well after taking the advice of some people on here i installed the stiffer 450 spring(pita) btw. Anyway, works great highly recommend  it no more neutral problems, unless you cant getting it back in neutral as a problem lol..it is slightly harder to get it back in neutral now but the tradeoff is def worth it. esp for a 3 dollar part. peace!

We did that to my son-in-laws bike and it was so hard to find neutral on it that id didn't do mine. I haven't had the problem either though. Still have the new spring in the drawer if I do start having problems:)

davecampbell, on 20 January 2012 - 04:50 PM, said:

if you do start to have problems it will probobly be too late. im just curiouse though, i dont care to find neutral when im riding, and when i do need to get it into neutral to push into the back of the van, then i simply shut it down and then find neutral that way. i honestly cant think of a situation riding that id need to shift into neutral for...

funkinalive, on 21 January 2012 - 03:53 PM, said:

I can!!  I pitched up at a race last year for a pre season shakedown at a different club to mine, I was running 4th in the B's and utterly loving how fit and flowy I was feeling!  It was a mixed terrain track and I dropped it over a single into a sandpit.  Quickly picked up and tried to get going again, bike in gear, hot start down -kicked the life out of it, couldn't get it to start.  Eventually after resorting to finding neutral with my hand I started it and finished the race.  I took so long getting it running I finished in 23rd!!  Priced up a rekluse as soon as I got home!  The RMZ is a pain in the ass to find neutral in when you crash!  Luckily most of the time it'll start in gear if its hot.

i can see what your sayin, but i thought it was clear that i meant finding neutral while riding. when the bike stalles or is shut down i havent had too much trouble finding neutral, although i havent been rushed by circumstances yet, like when your racing...

Just had my 2012 RMZ250 detent spring changed to a 2012 RMZ450 detent spring. Funny thing about is that the engine builder that installed it was bending out the rmz250 springs on the 10's 11's and 2012 to give them more tension. I gave him my input from what I have read on TT. He said that the 450 spring will work better and that he was modifying the 250 stock spring for the purpose of keeping it in gear. He will use the 450 spring now on his rmz250's that he works on. Thanks for all the advise on TT.

Dube340, on 10 April 2012 - 12:49 PM, said:

Hey Dube350.. please post feedback after you ride your bike with 450 spring.

been told by Suzuki that the 250 and 450 spring has been the same spring since 2010 ?

Check the part numbers,  I don't think they are the same

mog, on 18 April 2012 - 02:07 PM, said:

They aren't Suzuki issued a recall in 2010 to update the RMZ 250 detent spring to the 450 as it was too weak. I found this out when I was researching weather the gearbox problems were universal. IIRC the dealer I spoke to was near Bristol but he told me that yes there was an issue with some dropping out of gear because Suzuki specked too weak a detent spring to make the gear-change light.

Mine was second hand so never got the recall :-(

Chappers998, on 18 April 2012 - 11:23 PM, said:

If Suzuki had a recall on the 2010 why is it that my 2012 still had the 250 spring in it when I bought it? Wouldn't Suzuki have the 450 spring in the 2012 if there were a recall on the springs in 2010?

had a dealer told me today they changed the shift drum on 2010. his son races so he usually knows whats going on.

Dube340, on 19 April 2012 - 09:00 AM, said:

Maybe cause it is a 250? Just because they have different part number between the 450 and 250, does not mean that the 2011 - 2012 did not get a updated stiffer spring.

Here's a thought, maybe the replacement for the recall still wasn't stiff enough? You do have a valid point cuz i was thinking the same thing. Has anyone checked the 2010 part numbers? I just installed the stiffer spring and i can sorta tell its stiffer lol. No missed shifts yet.... def had a few before

Dube340, on 19 April 2012 - 09:00 AM, said:

Ask Suzuki, I'm only relaying what I was told.

I talked to an engine builder yesterday and he stated that there has been a problem with the detent springs not being stiff enough even before 2010. You would think that Suzuki would have sorted it out by now. This doesn't mean I do not love my 2012. I have had two other Suzuki's, a 2003 RM250 and a 2005 RMZ250, loved them also. I am happy to have this info from Thumper Talk regarding this mod, without Thumper Talk I would have never known there was an issue and would not have had the detent spring changed.

Dube340, on 20 April 2012 - 10:02 AM, said:

heres the deal with this situation: if you have had the shifting mechanism and transmission apart on these bikes then you should understand the following. suzuki's basic transmission design has changed very little in the last decade, it has undergone only minor refinements which are positive in one respect, but cause undesirable side effects over the long term. one of the major changes throughout the years is a more mellow (shallow)| shift star detent valley (the part that the follower cam is supposed to "lock" the drum into each position). the obvious advantage of doing this is smoother, less resistant shifting. the disadvantage is that the follower cam cannot detent (keep still) the shift drum from rotating as the bike gets jarred around. for those who know how a transmission works, the shift drum has grooves machined into it which actuate forks that move the gears side to side and into engagement. if you have a weak detent, the shift drum will be allowed to move more easily as the bike gets jarred around, thus the forks will also move, resulting in the gear doggs coming out of full engagement. this "partial" engagement is what is causing rounded gear doggs and premature failure. the stiffer detent spring fixes this issue by applying more pressure to the drum cam follower, keeping it more secure within its detent. but the true fix would be to machine the shift star valleys to be deeper with a more aggressive profile, much like the original shift star found on the RM250 2 stroke. this is why it is recommended by the community here to at least change the detent spring for a stiffer one. this only applies to those who have had failures related to the gear doggs wearing prematurely... I speculate that suzuki has taken fire in the past for having gearboxes which where "stuborn" shifting. their response was the above modification, however the consequences were overlooked, and ove the last few years they have been doing all sorts of refinements with the gears themselves (in 2011 they beefed up 3rd and 4th gears) hopeing to solve the problem without sacrificing shifting performance. I believe that the actual shifting mechanism is need of revision to keep those gears engaged...

The 07 had a weak spring,  the cure was a 08 spring,  they seemed ok then till 2010, suzuki gearboxes have been iffy since way way back,  its mainly less bikes are sold than the other brands so you don't hear about it as much,  talk to any repair shop and they will say the same,  as a percentage suzuki have a high failure rate in comparison to other brands,  its sad but true

mog, on 20 April 2012 - 02:02 PM, said:

i havent run the numbers on other brands, but those who are having gear drop out (premature gear dogg wear) would have benefited with the detent spring upgrade... (of course it would be too late to perform the mod if the issue has already occurred)