Q: Hello Noddy. I know you’ve a lot of experience with race bikes so I thought I’d run this past you?
My 2012 Kawasaki ZX-10 will not stay in fifth gear. I only use the bike for track days and the other day at Kyalami it started to jump out of fifth and into a sort of neutral.
Unfortunately the bike is now out of warranty so I thought I’d ask your advice before I start to tear the engine to pieces, and myself because hopefully it won’t be too expensive?
Stuart Pingleton Jo’burg
A: First of all I’d take out the clutch assembly and have a look around and behind the clutch basket. I’ve heard of the shifter pawls and the shafts around it becoming ‘burred’ and/or loose, respectively.
So have a good hunt there to start with.
If not, you can remove the gearbox without splitting the engine because it’s of a cassette type. Have a look at the male and female selecting and locating dogs on fifth gear, which runs with or into third gear. If they’re damaged or worn you’ll have to replace both gears or have them undercut by a professional machine shop only! I think these will be the primary reasons behind your fifth gear worries, especially if you use/fitted a quick shifter that hasn’t been set up correctly?
