I have this new-to-me 2002 Recon 2 wheel drive that has the electric shift and it seems like the shift solenoid is weak. I also have had the #1 gear position light come on flashing while riding in 2nd gear (2nd gear light on steady and #1st gear light flashing). When it happens I can stop, turn it off, turn it back on again and it seems to shift OK after that, but if it stalls in gear (I fixed that problem, rebuilt the carb) it won't shift into neutral, I think due to a weak solenoid.

I have not been able to find a good manual for this thing so I am shooting in the dark. I am pretty confident that the shifter solenoid is the problem, has anyone else had this issue and if so where were you able to get the part from?

I can also use a reference for a shop manual.

 

No manual or ES bike will change gear properly if you are stopped and so is the engine. If you stall it, you have to rock it backwards and forwards until it clicks into the next gear. They don't use solenoids, they have a motor with reduction gearbox, this mimics the action of the shaft being turned by your foot on manual versions. The angle sensor and clever electronics tells the motor when to stop turning, and the motor then turns backwards by spring pressure to the start point, just as the lever does when you take your foot off on the manual. UK ES models all have digital speedo displays, so although they still have neutral and reverse lights, what gear you are in comes up as a number on the display. This starts flashing Morse code when an electronic fault occurs, different codes for different faults.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I have had it stick in gear on the flat and rocking it while hitting the downshift (into neutral) does not get it to go into neutral. Also, on the one occasion when I was trying to shift from 2nd to 3rd while underway it did not shift and the 1st gear light started flashing while it stayed in 2nd with the 2nd gear light illuminated. I came to a stop on the flat and it wouldn't shift until I shut it off and turned the ignition switch to "Run" position I was able to shift it into Neutral and re-start it. The flashing 1st gear light stopped flashing.

The flashing light was flashing a steady on/off (not a dash-dot Morse code). Is there a code stored after power-cycling it? How are codes retrieved and decoded?

 

Like I wrote before UK Recons have a digital display. Lots of lists of what the codes mean can be found on the internet. We have found the 250 one of the more reliable ES bikes, far more faults on 350, 450 and 420 models.