Hi,

I have just bought a 2003 Pampera mk3 and it has a really stiff and notchy gear change. It’s the same engine as fitted to the early non-Pro TXT’s. Can anyone advise on possible cause and fix for this? The shaft doesn’t appear to be visibly bent from initial inspection (without removal).

I have drained the oil (which was low) and filled with 650ml Putoline Light Gear Oil which hasn’t made an initial difference.

The Pampera clutch can be very sticky and the plates can quite easily get distorted with misuse/overheating causing drag etc.  My other half replaced the clutch on hers and it went from being a pig to a joy on the gear change, so if it were me I'd start by looking at that.  Maybe take it for a good ride to get it properly hot and then do a second oil change before opening it up, though.

Thanks for your reply.

The clutch was sticking badly when I got it so I drained the oil, removed the clutch plates and cleaned them up. There was nowhere near the full amount of oil came out of it, the friction plates do look a bit ‘battle scarred’ in places and the steel plates were stained up pretty badly. After cleaning up and replacing with fresh oil the clutch stick and drag seems to have gone although I’ve only briefly ridden it. Gear change is still the same though, really notchy and stiff. So much so that upchanges have to be done with my heel.

Could this be down to the clutch plates?

When we got my other half's one the plates were warped - with a couple of oil changes it still dragged a little, so she just bit the bullet and changed the whole lot and cleaned up the basket at the same time.  I'm afraid I don't know about the shifting mechanism in them because we didn't have to touch that since everything worked well with the new clutch

Thanks for sharing …. I’ll give it a good run before doing anything else and see if it sorts itself out now 👍

Thanks once again for your input - the problem is now sorted out. A previous owner has fitted a gear change lever that is too short, probably because they had also had the footrests moved back. I have now fitted the correct lever which is a good 30-40mm longer and ‘hey presto’, combined with the clutch cleanup and fresh oil the gear change is now fine.

What is wrong with some people……. 🙄😆

It's great that you sorted it, but that cause is really out of left field!

BTW keep the rear suspension dogbones well lubed because new ones are rare as rocking horse poo, apart from that they're a fab bike so I hope you enjoy the hell out of yours

Thanks for the tip! 👍