Hello all! Bought the intruder's naked cousin, still feel like family

Hi all, 

I'm Jake--

Here because I picked up a '90 VX800 with 28k miles as a project bike last weekend. Excited to partake in this community--my bike was largely clean when I got it, complete, running, beautiful shape--but the previous owner reported an issue shifting through second gear. His thought was a bent shift fork. From what I hear from other VX owners and read from Intruder owners, transmission failures, especially on a bike with the low 28k miles mine has, are exceedingly rare. Hoping that I can troubleshoot this without having to crack the crankcase open.

The catch: I've never done much more than routine maintenance on bikes in the past. I don't have much in the way of tools or a workspace, but I'm eager to learn. That's why I picked up a project bike!

Looking forward to chatting further with everyone. 

Can a mod explain what the thresholds are for creating topics in the engine and gears area? I didn't realize that I could post anywhere because that was my first stop. Would like to pick y'alls brains about what I'm seeing so far inside the clutch case. 

Not looking to do a driveby and only take from the community--I've been taking lots of pictures and while I have minimal expertise, I plan to share the teardown process step by step to help others in the future. As a complete amateur, working on a bike that is relatively rare means I'd like to add to the collective knowledge for others in the future as I go. 

Cheers,
Jake from North Carolina, United States

Welcome Jake.   Plenty of VX posts here.    Try a search of what you want to find on 'search' in the middle, just below the heading.

Thanks for the gracious welcome, Badger!

Welcome bud.
Sounds like a great plan you have here.
Looking forward to your adventures.