Clutch oddness.

Bike has been laid up over winter - wuss that I am - apart from a very
occasional run to work. Has had three or four runs in the past three weeks
as the weather improves slightly. I noticed on Wednesday that the clutch
was rather heavy when pulling on the lever.

This morning it was the same except the clutch lever returned so slowly the
clutch was slipping unless I pushed the lever back myself. This happened
for about a half a mile when I stopped to think about going back and getting
the car. But in good biker tradition I thought, "**** it" and carried on.
A couple of miles down the road everything was fine.

The bike has now been sitting for a couple of hours and I had a squeeze of
the lever. It's heavy again. Is this a sticky cable or shagged clutch
springs? What does the panel think?

 

Sticky cable. Whip it off at both ends (not necessarily off the bike
altogether) and squirt some WD40 down inside the outer cable. Work
the inner back and forth and it'll get easier: when it does, let the
WD run out and dribble some 3-in-1 down it until it comes out the
lower end. Reassembly, tec.

 

Swot I had assumed seeing as it gets easier as it starts moving. I shall
squirt lots down the cable tomorrow. It's a right pain in the arse when
first setting off.

 

What you need is a natty pressure cable oiler of the type I acquired
many years ago. Put on cable outer with inner inside oiler. Fill with
appropriate lubricant and put on screw on top with bicycle pump adapter
thread, then pump a few times with bike pump and leave a while. Reaches
parts other methods cannot reach. Don't know if you can get them
anymore.

If Pip's cable lube scenario is not a complete answer consider any
clutch push rods or little pivot jobbies there may be. Many bikes have a
thingy that transfers the pull on the cable in to a push on an actuating
rod. This sometimes has very poor bearing arrangements (if any) and poor
access for lubrication. The one on the WR250 was a case in point.


--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

I get one of those little plastic bags they use for coins in banks.

Make a small hole in the bottom. Poke the end of the cable through it.
Seal round the hole with tape or suchlike. Squirt some fine oil or WD40
into the bag, and let it run down inside the cable. Leave for a couple
of hours.

Refit cable.

 

This is what happened with my GSX.

 

Snip

Thats what happened on a GXSR400 I was working on just before the
cable snapped.

HTH

Ben

 

When lubing cables[1], I've ended up using a 10 or 20 ml syringe, with
an as long needle as I can get (40-50 mm). After filling the syringe
with oil (gear oil, asuming a heavier oil does not drain as quickly from
the cable) I attach it to the needle, which I've inserted as long into
the upper end of the cable I can get it. Gentle pressure on the syringe
piston, and the oil ends up where it should be, i.e. inside the cable.

[1] not teflon lined cables, which may cause them to stick.

 

I've got one of those PJ11 spray-can type clamp-on oilers. They're
about forty percent effective: forty percent goes in the cable, sixty
percent pisses out round the outside.

 

Pip Luscher says...

I've got one of those, it works about as well as yours