No one can really tell you what the transmission is likely to do in the next <whatever> miles; as Jim said, if you are concerned about it failing completely either have the dealer pick it up (if they offer that service) or have it towed to them.
It is hard to tell from your first post but are you shifting without using the clutch? If the faces of the teeth on the dogs get nipped / chipped / bent, it makes it harder and harder to engage that gear as the teeth become more damaged. And by not cleanly engaging it tends to damage the tips of the gears. Another problem with motorcycle transmissions is that if they are not fully in gear, they may pop back out when throttle is applied and that is also hard on the dog teeth. Finally, popping out of gear under high engine output as well as shifting too hard tends to bend the shifting forks; as that progresses, the a particular gear will not engage all the way and increase the likelihood that it will pop out (disengage) under power.
If the transmission is making noticeable noise, it is surely damaged internally, especially so if the noise and shifting problems increase. The only thing to do is to tear the transmission down, inspect and replace parts as necessary. As everyone else has said, it absolutely should be a warranty issue if the bike is still under warranty unless the dealer finds something incredibly obvious like racing use, towing a 25 foot trailer, etc. But on any kind of normal use the dealer should just repair it. You are probably right about this taking weeks too- it is a big job and very labor intensive and some of the parts may not even be in stock in this country.
Brian
Lol of course! It's going to the shop soon. It's just that the only dealer who does warranty work is about 30 min north of me so I'm hoping that it won't be further damaged if I drive it there or if it's essential to rent a truck and haul it there.
