on my 89 cane, I have to shift straight from 1st to 3rd becuase 2nd does not want to grab. It will always kick me out into neutral. I have no problem with shifting like that, but it would be nice to have second gear. I bought the bike like this, and I want to work on it this winter. body work and such, but if i theres an easy fix for the gear problem ill prolly work on that too. any suggestions??

 

could be worn clutch or worse, bent shift fork.

when you bought the bike, did you test ride it? did the previous owner tell you it had a shifting problem? have you changed the oil yet? i ask this one because you may want to do so to see if there are any metal particles in the oil. if the previous owner ragged on the bike, they could have done some damage to the tranny. in which case, not a fun fix.

 

Sounds like a shift fork to me I helped replaceit on my buddies Katana . . . twice !