Motorcycle Repair: 1973 Honda CB450 Poor Shifting, honda cb450, clutch adjustment

Question
I'm third owner on this bike & it has about 14K on it. I only put about 1K a year at the most on it & change the oil every season at least once. It's always seemed a little "sloppy in shifting" but last night when I took it out I kept missing shifts and then once at a light I couldn't get it out of neutral. I just kept trying up and down and eventually got it, but there's definitely something amiss. It seems like it's clutching fine and I haven't heard any unusual sounds. My best description would be that the shifting is no longer "accurate."

Answer
Layton, unless the bike was really abused, 14k miles shouldn't mean the end of the life of the transmission/gear selection parts.

Couple of possibilities

Something could have loosened up in the shift selector area. You will have to pull the clutch cover and check the detent roller and shift shaft for any wear or loose parts, in the mechanism.

Go to www.cmsnl.com site for online parts lists, showing where the parts are in the exploded views.

Your clutch may be worn out or clutch plates warped, causing excessive drag when you try to disengage the clutch.

Clutch adjustment has too much slack in it. Should just be about 1/8" of free play at the lever.

Bill Silver