I've always thought the gear change on the vtr was really awful.
First gear goes in with a bang and then its pretty notchy through all the other gears. Never felt like something was failing, just not slick (been used to GSXR's so thought it was just standard Honda). I have tried adjusting the chain but it didn't seem to make much difference.

When I was servicing the bike I noticed that with the rear wheel off the ground and in first gear, I can turn the wheel back and forwards a couple of inches before the gearbox stops it moving. Its not the cush drive as the slack is at the gearbox end.

Is this amount of driveline slack normal or do you think there's a problem with the gearbox??

 

You are right about the shift, it is not as good as it could be. There has been some developments made on this, one by moving the shifter on the spline, and the other by replacing the joints in the linkage with better quality units, and re-bushing the shifter pivot. A Factory Pro Shift Star is also a considerable improvement over the stock part. Do some searches, and you will find threads on how to do these mods.

Fix your shifter up, and you will never miss a gear again. I have done all three mods mentioned above (changing the linkage joints and re-bushing the shifter pivot is actually my own mod), and the improvement is considerable. The Factory Pro parts are not cheap, but the other mods are.

As for the "slack" in the driveline you refer to, from memory that sounds about right to me.

 

Thanks for the response - I think I'll take a look at the linkage first.