Sloppy shifting

[alanmcorcoran]

On a recent lengthy ride, I discovered a new way to eff myself up while riding. I have some softish racing boots an accessory guy recommended, and when I am upshifting from second to third or third to fourth, sometimes the bike does not... "go into gear?" The squishy tops of the boots take away some of the shifting feel and the shift lever sinks into them a bit.

I didn't actually know this was possible, because it never happened before, but the effect is identical to when you accidentally end up in neutral when going from first to second. The bike revs up real high, there's no power and, if you then react and pop it into gear, you get a nice lurch to go with it.

Is this just my bad shifting technique, or is my transmission loose? I owe the bike a 600 mile service (I'm at 1350), not sure if these things need to be tightened up.