Question about motorbike gearchanging

[mr henderson]

I'm currently working on a bike engined car, Hayabusa engine if it makes a difference, and there's a problem with the gear linkage.

I have never driven either a motorcycle or a BEC, so have no experience of what to expect from the gear change system.

At the moment the engine appears to be in neutral (the neutral light is on) but the linkage seems to move through a surprising distance, and I can see that the gearchange shaft that enters the engine is moving with it.

Anyway, the question is about how the gearchange on a bike operates, is it the case that the engine needs to be running in order for 1st or 2nd to be easily selected? Also, does the lever move through an arc to select a gear, then move back and then forward again to select the next gear, or is gear selection entirely dependant on the absolute lever postion (if you see what I mean )?