Transmission problems

[aok]

Hello all. My 1997 M750 came to a sudden halt while I was upshifting at about 15-20mph. I skidded but kept the bike upright and immediately pulled in the clutch putting the bike in neutral. Once at the side of the road I tried to get the bike started again. Electrics all looked good, control panel working and headlight operational however on hitting the starter switch I just get a dull clunk and the control panel dims momentarily. I had to have the bike towed home and on closer inspection I note that it will not shift above second gear. While stationary I can put it into 1st, neutral and 2nd but it will not upshift beyond that. In neutral the bike rolls easily but in 1st and 2nd the rear wheel will not budge. I checked and charged the battery plus replaced the sparks but all to no avail. My gut feeling is that something has gone wrong in the transmission. Any thoughts on what the problem and solution might be?

[GreasySnipe]

have you checked to see if the engine itself bars over in neutral?

[aok]

I haven't yet. I'm guessing I would need some special equipment to manually crank the engine right?

[aok]

The engine doesn't bar over in neutral. It broke my cranking tool trying. I guess that localizes the problem pretty well but I'm still not sure what the most likely cause is.
Any suggestions?

[Howie]

Can you turn the engine with the clutch disengaged?

[Dirty Duc]

I broke the stop-limiter on the "harpoon" piece of the shift linkage under the alternator cover. Mine sat there for an unknown number of miles, but if it had decided to travel into the gears, I would have expected something similar to what you describe.

I vote to pull the alternator cover and have a look-see. There is a special tool you can buy, or you can make one out of a spare piece of flat bar you have laying around.

[aok]

Just thought I'd update you on this saga. After wrestling with the left stator cover for several days without success I opted to have a mechanic remove the cover and it turns out that the source of all my woes is a cracked magneto flywheel. This had locked the engine resulting in failure to turn over. I'm currently looking for a second hand replacement so if you know anyone selling then hit me up. Until then I'll be languishing on four wheels.
Thanks everyone for your help.