Clutch, shift star, factory pro….701sm and probably everyone else pre at least 2020

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Nolan

contributing rider
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Colorado
B469B949-4570-4457-A03D-D5FE06BC26F8.jpgSo, I track my 2020 701 and I’m 4500 miles into my first year of ownership. There’s always been an extra neutral between 5&6 either direction. But there’s “work arounds” and just being plain aggressive.
These are my thoughts.

Work around 1. Factory pro shift spring and arm…… did very little. To be honest the spring was difficult to tell from oem side by side. The shift arm rotating ball bearing thing is actually bigger than the cutouts in the shift star. Verdict. Shit.

After some research I found I should probably change the shift star (ill try and update with part #s) The OEM one can possibly lose fingers inside the case, but you gotta pull the clutch to do it. “Well, fuck.” I waited. Also, ran across Pirate Racing and their shift spring. Ordered that, the newer shift star, and the longer bolt (from a factory parts house). Oh and an EBC clutch and spring kit.

The pirate racing spring is twice as robust as factory pro. You pretty much have to remove the shift star to put it in.
So, order of operations-ish

I put the bike in neutral.

Remove clutch and basket.
Remove shift spring and arm.
Remove shift star.

Install shift spring from pirate racing and oem arm. You’ll have to back off the bolt to get it to clear the shift drum pulling the arm down a bit. (You’ll get it when you’re in there. Torque is 10nm (look it up. I’m not responsible) add the blue stuff.

Press shift arm down to install the new oem billet aluminum shiny shift star. It presses into two grooves on the shift drum. Install longer bolt. Torque to 15nm (again not my fault) oh and loctite.

Parts were cheaper than factory pro and to be honest a better fix even if is only 5% better than factory.

I’ll update my review of the clutch and parts when I get to beat on it.

Picture is of newer shiny shift star.
 
shift star I pulled out. There’s no cap like the newer one to hopefully hold those fingers together.
 

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BISavage said:
How does it work?
Click to expand...
I’m not sure if I’m getting faster or the clutch, but I picked up a couple mph at my local track.
Shifting is still agricultural but there’s less neutral between 5 & 6. The oem quick shifter is picky about timing. Overall thumbs up.

Two parts I would definitely change is the shift star and spring if you’re an aggressive rider. I just cannot recommend the factory pro kit.
 
Do you use first and second gear alot?

I find with my stock 16/40 Vitpilen gearing that I use mostly 2,3,4,5 so both the real neutral and false neutral are outta the spectrum 😎

Or do you need all 6 gears every ride?
 
Typically my rides are all six. Especially when on track. That and I like things to work more better. On the street I don’t notice the difference because I’m being less aggressive and I’ve gotten used to the gearbox.
 
Yeah, rider use case / preference at that point.

Last 1/4 mile machine I built, I had the gearing set to shift into second as the back tire rolled through the lights and hit the limiter in 4th as it crossed the line.

5th and 6th to save fuel on the ride home.

I heard somewhere that the 701 transmission works better after like 20 or 30k miles... 🙈
 
I can see how they could get better but after 30k? lol

I haven’t seen many listed with that kind of mileage.
 
I tried the spring from pirate racing also. In my opinion the spring isn't a real fix against the false neutrals except you need more than twice the force to shift to the next gear. Because of that you will automatically hold the force until the gear is shifted. This is the only cause that there are less false neutrals recognized. For my liking it was to hard to shift (up and down!) in general, so I switched back to the OEM spring.
You only need to keep in mind that you have to finish the shift process, that means press and hold the lever until the next gear is settled. Since I made this experience I also have less to no missed shifts/false neutrals anymore. My shoes and feet are also happy about the little force needed to shift again.

Try to adjust the shift lever as low as possible to reach easily with you riding boots. In my case I also use the shorter length position for the shift pin. This shortens the length the lever has to go to shift to the next gear by only little more required force. Of course all this depends on feet size and personal liking.
 
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Is it possible to replace the shift star, without removing the clutch basket? Is there enough room to take out the bolt and the shift star itself? Thank you!
 
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