Motorcycle Repair: Shifter Pedal, honda vt750c, car mechanic

Question
I bought a 1983 Honda VT750C Shadow about 6 months ago. One day when I was riding it the shifter pedal dangled free. What I mean is you can move it up and down and the bike doesn't shift into any gears. I turned the bike off and now I can't get it started because the bike isn't in neutral. The shifter pedal just dangles freely and can move in all positions from the position that it would be in to down shift to the position it would be in when it up shift,and all positions in between. I just want to know what the possible causes for this would be and possible fixes, I'm a car mechanic and I know the differences of a motorcycle and a car but with a shop manual like I have I'm sure I could figure it out. Thank you

Answer
It sounds like the linkage between the shaft the pedal attaches to and the shift drum has disengaged. I'm not sure if the cover(s) that need to be removed to access the linkage (commonly a pair of gear segments) can be taken off without removing the engine from the frame, but I'm sure the folks at the Honda Shadow Resource Center will and they will be more than happy to share their knowledge with you http://hondashadow.net/forum/