Hello all and thank you in advance for the responses this is an invaluable web site. ok so heres the issue, when shifting from 3rd to 4th on the upshift dosent happen on the downshift. 4th gear does'nt engage all it does is make an absolutley horrid grinding noise. my first thought was either bent shift fork or maybe a gear problem. i'm the second owner bike has 7,700 miles on it its a 2003 954RR I was reading back a while someones bike was haveing either a 5th or 4th gear problem (thinking to myself oh thank god I dont have that problem) So here I am with a shift problem.... Any help greatly appreciated..

Sounds like bad syncros!! i don't think that the part is expensive but the labor is.

Synchros?
I'm not aware of synchros in any motorcycle boxes.
It's either worn dogs or a worn/bent fork.
If it works fine on the downshift my guess would be the fork but the "horrid grinding noise" is hammering the crap out of the dogs.

thats what i was thinking on my old bike i had the dogs remachined (1985 Interceptor) and after that the gearbox was beautiful. I could easily take this lil' project but I would rather have a mechanic deal with the hair pulling and swearing for me...... done enuff of that...

You could probably ride it for years just by revving third a little further and skipping through fourth straight to fifth. I've had to race with a blown fourth gear. Some racers I know pull the clutch while braking and smack the box down four gears or more before letting the clutch out.
On the 929 I rarely get above third in town anyway.

yea the same way i dont even make it into 4th on the street but i usually take it to 6th just because of the lower revs. another thing is i noticed if say for instance i wanted to shift gears from a stop, say i just turned my bike on if i have the clutch in i will be unable to shift to first unless i let the clutch out and let the transmission spin or i roll the bike forward or backward then i can shift into 1st which is something i find interesting beacuse every bike ive ridden i have never had to get the trans to spin before i shift into 1st. i also noticed this same issue up in the gears too say im coming up to stopped lanes of traffic and i downshift two gears but i dont engage clutch but still roll with no power then decide to drop one more gear it just wont do it unless i let the clutch out and spin the trans in the current gear. also i hear my throwout bearing really rattling in there, also any one else who has a 954 tell me is your motor really loud i mean i hear the valve train ticking away not excessivly but loud enough that i notice it between 3,000-6,000 then it goes away.

I can't recall ever having to rock a bike to shift into first with the engine running although I have occasionally experienced it in cars. Now and then you might have to rock it to get into first or second with the engine off but that's not unusual.
I don't use the clutch so I don't know about the other issue.
How long have you had the bike?
Has it done this ever since you've owned it?
It almost sounds like the input shaft isn't spinning as freely as it should.
Maybe it's the input shaft bearings rather than the clutch bearing?
The clutch bearing will make the noise when you release the load on it even when it's not in gear.
The input shaft bearing should quieten down when it's in gear I would think. It could just as easily be quiet under load and get worse in neutral though.

im the second owner i bought it with 5100 miles and no im at 7800.
no the problem has just started to occur recently with in 500 miles.
i have taken the cover off the primary gear to see about the tension issues.(by rotating the primary in first and in neutral barely any slop and smooth as butter) the sound stops when in gear but when in neutral thats when i get the sound.(while the trans is spinning freely) i guess i just have to eat it and go to the shop and have them crack it open to see at $140/hour!!!!!

I dont beat the crap outa her i have only taken her above 7,000rpm only a few times, shes fast enough i dont have to slap gears.all of my bikes i take meticulous care of, call me obsessive. the wifey knows i have a mistress in the garage.

hows the weather out that way ive been seeing about making it out there you know sightseeing and all maybe in 2009 sometime + i just love that wonderful land of OZ

It really sounds like the guy who owned it before you was really hard on the clutch and trans. If you've done it before, I say you can do it again. Your going to have to take the trans appart and replace all bad parts and get new clutch discs, friction and steel. The labor for something like this might be more than the bike is worth if you tried paying someone to do it. Transminssion work is not really technical, just lots of nuts and bolts.
BTW, Been up on Alpine Rd yet???

i love alpine the goat roads are my favorite. although there is alot of gravel out there and plus the bike is too dang fast for that road but i just love cruising down it. have you been down what is that kings mountain rd. just after allices. or the south end of skyline.
if i ride really really easy and shift seamlessly i dont experience the issue. and then on top of it all one of my neighbors came by last night (fire in the apartment next to me) and told me some kid was jumping on the gear shift and twisting my throttle (imagining riding i guess)
i cant wait to find the knee biter i think i might have my new trans right there. yea i have done truck and car automatic and manual transmissions its not hard at all but i dont have a garage or a lift my hands are kinda tied there i was thinking about snagging up a used trans from someones blown motor sitting in the for sale section and swaping and remachining if needed.

7800 miles is barely even run in so it shouldn't be showing any engine problems yet.
How long ago did you dump the oil? Did it show any silvering?

We've been having some _very_ cold evenings and early mornings the last few weeks - maybe even as low as 10C - brrrrr ;-)
Some mornings I've even had to wind up the car windows!
Was helping a mate pull his engine and gearbox out of his 4x4 this arvo during a serious thunderstorm that flooded his carport and yard several inches deep in thirty minutes so we had to stop as soon as we got it on the ground.
Going back tomorrow to put the new one back in.

If you do get down here I'm on the west coast. About 4000kms from Melbourne and 5000kms from Sydney and Darwin.

Nice!
I live about 5 miles from the base of Hwy 9. Lived in this area my whole life. Ya, Kings Mountain is O.K..
I've been up on Alpine the last couple of weeks on my Goldwing (Don't laugh). Almost no gravel to speak of and the stuff that stuck has lots of traction.
Wanna race down Alpine? I'll use the wing.
Just kidding.
But your bike ain't too fast for the road, you just need more conditioning.
Hey, you interested in some Forged Magnisium Marchesini wheels? (Only for the track)

no no metal in the oil, so you are like in the dead center huh i heard the west coast is the best looking over there. thats alot of water in 30 mins must be monsoon season? seat heater would be nice on those cold mornings i wouldnt buy a car with out them from now on im spoiled i just heard cadillac just came out with air conditioned leather seats i want it sooooo bad. nothing like getting seared on leather....