
Took the shifter off and fooled with the position a bit and realized that the bike was able to shift into 1st. So not likely internal. When putting the shifter back on it wouldn't shift into 1st again.
That is when we realized that the bolt that tightens the shifter to the shifter spine was in upside down.
So it wasn't tightening the shifter to the shaft at all, it was just there. So what would happen is that the shifter would eventually slip a tooth on the shaft then not allowing the bike to go into first.So how did the bolt get put in upside down to begin with you ask???
Well when I had my stator fail at the pnw rally when putting it back together after a 5 hour job and a keg of almost free beer beside us I must have put it in backwards from the top instead of the bottom.
You see there is only a thread on one side of the shifter so if you put it in backwards you won't tighten it. And to think I rode it for 1200kms before it gave me a problem, then another 2000kms on the trip without 1st gear, loaded two up.

Ok confession over, I feel better now.
. Oops. Trevor, im glad you're problem was minor.
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