately, I don't have much confidence in the mechanical ability of the dealers I've met. They seem to be basically salesmen.

A few seconds with a spanner might be all it needs. There is a spring loaded arm which indexes the gearbox selector camplate and this can become stuck on its' pivot bolt, which luckily has its' head on the outside of the engine casing, behind the starter motor. Just crack this loose half a turn or so and wiggle it back and for with a spanner [17mm, I think] and if this was your problem, doing this should free it off. Just tighten the bolt again and hopefully you should be good to go. Here is a video i made showing this fault, but taken just before i disturbed the pivot bolt, but it should give you an idea of what is happening, fingers crossed!... https://youtu.be/7W6A25TAI98

I had thought that maybe you might have bought 'Old Stock' Your bike was made in 2015, and will have been fitted with Upgraded selector parts from new.


The bolt that Paul refers to is one of the parts that was upgraded...


Worth giving it a try.

Thanks for the help Tim and Paul. The youtube video shows the mechanism clearly so thanks for the effort in putting it online. After I've done as suggested I'll test and advise of the result.

Just had a chance to do a test ride after a number of days of atrocious weather. The gear change problem still seems to be present after loosening and tightening the pivot bolt. How loose can I/should I make this bolt to free up the arm if it is the problem? To date I have taken it about 1 turn and moved it back and forth.

Try with the machine in different gears, but 1 turn of the pivot bolt should be more than enough to free a stuck index arm, if that is causing the problem. I only had to move the one in the video by a little more than one flat of the head and there was a click as the arm freed and moved under spring pressure back into position.

I was finally able to take the bike for a decent run yesterday (this time of year is too hectic). I had loosened the bolt by 1/2 a turn and run it through all gears and then retightened. The kick down to 2nd was working well but after about 30 mins reverted to it's bad behaviour by going to neutral. It seems that the spring loaded arm may be becoming 'stuck' again. I don't really want to dismantle the entire engine for this problem so may have to treat it as a Royal Enfield peculiarity. Would I be able to identify the problem if I dismantled it?

I suppose you could crack the bolt undone and leave it like that - it shouldn't wind itself out - but don't attempt to remove it, or you will have to strip the engine to sort the resultant mess. The spring loaded arm pivots on this bolt and it is too tight a fit on it, that is the basic problem. Regards, Paul.