cb350 hard to shift into 3rd

[Dragonfish]

When I'm riding and I shift from second to third, occasionally it stays in second. When it happens I can feel it happening, like I lift the shift lever up and I don't feel that "pop" of it hitting the gear. After letting the clutch out if I try again it just works fine. No other gear does this and I'd say it happens 1 out of every 3 times I go from 2nd to 3rd. Ideas?

 

[f22hb]

How does it shift through the gears without the clutch?

 

[Dragonfish]

I'm not really sure I understand what you're asking me.

 

[f22hb]

Do you always use the clutch when you shift gears? You shouldn't need to and you can feel more when doing this.

 

[Tim]

The cogs on the transmission interlock with each other with big pins on their sides that slot into oval holes on the mating cog. The shift forks move the cogs back and forth on the spindle, interlocking the different gears together resulting in a different overall ratio coming out the countershaft end relative to the RPM of the engine.

So, if the pins and holes on the mating cogs are not aligned, the gear will move a bit but not all the way and won't disengage from the one it was already mated to (i.e. stuck in 2nd).

Pulling in the clutch again / letting the transmission rotate a bit more ultimately will end up with the gears aligned and let the cog move over and mate with the new one to move into 3rd.

Easiest to understand if you actually look at it happening in person or on YouTube.

If your clutch isn't fully disengaging, allowing the transmission to slow down/stop, this could hinder you as well, but as f22hb says, you can shift gears without the clutch if you match RPM to road speed well enough so the gears in the tranny are basically rotating at the same speed allowing the pins/holes to line up and not clash with each other as you shift.