Hello, I have a 2002 sherco 250 and have recently had a problem selecting first gear.

It started off by every so often just slipping out of first while riding along or when selecting first only finding neutral. After a while though it's gotten worse and now i will rarely be able to actually get it into first. All other gears seem to work fine and I had recently changed the oil.

Any help or ideas on the problem will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

you will need to remove side casing and inspect gear selector and drum parts if nothing wrong there you will need to split engine

Not to disagree with the yorkshire sherco expert, I may only add if you are still getting proper "feel" of catch on the lever detent and such and one cannot even hold it in position to enguage gear, I would suspect a bent shift fork, and due to operating it this way for a while, the actual cogs may be damaged by rounding off the enguagement points on the gears themselves as they must slide together.

All said, if you are not sure about this type stuff, send it off to your dealer for a refresh.

Check that your gear lever isn't hitting the bashplate when trying to select 1st, the lever seems to have more travel to select 1st gear than changing down to any other gear.

If this is the case then the selector shaft has twisted at the built in weak point just behind the pawl plate most likely due to either stomping on the gear lever or a big crash where the lever has been snagged.

Happened to my 99 & 01 when I had them, shaft is easy to replace & fairly cheap- a lot cheaper than having to do anything to the inside of the gearbox

Thanks to everyone for your replies, I think the problem hopefully will just be the gear lever hitting the bash plate so will take it off tonight to see, if not looks like I'll be splitting the engine.

Thanks again to everyone.

Took the gear lever off and moved it round a bit and in doing so managed to successfully select first gear so I'm guessing this does confirm that my selector shaft is twisted. Just before I go ahead and start work to replace it, does anyone know how hard a job it is/ does it require any special tools/ will I have to remove my engine from the bike? Any further help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again, chimp022

To replace the shaft you need to remove the clutch assembly & sidecover, it slides out easily

Most people should be able to do it in under an hour, no special tools needed if you have access to a rattle gun for the clutch nut

Alright, thats quite relieving to hear :-D thanks very much for such a quick response.

Alright, thats quite relieving to hear :-D thanks very much for such a quick response.

I've taken out the selector shaft but as far as I can see it doesn't look very twisted at all, is it likely to be visibly twisted?

If it's the part I'm thinking of (the internal shaft connected to your gear lever with a pawl arm on the opposite end) check the weld on the end for cracks, it causes weird gear selection problems if it's been whacked?

The twisting occurs in the slot behind the pawl rather than along the main part of the shaft, that's where the shaft I snapped broke

I believe it has been designed like that to prevent internal gearbox damage etc, the pawl even stays where it is when this happens

Still couldn't see anything noticeable on the selector shaft but put it in the vice and tried twisting it, put it back in the bike and I can now get first gear! Thanks to everyone who helped.

Cheers, Andrew.

Lurvelly,

keep your feet up.