Reverse gear won’t activate

[Hutch]

Hi all
Just purchased a 2016 f3 limited yesterday, private sale and it was a bit hard to pop into reverse
Then today it won’t change into reverse with every attempt
Anyone have an idea if there is something I can do at home to rectify the problem
Cheers from Australia

[Peter Aawen]

Hey Hutch, stick your head down under the LHS of the F3, & look inboard of the foot peg/plate - there's a Reverse Gear Actuator (or some similar name?! ) inside/above it's holding bracket hanging down underneath just there - it should be fairly obvious. If the bracket holding the actuator gets bent at all (& it's easy to bend it if you ryde over anything & belly out! ) the actuator won't move/pull 'enough' to let you select reverse, and all it usually takes to fix that is to bend the bracket back into its 'proper position so that the actuator moves the selector the correct way/distance

Sometimes, the bracket is bent too much & needs to be replaced, but for most it's just a matter of 'bending it back up' or 'bending it back down' until it's in its correct position. Sorry, but I can't tell you how to identify which way it needs to go, but there are a few threads on here about it, with pics too, I think in the F3 shop section, and this problem often leaves people either stuck in neutral or unable to easily select reverse or first.....

The other thing it might be on an SE6 is a dead or dying Gear Position Sensor, but that usually means all gears become difficult to select rather than just first &/or reverse.... a failed/failing GPSensor is fairly easy to replace youself & fairly cheap to buy, especially if you go to some place like cheapcycleparts.com.

Hope that helps some. Over to you! fm South Oz!

Ps: where in Oz are you? I might be able to put you in touch with a local who could help?!

[Hutch]

Thanks Pete
I’m in Victoria
Just bought the bike and it’s only done 3000 kms
I’ll have a look tomorrow ��

[Mikey]

How many miles on the bike and when was the last time the oil was changed?

[Hutch]

Purchased bike yesterday
3,000 kms on bike
Serviced 4 weeks ago with no extra kms put on it

[ThreeWheels]

Hi Hutch.
You're a new owner, so pardon me if I'm asking some basic questions.
Are you sure you're following the correct procedure ?
I'm assuming you have the semi-automatic.
First make sure you start from neutral.
Your foot MUST be on the brake.
Using your right hand, press in the "R" button on the left grip cluster.
While your foot is on the brake, and the "R" button depressed, use the downshift paddle so you push it TOWARDS you.
If that doesn't work, you've got something physically wrong.
One other thing. In order to get OUT of reverse, you need to be stopped with your foot on the brake and paddle shift AWAY from you to get into first gear.

I just came from a manual shift spyder. It took me a while to get used to it.

[Jenerator]

What I realized when I was having trouble getting into reverse on my ST, was that I wasn't doing it right!
I thought all you had to do (when in N) was hold the clutch in and press the reverse button once for it to be activated, and then I would shift down. Well, it doesn't work that way. You have to hold the reverse button down while you shift down into R. No issues since the awakening.

[Hutch]

Hi Hutch.
You're a new owner, so pardon me if I'm asking some basic questions.
Are you sure you're following the correct procedure ?
I'm assuming you have the semi-automatic.
First make sure you start from neutral.
Your foot MUST be on the brake.
Using your right hand, press in the "R" button on the left grip cluster.
While your foot is on the brake, and the "R" button depressed, use the downshift paddle so you push it TOWARDS you.
If that doesn't work, you've got something physically wrong.
One other thing. In order to get OUT of reverse, you need to be stopped with your foot on the brake and paddle shift AWAY from you to get into first gear.

I just came from a manual shift spyder. It took me a while to get used to it.

Thanks for the reply
This is my second spyder, previous was 2011 rts se5 this one is a 2016 f3 limited se6

[Hutch]

So I rang my spyder mechanic and he said hit the paddle twice whilst holding the reverse button down and sure enough into reverse she goes.
Apparently because the bike has hardly been used it’s a sticky cable
Thanks for your replies folks ��

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

So I rang my spyder mechanic and he said hit the paddle twice whilst holding the reverse button down and sure enough into reverse she goes.
Apparently because the bike has hardly been used it’s a sticky cable
Thanks for your replies folks ��

"sticky cable " ... I thought all the controls were " electrical " except for the " latch mechanisms " ....... Mike