Motorcycle Repair: my bike wont go into gear, honda motorcycle, tabatha

Question
I have a 1993 model Z50R Honda Motorcycle, 50cc, automatic. It will start and will run but it won't go into gear. Do you have any ideas on what could be causing this?

Answer
Tabatha, there are a few things that could cause it.  You could have a bent shifter shaft.  You could have a gear frozen to the main or counter shaft inside the transmission. The shift drum could be stuck from lack of use or from being damaged. If you can't get it to break free by working the shift level up and down while rocking the bike forward and backward, it's most likely inside the engine and will need some level of disassembly to diagnose and fix.

Regards
Rich