I've had my F2 for a year now and recently I'm having problems coming out of 1st gear. I'm in 1st and go to switch to 2nd but I end up in neutral. This just started happening the last two times I rode. It mostly happens when I'm below 6K rpm.
Could it be how I am hitting up the shifter? (Is this just wishful thinking?) Or, is it a problem with the tranny?

 

If you don't press firmly enough it tends to slip into neutral, but if you have riden it forover a yearI doubt you riding style changed that significantly in a matter of a day.

 

bent shift fork? but i get the same problem if i don't hit it into 2nd firm enough

 

So, it's possible that I'm being a little lazy at slower speeds and not hitting the shifter up firmly? Or the shift forks? After it switches into neutral, I shift back to 1st and hear a crunching sound.

 

2nd gear shift fork is a common problem I hear with F2...but I know I've gotten hit by not doing shifting hard enough.

 

This seems to be a fairly common problem. I've tried some things to solve it on my bike and I guess I've had pretty good results. Some simple things you can do would be adjusting your shifter linkage so that it doesn't need to travel as far upward in order to shift. Another thing you could try is just changing your oil, often times this can improve shifting feedback more than you might ever think. Definitely try a motorcycle specific oil, I run Amsoil.
The thing that I did that I thought made the biggest improvement was installing a FactoryPro shift kit. I wrote a HowTo about it that you can check out in the HowTo forum to see if its something you'd want to try and tackle. It's not that easy and requires a healthy selection of tools. But I would say that it improved the shift feel quite a bit. It's much more firm at lower rpms and lower speeds so I still have trouble with the 1st to 2nd shift going into neutral at low rpms, but wind it up, and its amazing, the shifting gets so light its like butterfly wings could put it in the next gear.
Beyond that, you could always pull the engine and go to work on the transmission, though thats something even I wouldn't be in the mood for.

 

I have the same problem but only in higher rpm's. With this it feels more rough like a click click click feel or notchy as one may say. Some times it's smooth and some time's it so rough were ill try to kick it into second from first and it'll kick it(i might not kick hard enough) right into netural. With this i'll be doing a fresh oil change tommorrow and seeing if that helps.

 

mine goes straight to neutral if I dont kick hard enough, sometimes even goes to 2nd, rattles around a bit, and throws back down into neutral. I definitely look like a dip**** kicking and revving to get it in gear lol

 

Does 1st and 2nd gear whine at all? Does changing gear emit a sound like someone bursting a paper bag?

Ive 40k on my F2's clock and if im gunning it, shifting from 1st to 2nd requires a fair haul on the lever. At the mid range of revs if im not firm enough with shifting into 2nd, the lever clicks like mad and then goes back into neutral.

Low revs is fine, which is where im at most of the time when im filtering through traffic.

 

i had that problem on my old f2 i just started in 2nd.... but it was geared to so 2nd wasnt that tall