Yes. He´s not kidding you on this one. They clunk like dropping chain into a brass bucket. Think of it as the sound of heafty meaty gears enguaging with authority, not the namby-panby slush of an inferior bike miserable attempt at getting in gear.
Seriously, the gearboxes on these things are almost industructable and clunky. The same cannot be said of the later model 6-speed boxes but for the ´02 its not unusual or a problem for them to clunk into gear. There is one thing you should look out for though. Over time the plastic bushing in the shift side forward controls gets dirt in it and will hang up a bit. The problem is most noticible making shifts - or missing shifts as it works out - in the first 3 years. The bike will hang up in netural or miss gears entirely. It feels like the shift lever will not return to the center position, which is exactly what is happening. Not to fear, its not a transmission problem, its just dirt in the linkage. Pull it apart and clean it out, put a daub of grease on the shaft and stick it back together. Everything will be good for another year and not only if the fix free it will only take you 10 minutes to fix it yourself compared to $100´s and days if you take it to the dealer.
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