Fail safe - Clutch

That and others have answered the first question.

Only done a little over 30k on the bike.
I have also been told lube on the cables help gunk stick and is not a good
idea?

 

Who told you that?
I regularly lubed the cable ends on my Cali 1100 but it broke in the middle
at 150,000 kms. The second cable was still on it when I traded it at
220,000.
My 850T3 was sold with the original cable after nine years and 110,000. My
Cali II only did 70,000 in the nine years I had it and never broke a cable.
In my defence I also did 70,000 on the deadly treadly in that same period.

Theo

 

Clutch cables practically never break in the middle - they break at the
bottom (less commonly) or the top (most commonly). A frequent culprit is
a burr or other obstruction inside the lever that prevents the knuckle
at the end of the cable from rotating freely. This forces the cable to
bend more than it should, and eventually it shears at the point of
maximum bending, which is usually a little way away from the knuckle.

I doubt lubrication would help much in such circumstances. Avoiding
holding the clutch disengaged would be more likely to extend the cable
life. The lubrication regime for my bike (Kawasaki) does not include
lubricating the clutch cable.

The only time I've ever had a clutch cable break, the bike had done
120,000km.

 

Right, spoil my beautiful theories why don't you! Mind you, 150,000
sounds like a respectable life for a clutch cable.

 

Yeah, you only ever need a clutch for hill-starts ... and U-eys.

Nev..

 

In aus.motorcycles on 18 Jan 2011 02:50:15 GMT

The cables themselves don't need that much lubing if they aren't
kinked and modern ones don't because they tend to be nylon lined.

But you shuold regularly grease the cable nipples. I went through
cables a lot till I learned that little trick. A bit of lube on the
nipples (calm down you lot!) at both ends when you do your oil change
makes a big difference in cable life.

Plus it means you catch cable strands breaking before it's a real
problem, and you have incentive to check clutch adjustment.

Zebee

 

Yeah, my fault. I was too lazy to lube the inner.

Theo

 

ewww

 

Educate me; what sort of off-road riding requires clutch-slipping Marty?

 

I dunno about you but I can get down to some very slow speeds in first
gear without clutch-slipping. It U-eys are a problem for you, ride down
until it's flat then stop the bike, paddle it around, start it again and
*then* ride it up.

 

Nope, I have no problem with U-eys. Don't know what gave you that
impression. Maybe you were replying to the wrong post?

Nev..

 

What's your problem with U-eys without a clutch then? (or were you
weirdly suggesting that *I* have a problem with U-eys even though it was
I who recommended them in the first place?)

 

most of the stuff I do, especially when you are stationary which
happens 10 fold off road than on

mh

 

Yeah; *good* answer Marty!

(I really, really need to slip the clutch to remain stationary)

 

Smart-arseness aside, how do you keep the engine running when you're
stopped? If you don't, how do you restart it when you're stuck in a hollow?

- soakes

 

Well, yes, it's much easier to ride clutchless off tar. Especially on
fire trails/dirt roads - typical DR country.

Tony F

 

why waste a good answer on you?

mh

 

Sitting at the traffic lights, trucks careening just past your front
wheel, and *bam*, your clutch cable lets go. How fast can you reach
the brake/kill switch?

 

Why would you need to? Stay Upright trained you to put the bike into
neutral when stopped, right hand on the brake, right foot on the brake,
left foot supporting the bike. You're not going anywhere even if the
cable let go while you're pulling up.

 

Neutral?
(The real answer is *don't* get stuck in a hollow.)
Smart-arsedness also aside; yeah it's harder to ride without a clutch
(obviously) and you may just have the incredibly bad luck to actually
snap your clutch while stationary at the bottom of a hole and there's
not much choice other than to haul the bike out manually but you can
generally get rolling (or *keep* rolling) enough to get into first and
limp off home (or to the bike-shop).

Elsie.