In a transmission, the gear shift system is a part of extreme importance, being the responsible for controlling how and when the gear shifts occur. In sequential gear shifting systems, there are many design options that can be used for the development of such systems, but one of the most commonly used, due its simple implementation, is through a shift drum. However, due to the constant pursuit for optimization required by the market, even highly reliable systems must always be studied in order to obtain more efficient solutions, either by reducing costs, improving performance or making the system better adapted to the application. In order to do so, it is necessary to know the loads that are acting on the components in order to properly design the system for the application. This paper presents a simple test procedure in order to determine the loads acting on a sequential gear shift system applied to small motorcycles. With the results of such tests, it is possible to obtain parameters which, with the appropriate calculation tools, can help in designing new gear shift systems.