A follow up to my own message: After much expense and discussions with the "mechanic" he decided it was the cable to the transmission that was a problem and not the "clutch" which he has adujsted twice without success. He fixed that at great expense (over $500 with out my authorization...he had originally said it would take one hour and the cable part was 67.00. It took him 7 hours...Ouch! I am told it operates ok now if you really push the lever agressively into forward. Is that normal?