It sounds like the shift drum assb. AT the bottom of it there is a assembly with a spring and ratchet it might be out of sync go on service Honda or bike bandit .com and you can pull up the schematics. There are a few parts there if not put together correctly they will bind the drum and not let the shift forks cycle properly.
Good luck.

 

Here yea, ThrashCrashUntilItsTrashed does excellent work, fun to work with on rebuild with and he is a great resource! If he has time.

 

Wow is this frustrating. Why did they design these things so that you cannot take the side cases off without pulling the motor. What a royal pain.
Will I be able to see any of the tranny components once I pull the clutch out? Or do I have to completely split the crank case? The old 185S was sooooo much easier to work on.