Imagine
Last lap, last corner, 110 mph, two
wheel drift... passing on the outside, bike
carefully controlled by just the subtlest
of weight transfer and just a "finger's
touch" on the throttle... you run out of
rpm and need to upshift to complete the
pass.... you need to shift.... it's ok....
a tap and you are in the 4th, still in a
drift....... you keep slightly pulling...
around.... slowly past....
you win.
The "spring
and a gasket" Shift Kit
For years and years, bikes have been
sold and replaced with others for the simple
reason that they don't shift well.
Over my last 30+ years, many hours have
been spent shimming, undercutting, tweaking,
nudging and cajoling the elves inside the
engine cases to slip the desired cog into
it's "happy place", quickly and without
jumping back out....
One of the things that I noticed was
that most modern gearboxes were essentially
the same lengths, widths and ratios, but
they all shifted and felt different when
shifting - a Honda tended to
"shift like a Honda" and a Yamaha tended
to "shift like a Yamaha".
The first
engine that we really looked at was the
Suzuki Katana 600. Same gearbox and the
gsxr750, but my riders missed shifts
constantly on the 600 - but not the 750.
Weird. (I left out the reason why - you
guess)
Flipping the 600 engine over in the old
shop let us look at the shift detent star,
detent arm and detent spring. I rotated
the shift drum till the detent arm would
just "high center" between 3rd and 4th gear.
Aha! THAT's a "missed shift".
I took a pencil and pushed down on the arm
with the eraser end and "Snick" - it slipped
off the center of the arm and right into
gear. So, I see. That's a "missed shift"!
The gear tries to engage the mating gear
and the dogs and slots bounce off each other
and make the arm "high center".
Got to get the dogs to move quicker towards
the slot and get further engaged before
my anxious riders get the throttle back
on!
So - Lessee, 2 stock springs..... WOW!
No way to miss a shift... and maybe no
way to use your foot to shift,
either.... a way too stiff...... So.... there we go.....
spring manufacturing - a "little" stronger
spring. That was our original "$29.95 Spring
and a gasket kit". I figured that was about
as much as I could sell it for, as once
again (story of my life), I was fixing a
part that people didn't know was broken........
Well, at last count, we'd eliminated over
7,223,243 missed shifts and saved about
32,711 2nd gears and shift forks.
Transmission gears and forks get damaged
when you miss a shift.
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Testimonials
Hi Marc,
I want you to know that I was really impressed
with the shift kit in my Kawasaki 636 ZX
6R.
The bike (not me) has missed shifts before
and once I got the kit in it not only didn't
miss
anymore but felt smooth and positive and
actually easier all around to shift it.
The best part
of it was I just didn't have any attention
on it at all.
Thank you for making such a fine product.
It WORKS.
Keith Code
California Superbike School
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It's everything
that I ever wanted to do to a shift mechanism
-
Nothing much more can be done. Expect that
it will take the manufacturers about 2 years
to copy it - so wait 2 years and buy a new
bike - or have it all now.
One already tried to buy one. Geez!
Slightly stronger detent spring - a new
MicroBearing detent arm and the final piece...
A completely redesigned, empirically refined,
multi angled, variable radii, repeaked and
valleyed:
EVO-7 DETENT STAR
This part will totally change the feel
of the bike as a whole. The shifting effort
is about the same - but the speed at which
the gears actually engage is dramatically
improved - Quicker, easier, shifting - A
"twitch" on the lever and the throttle and
you are in the next gear! Perfect for track
use and road riding for effortless downshifts
into a corner and just a "tap" to upshift
without any more than a "twitch" off the
throttle -
That's not even
mentioning that missed shifts virtually
disappear!
In town? Low rpm cruise
in second - shift to third? So quick and
smooth that it will surprise and amaze -
NO more clunky, lazy shifting in town -
As I said - it's totally different and improved
-
Proven concept
- Virtually all the Factory Pro Support
riders in the AMA and WERA multi- Champions
Vesrah Racing tested and proved the EVO-7
Stars in 2003-2005.
Stock shift performance
that everybody used to take as a "given"
will be regarded as "slow and lazy" after
riding a bike with this kit -
Foot stomping, "Hayabusa" shifting disappears.....
Honda's and Suzuki's lose their clunky in
town shifting..... Suzuki's stars stop falling
off, Kawasaki's lose their, well, err..
Kawasaki shifting "feel". Hey and even ZX12's
stop shedding pins off the stock star!
Kit includes
a new detent arm with a low friction microbearing
roller, a performance shift spring and the
NEW Factory Pro EVO-7 Detent Star.
Make shifting
MUCH quicker. MUCH easier, MUCH lighter
and virtually eliminate missed shifts.
Marc
800 869-0497
*************************
March 2, 2007
Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2007
20:40:11 -0500
From: dpein <dpein@optonline.xxx>
Subject: Re: VFR Shift Kit Order
Marc,
Your timing is perfect - I just rode it
today for the first time since installing
the vfr750 Shift Kit. Outstanding! I had
read posts on the VFR sites about how it
was so stiff and much tighter than stock,
so I was expecting a difficult transition.
I found it much more positive than the stock,
I did not get any false neutrals downshifting
to first, and It felt butter smooth in all
gears. I have been wrenching for years and
I followed your very detailed instructions
carefully. I will admit that shifting through
the gears with my hand on the shifter was
more difficult than using my boot! Thanks
for a great product!
Regards,
Dave Peins
Comment: My experience
is that the VFR people who used our microbearing
detent arm but ended up not using the supplied
spring and, instead, used the stock spring
were often the guys who rode in cloth-topped
athletic shoes. That's ok, because, even
with the stock spring, it will still be
better than stock shifting. Marc
........................................
October 10, 2006
To: Marc Salvisberg
Subject: Re: Hayabusa - Star shift kit to
NZ
Nice talking
to you and all that a couple of weeks ago.
I have done a few hundred km's with this
now and I have to say it is a rather pleasant
improvement.
I have always thought that the shift on
a Busa is a pretty good thing when compared
to earlier big bikes like the ZZR1100 and
even earlier still the VF1000 but it is
still a much meatier affair when compared
to modern bikes of smaller capacity.
This changes that somewhat. Not quite as
sweet as say a CBR600 but along those lines.
I like the way that you can do lazy up changes
around town without the clutch and it slips
through as smooth as silk.
Also it is not that difficult to install
either as long as you have the gear to get
the front sprocket nut undone (a rattle
gun is handy) and you are prepared to bend
up a ring spanner so as to get that one
gearshift housing cover bolt that is a bit
hard to get at.
Regards
Rob Hookway
NZ
Hi Marc,
Just wanted to let you know that your EVO-7 Shift Star
Kit ROCKS! I've been having problems getting a lot of
missed shifts between 3 & 4th gears in my 636 and
after installing your kit, the problem is 100% GONE. I
raced out at Streets of Willow this past weekend and
didn't have one single missed shift anywhere and the
positive engagement feel is perfect.
Thanks for making my 636 an even better bike!
Gary Milcheck
Phoenix, AZ
Mark:
I got the shift kit installed, and it
works like a charm.
Bob Reynolds
ZX11
Thanks Marc...
I got the parts and they are already
installed into my bike.
It was amazing what a difference the
shift star made into the bike!!!
:)
I'm waiting
to get the bike tuned on the dyno to
see what is the affect of velocity stacks.
:)
Regards, Jarkko
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