Not finding gears correctly?

[Cjanssen83]

I installed the OEM engine guards, which apparently requires you to remove the front sprocket cover thing.
 

To remove that, I had to take the shifter lever off it’s little spindle thing.
 

Now with everything back together, I rolled the bike slightly to see if it was in gear. It gave resistance like it was in 1st, but then wanted to continue moving. Difficult to explain.
 

Image for reference…sorry if the terminology is wrong…new to working on my bike. 
 

Is there a certain trick to putting things back? Red circle is the part I detached from the spindle (blue arrow).

[ElGonzales]

I just took this picture from my bike. You have to align the punchmark and the line, the markings were set in the factory

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by ElGonzales

[Cjanssen83]

Ahhhh, ok. That makes sense. 
 

So I just did that and then put my key in the ignition. Bike said I was in 6th gear, was clunky going down gears then up, sometimes couldn’t find a gear, etc. 

But after rolling a bit in the garage with the clutch in, all seems normal now, including the “jump” into 1st from Neutral. 
 

I guess things are good now? It’s just a slight roll while playing with gears enough to get things back in line and operational as normal?

Edited May 9, 2023 by Cjanssen83

[mjh937]

I just pull back the rubber cap and disconnect the top of the shift lever by unscrewing it there.  That way there is no problem with accidentally adjusting things. 

[Cjanssen83]

Update:

Rode to work and everything appears normal. Shifts feel like they used to, gear indicator displays correctly, get the “pop” going from neutral to 1st once ready to leave home, etc. 

So it seemed like what ElGonzales said was the first issue that’s fixed, and then the second issue was just getting the motor turned on and rolling a bit for the bike to sort itself out so the gears felt functioning normally once again.