is there a gear lock on a Kawasaki W2320?

[Tony Norton]

Hi all,

well this has got to be the last bike I buy, I've had 8 so far, and I've only been riding 5 years!
The one I've just parted with was a KTM 390 Duke. I had lowered it to a seat height of 760mm, changed the angle of approach of the pegs and foot controls and got the weight down to about 150Kg. I could ride it OK but it wasn't as comfortable and easy to handle as I expected, so it was chopped in against a new Kawasaki W230.

The W230 is everything I expected it to be, low, light and easy to handle. It'll do me until I hang up my biking boots.

But..............it does seem to have a problem with the gear change. I go up the gears to 3, by which time I'm doing 30mph. So I think I will go up to 4 to reduce the revs and the noise, but the bike refuses to go any higher. When I try to change up at 30mph the gear lever just seems to hit a stop. So far I've only ridden it from the dealers base to home, all roads being 30mph, and some 20mph, limited. So I don't yet know how it behaves above 30mph, but I have a funny feeling that the bike is saying "I'm not going to let you go to 4th gear at 30mph because the revs will be too low." The main dealers don't seem to have an answer, and there's nothing in the limited paperwork that comes with it.

Has anybody encountered anything like this? I don't expect to be able to burble round town with only 2000 revs showing, like I did with with my Rebel 500, but I do expect a bike to do what I tell it, not to have it tell me what to do.

Any ideas?

Tony
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Newbie in 2021 at 83. Now the proud holder of an A2 licence. That's far enough! Bikes: YSL 125, AJS Cadwell, Honda Rebel 500, Z300 (to get through A2 Mod 1), MT-07 (Restricted), Eliminator 500. Bobberised KT 390 Duke, Kawasaki W230

[Easy-X]

W230? I had to look it up. Wow... that's a nice little "250", it's like the motorbike industry has drunk some rejuvenation potion and returned to the 1970s

Rose tinted spectacles aside, kicking up or down rotates a drum in the gearbox and for a bike on the lower end of the market, limiting this rotation would be a tricky thing. "I have trouble finding neutral" or "I have trouble changing gear" (in general) are complaints about new bikes. This sounds more like a fault to me.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[jeffyjeff]

Will it upshift if you rev it a little higher? I would take it out on the road and see how it performs in all the gears. If it won't shift above third, then take it back to the dealer and have them fix it or give you a different bike.
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History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men - BOC

[stinkwheel]

Just as a quick sanity check, make sure you're taking your foot totally off the lever between each shift so the level returns to the "at rest" position. If you've left your foot under it and go for the next gear but were still holding the lever up slightly from the previous shift,, the selector might not have returned enough to select the next gear.

I've seen this problem before when people got a new bike and didn't have the lever set in the right place for them or weren't used to it. I've also seen it when people bought new boots.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Polarbear]

[doggone]

I'd also go with possible lever position adjustment but any new/different bike takes a while to get used to.
There won't be any kind of lock deliberately restricting you.
Some bikes have something a bit like that to help get neutral when engine is stopped.

If it does eventually let you select higher gears it's probably just more riding time needed - but if you can't get them at all it sounds like trip back to dealer might be needed. Bikes do get traded in with undisclosed problems they might not pick up on a quick test round the block.