A couple weeks ago he told me that some times he struggled to get the bike into first gear when it was cold. After riding all day, he never had any more issues.
Yesterday, he shows up at the meeting location and tells me he can't get it into first or second gear. This problem happened a lot during the day but was not isolated to first and second. At times, he couldn't get third gear either. We looked at it a couple times and it just felt like pushing down on the level, it just wasn't going far enough. At lunch time we adjusted the linkage rod but only 1/2 a turn because it was tight and the only wrench we had wouldn't do it. After that, he had first and second again. That was short lived as he lost them again 30 minutes later.
We've talked through how the whole system works for a good hour over time and only thing I come up with his the linkage. He purged and bleed his clutch fluid in the summer. Did it right, I watched

Any ideas? Keep in mind, it does come and go, and with the bike off, on centerstand, you cannot make it go into lower gears some times. Other times, it'll go fine.