Topic: 1979 Suzuki gs550l shifting trouble

[torrinh]

My brother asked me to post this:

When he's riding his gs550 and needs to shift up, he has to tap down first, then he can lift up to upshift. Opposite when he needs to downshift, he has to lift gently up on the shift pedal, then he can press down, and shift smoothly. If he doesn't go through these steps, he can't shift at all. What's up? Bent selector?

[Gordon]

I'd start with making sure the clutch is adjusted properly.  If that's it, then problem solved.  If not, then move on to more difficult to diagnose possibilities. 

Also, I don't know about the GS550 specifically, but it should be pretty easy to take the shifter cover off to get a look at the components to make sure everything's working properly and see if anything's broken.  There may be a missing or broken spring in there that's supposed to return the shift lever to it's resting position.

[bryanj]

Sounds like the pedal return spring to me