V7 Sport Gear Lever too high

[OldWiseDude1947]

Having read lots of reviews before I bought my 2026 V7 Sport, I noted that many found the gear lever position was too low. I too found that getting a booted toe under the lever for upshifts was indeed very awkward, bordering on impossible.

I tried adjusting the turnbuckle link rod (left hand and right hand threads with two locknuts) but there was insufficient available adjustment.

I contemplated removing the splined arm from the gearbox and indexing it by one spline but this would have been a last resort. I refocussed my attention to the link rod.

I removed the rod completely (10mm and 8mm spanners needed). I measured and noted the overall width using calipers. Then I dismantled the rod, removed the nuts and then checked if the rods bottomed out when screwed fully home into the ball joint ends. By careful measurements I concluded that it would be possible to shorten the screwed rod on both sides (left and right hand threads) by about 2mm, 4mm total. By omitting the locknuts I could wind the screwed rod deeper into the ball joints, making the overall length considerably shorter, thus raising the lever.

I refitted the assembly and sure enough the lever was now about 25mm higher than stock. I found that using two locknuts had prevented me getting the full benefit, since the nuts collided. So I omitted the lock nuts, wound the screwed thread fully home into the ball joint until it bottomed out and reassemble without locknuts. This is secure and does not move. The screwed rod is captive between the ball joints and cannot rotate or fall out.

This modification is well worth doing. Your dimensions might be slightly different from mine.

The stock gear lever position might be tolerable if you ride in flip-flops or trainers around Lake Como but not in the real world of proper motorbike boots. Give it a try. Your upshifts will be much easier.

[OldWiseDude1947]

I am 5’ 7" with 29" inside leg and weigh 10 stones wet through, say 75kg with all my gear on. I am a retired production engineer, accustomed to working with designers and drawing offices. Having got that bit out of the way let me expand my latest findings regarding the gear lever positioning.

My previous shortening of the link rod significantly improved the upshifts but I still fancied a little bit more. Alarmingly, further adjustment caused the gearshift to lock itself in first gear! Oops!

This locking in first gear was caused by the radically shortened link rod bending in a zigzig fashion, because each end was too far out of line. Hence gear lever pressure was not transmitting itself to the gearbox, it was merely pushing the short rod sideways. Drat!

However, the radically short rod now highlighted how severely out of line the pedal and gearbox lever link pivots are.

I am sorry this is so wordy but I am getting near to my optimal solution, so please bear with me.

It puzzled me why Guzzi had constructed such misalignment. I did not want to inadvertently mess up some cunning design but I honestly do not think there is anything cunning about this. It is just plain wrong!

Viewed from above I could see that the short rod link locations were about 8mm out of line. I needed to shim the pedal lever to bring things more inline. This entailed removing the cotter pin to remove the pedal to reveal an 8mm hex socket bolt. The 13mm nut on the other end of this bolt was visible on the inner side of the bike frame and had about 8mm free thread exposed. I removed this entire bolt plus the two other bolts and nuts that fastened the alloy pedal housing to the frame. The whole assembly lifted off the frame (note the two long plastic spacer locators).

My intention was to move the brake pedal towards the frame, thus correcting the misalignment. I fitted stainless washers to achieve this (total thickness 7.24mm), whilst still leaving enough thread on the bolt to grip the self-locking nut.

On reassembly, the pivot points were now almost exactly in line. Voila. The gearshift works perfectly, dead accurate, no vagueness, no missed shifts up or down.

I noticed that there is another much longer turnbuckle rod connecting the gearshift input to the rear end of the short link rod that I’d been adjusting. This is a rather convoluted arrangement.

I had to adjust both link rods to optimise, although there is not much spare thread on the long rod.

This fix is difficult to describe and needs careful thought whilst executing it. But it is doable. I finished up with one RH lock nut on the short rod, screwing the LH thread fully home thread bound and captive into the ball joint. Nothing can vibrate loose.

The proper factory fix would be to change the design of the pedal casting. I think that factory have assembled the bike with bits that already existed in their parts bins, rather like the British bike industry used to do. I shall write to factory to discuss this.

The photos are not in sequential order - sorry.

[Chris950s]

If you want to put them in order you can do this in the edit function, cut and paste the photo links into the correct sequence. Probably best to make a list first of where they are and where you want them to go as the photos are just code and not pictures in edit mode.

Best of luck, Chris

[OldWiseDude1947]

This view shows the improved alignment of the short rod

[OldWiseDude1947]

Th above shows the small washer packing out the front ball joint

[OldWiseDude1947]

Side view, showing the single locknut and higher gearlever position

[Philabeg51]

That’s a sweet job!

[OldWiseDude1947]

I have made a further improvement by removing the bolt that secures the transfer arm (on the right in the above photo) and indexing it clockwise by one spline. This has enabled me to fit the two original locknuts to the link rod (left & right hand threads), and reduces the chances of the zigzag misalignment, since the rod can be set a bit longer. I’ll post another photo soon, although the difference is subtle.

[OldWiseDude1947]

I wrote a polite letter to factory asking them to revisit this gear linkage arrangement and told them what I had done and why. They acknowledged receiving my letter but have made no other response to date.