ducatipaso.org

I have trouble putting my Bike in first gear when the motor is cold. I can put it in second and go ride untill the motor warms up and then I have no problem shifting into first. Any ideas what causes this? It sure would be nice eliminate this problem.

Thanks
Mark

What oil are you using if its synthetic try a semi synth or mineral, made a lot of differance on mine

I am using Mobil One V-Twin synthetic oil. I will change to a mineral oil and see if it helps.

Thanks
Mark

Gidday Mark,

The changing gets easier when the oil warms up because it's less thick and sticky then. Switching to a lighter SAE grade should make it a lot easier. I use fully synthetic Pennzoil 5w-50 in my Paso. Thinner oils also get rid of heat better, which should suit an oil-cooled motor.

Incidentally, I changed my shift to 1-up-and-4-down, which I prefer (my first bike was a Velocette Venom) and I think the gear box also prefers it. Lots of racers use that pattern too - I think they call it GP pattern these days. It's easy to do - just fit the front part of the kinkage upside-down. I have a theory about why it's better - maybe I'll put that in another post.

Erskine.

PS:

Altering the length of the connecting rod in the linkage also makes quite a difference. It changes the height of the pedal, which you may have to compensate for by repositioning the front part of the linkage on the shaft splines, but it also seems to alter the way the shifting works inside the box.

Erskine.