Gear lever wobbles on my GPX250

[bNiNja]

As the title suggest, my gear lever on my left foot wobbles left and right when I change gears. I can also easily move it left and right with my hand. Shift down gears, the lever will go into normal position but when I shift up gears the back of the lever will go in.

I have tried using a allan key to tighten the 3 screws but they are already as tight as one can make them. I don't think the gear lever will necessarily fall off or anything (seems somewhat attached to the bike) but it is far from static.

I will take pics if people think that will help for them to diagnose the problem and a possible DIY solution. Or a approximate cost to take to bike shop to fix.

P.S. The gear lever has been like this since i bought the bike 3-4weeks ago. I was too distracted by how shiney the bike was to notice its faults. I have been riding every day to work, 28km each way + joy rides. I have experienced going from 1st -> 2nd -> neutral up hill a handful of times which might be a symptom of my problem or I didn't put enough pressure on the gear change (or the later reason could be caused by the first).

[Rossi]

Private sale or from a dealer ?
If the latter .........take it back and ask them nicely to fix it

[bNiNja]

Thanks for the replies Rossi.

Unfortunately, it was a private sale. Other than the problems I have mentioned, the bike isn't too bad.

How much do you think it will cost to fix the gear lever?

[MickLC]

A bit of slack is normal in an older bike. The main thing is to make sure it's all well lubricated so it moves smoothly. Check your chain tension too if you're not getting smooth changes, and an oil change sometimes helps too.

[mick_dundee]

If it's really loose perhaps some washers behind the screws? Download the workshop manual for the bike and see if the assembly is complete, am sure there is a copy of the manual linked somewhere, if not pm GPX_Lainie and she'll send ya one.

[bNiNja]

I thought I would reply to the cause and solution of this problem.

The foot peg bracket on a GPX250 is screwed onto the body of the bike with 2 screws (the third screw only attaches the gear lever to foot peg bracket).

The 2 threads that the foot peg bracket screws into the body of the bike came loose. the screws themselves were as tight as possible but the thread they screwed into were coming loose from the frame of the bike.

Fix: Got my mate who is a car mechanic (who seems to instantly know a lot about the mechanics of bikes, I guess the skill is interchangeable between bikes and cars) had a welder handy. After welding the 2 peg bracket threads like there was no tomorrow (and a little extra to be sure) and using a dremel to smooth it all out, the gear lever is rock solid.

I think my problem is pretty unique but if anyone would like to know more, PM or reply to this thread.

[Daisy]

Aye Cap'n. It's a good fix - but not so unique.

Mine had been flopping about like an untrained seal for quite some time when I got it. The frame was a little worse for the experience, so I welded two nuts onto the back of a plate and welded that to the frame.