I bought my 7 year old son a 2001 XR70R as a first bike to learn how to ride off road. The reason I chose this bike is all the information I saw said it had a 3 speed automatic transmission. My question is how do I know if the automatic gear shift is working? His foot isn't strong enough to change gears with the clutch at the factory setting. Help is greatly appreciated, I don't want him to burn up the transmission!

 

I am not sure i understand the question.... but you can ride the 70 to see if everhthing is operational.

 

The bike is in perfect working order I'm just not sure how to tell if it is automatically changing gears. We are new to the sport & motorcycles so I want to make sure I'm not looking for something it doesn't do. Shouldn't it automatically shift when it hits a certain RPM? If not and it has to be shifted with the foot shift lever, is there a way to make it easier to shift? As mentioned, my son doesn't as yet have the foot strength to lift the shifter up while moving. My apologies if this seems real basic but we are in the learning process and I want to make sure the bike doesn't get messed up to where we have an expensive repair after 3 weeks of owning it.

 

Take it for a test ride. If it tops out at 10 mph, it's probably not getting out of first gear, lol.

 

Assuming it's actually a semi-automatic, is there a way to lighten the shifter, i.e. make it easier for my son to lift the shift lever up with his foot?

 

not really... not that I am aware of.

he'll need to build up those muscles. you might be able to get a reverse shifter, but other than that I dont know what else to tell you.

 

Thanks to all for the help, it is actually a semi auto. He still has to shift but doesn't have to worry about using a hand clutch. He has been able to figure out how to position his foot so he can shift a lot easier.