I've put a bit of grease on the rose joints on the gear linkage and the gear change is now smoother especially getting neutral. The linkages were dry, and I think that when some pressure is applied there's a bit of "sticktion" which makes the changes a bit stiff. So, a simple bit of grease and it's smoother and crisper. Simple.
I've put boots over mine packed with grease. I got them off ebay dare I say they were off a Suzuki GSX gear link boot
@jcmental, can you post a picture please? Looked at a couple of rose joint boots on ebay but they look smaller than the ones Ducati use.
Yep, and cheap if they were twice the price. It's little things like that that put Ducati to shame, for the price we pay it's appalling.
Good call Jcmental, I'd never even noticed the rose joints had no covers. I'm off to order a couple of the boots. In fact, when I pasted the part number into google, turns out they will fit my Honda 400/4 too, which has the gear linkage boots missing too, long since perished away!
No sorry I checked back and the link above is where I got mine from to last year. But they may have them for other bikes these are the only ones I could find. Not a problem for me, I still have my lucky one from the 1980's
