happy wanderer
Day Dreaming ...
Since I haven't pulled the transmission, I can only report my anecdotal experience. I was having difficult down-shifting from 3-2 and 2-1. I know what that feels like - I had my splines self-destruct at 48K miles - the bike was new to me, one month.
After I painted my splines with Moly-60, it took about 40 - 50 miles of riding and then I could feel a noticeable smoothing out of the down-shifts. Removing the starter is easy enough, that I have done this procedure a few more times, usually when I have the fairing off to sync the TBs. I'm at 87K miles now and shifting is very smooth (for a 2001 R bike). I guess I won't know for sure until I pull the tranny or I lose another input spline.
What I do know is there was a noticeable improvement in down-shifting after I did the procedure. If it's impossible for the grease to migrate under the clutch hub, then this was a convenient coincidence.
Well, I'm no expert so there ya go. I just don't get how sticky lube can get from open splines into a tight location without something helping it along. Heat maybe?
Or maybe James Taylor was right?
"Once you tell somebody the way that you feel, you can feel it beginning to ease.
I think it's true what they say about the squeaky wheel always getting the grease"
-James Taylor