Motorcycle Repair: Sticking Gears, honda shadow 750, slave cylinders

Question
The gears on my Honda Shadow 750 (1982) are sticking.  When I first start riding the gears are almost impossible to shift.  When I hold the clutch in on first gear, the bice tries to take off each time I rev the engine.  After riding for a while the gears become easy to shift, but after the bike sits for a couple of days the gears stick again.  What is the problem and what do I do about it?

Answer
The clutch is dragging and not releasing.  It puts pressure on the dogs in the transmission and makes it hard to shift.  You either need to add fluid to the reservoir, bleed the air out of the system or rebuild the master and slave cylinders. I'd try the first two first before diving to a rebuild.

Good luck
Rich