I think I might have a major problem here. Help please!

Question

I just bought a 97 CBR F3 yesterday, my first street bike, and took it out for a long ride today. While I was cruising home and pulled into my apartment complex, I pulled the clutch in and downshifted to 1st. All of a sudden it felt like something inside of the engine just dropped and then it felt like something was holding the bike back. Then I shifted to second and it still felt like something was holding the bike. Then I tried shifting back into 1st and it would not engage. I parked it for several hours and then went to check on it. When I started it, all seemed to be ok again. I drove it around the complex for a few minutes and it was all good. What the heck?!?!?! HELP!!!!

Answer 1

believe it or not check the wires at your kick stand.

Answer 2

i agree with dragon lore it sounds like a clutch problem

Answer 3

Change your spark plugs sounds like you dropped a cylinder. then it started sparking again. or could be an ignition coil it would affect 2 cylinders.  

Answer 4

sound like the clutch was sticky when hot. check the adjustment and also the shift linkage, you may need a new clutch pack. easy to replace.  

Answer 5

Some bikes won't go into first gear unless you are going less than about 10MPH. You can force it in gear but it will obviously slow you down like engine braking would.

Were the RPMs high when you shifted into first. How fast were you going during all this? It may just be a normal reaction to mismatching speed to RPMs.

Answer 6

It's possible that something broke inside your transmission and wound up interfering with the shifting plate or cam or whatever is in a CBR transmission..

This happened on my old triumph, making it occasionally refuse to shift  and pop out of first and second gears for a few months until whatever had broken made its way into some of the gear teeth and proceeded to completely destroy my transmission.

Drain your transmission, motor and primary oil (if it has a wet primary) and examine it for metal debris (especially the transmission oil which should be clear and yellow (no combustion contaminates the transmission oil, so it does not require a filter, nor does it get dirty unless there is a seal leak from the primary case or something is wearing out unusually quickly.

Also, note that transmission oil should have a very unique smell, kind of between sulfur and pine sap (that's the best description I can think of). Make sure this type of gear oil was used, it is very important in protecting the case hardening of the transmission gears, especially with the close tolerances in a sports bike. (Refer to your manual to make sure I'm correct that gear oil is actually used, I could be wrong).

As far as the suggestion that it could be a sticky clutch, the clutch is often the cause of problems shifting from 2->N or 1->N->2  and a slipping clutch can make your bike feel like it has lost power (especially at the higher RPM), You should have an experienced rider with some mechanical experience take your bike out.

On a separate note, as a general rule with big street bikes, you should not shift into first gear while moving. Some bikes even prevent you from shifting into first unless you're completely stopped.

Going into 1 while moving is very hard on the transmission, secondary shaft, it's connecting sprocket and the final drive chain. This is why Neutral was moved to the half step between first and second gears (some older bikes, like my first, a 67 Kawasaki A1, shifted N->1->2->3)