Crashed - Lost gears between 4th and 5th

[Clanky]

Today I was coming off the motorway onto a dual carriageway. Lights at the junction were green and the slip road has a nice wide sweep. I started to accelerate and change from 4th to 5th (about 50-60) and the bike suddenly felt like it had gone into neutral and started to drift wide. I couldn't find a gear at all and just had to brake as best I could and steer side on into the central reservation barrier.

Bike's upper fairing/screen and offside fairing are shattered. Cracked the peanut cover, scratched the exhaust and bent the foot brake. Other than that the bike came off OK so I should be able to fix it soon enough.

Anyone got any suggestions as to what could have caused a 'lost' gear like that? I'm a bit wary of it now

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[Clanky]

Every day's a school day. Found out it was a 'false neutral', something I think I have only ever heard of when people talk about the neutral light coming on while the bike is still in gear.

The really bad 'false neutral' actually happens between any gear at all and can be caused by not shifting the gear lever hard enough and/or mechanical wear/faults. If you hit a false neutral the popular advice is to always try changing up again. Basically you can't be sure which gears you are between and downshifting could lock up the back.

Best tip is do everything you can to avoid it in the first place. When changing up or down keep firm pressure on the gear lever until the clutch has been fully released and you know it has engaged.

I'm sure plenty of you probably know this but it may help someone out.

Plenty of good examples on Youtube.

[Evilchicken0]

Made a mess of the bike, it's a shame because it looks like a nice one.

Well I guess it depends on how you feel about the bike and it's gearbox. If you think it was just one of those things or if your confidence is knocked in the engine. It's odd though because when you miss a gear (you see it MotoGP too) you can usually find something in the box either up or down, if you couldn't then it maybe a problem that will persist. Do have the gears now ?
If you've got a permanent or persistent problem then swap the engine ... to repair it will be a complete top and bottom end strip and rebuild.

[Clanky]

Hello EC,

It still goes through all the gears (obviously without the engine running right now). I'll give it all as thorough a check as I can over the weekend. I think it was just one of those things but if there's any doubt I wont push my luck.

Off to eBay for panels and a peanut cover

[chrisexup]

i struggled getting gears on my exup engined 400 after a crash. Turned out that the spring on the selector shaft was broken.

[Clanky]

Hi Chris, thanks for taking the time to upload the clear photos (Saved them to my computer). That will be very helpful and much better than looking at the murky images in the manual