Fail safe - Clutch

Over the weekend I broke my third clutch cable.

First was a GPX250 up Marysville way but I was able to ride the bike to
Brunswick with only 2 stops.

Second was the Madass 125 though I only had to ride that a half dozen
blocks.

Third (Saturday arvo) was on the DR650.
This time I did not feel comfortable riding the DR650 around town without a
clutch so I pushed it to the nearest bike place.

Am I soft for not riding a 650 single without a clutch?

And..

Would it not be "SAFER" for a clutch to (dis)engage(?) when the cable is
broken?

 

I dunno...but

buy 2 and cable tie them side by side together...

then when one breaks the other is right there to replace

mh

 

Definitely not.

If it failed in the manner of disengaging you'd be a sitting duck for
comments from your mates, irate car and truck drivers, and the
"motorcycle rescue brigade". ;-)

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Aye, Marty, and it's been sitting there, unused, for how long?

Toughen up folks! Learn to ride without decadent "extras" like clutches.


regards,
CrazyCam

 

it only has to get you home, which on a bike like a DR650 could be
from the middle of nowhere and trying to use no clutch is not an
option

so to the answer of your question...who cares

mh

 

Not sure what you're asking here. The cable breaking is the same, in
effect, as releasing the lever. So I guess its as safe, or not, as dropping
the clutch

Reminds me of an incident in central Melbourne in the early 70's.

There waiting at the lights is Robbo. His in first gear, holding the clutch
in, astride his Mach 3 Kawasaki. For the kiddies out there this was a
fierce 500cc triple 2 stroke commonly referred to as the Widowmaker.

From the footpath Senior Sargent Kokface, a tall rugged looking policeman of
German decent, commences walking across the pedestrian crossing in front of
Robbo's path.

The lights turn orange, as the did then before turning green, and Robbo,
glaring at the police officer from beneath his cream open face Helmut,
starts to rev the angry machine. Twisting the throttle on and off on and
off, revving the screaming motor up to 5ooo rpm

The sound is deafening, the smoke blue thick and acrid as the Officer now
about 1 metre from Robbo looks toward him with a mixture of distain and
disgust in his eyes

A moment later, Twang. The clutch cable snaps. Sgt Kokface lurches
backwards falling heavily to the ground as Robbo rockets forward, his front
wheel almost 6 feet in the air, disappears down the street in a state of
sheer panic,violently trying to tame the wild and powerfull beast released
beneath him .

The almost vertical angle of his motorcycle combined with the fact that it
was now totally obscured by a cloud of blue smoke conspired to prevent any
positive identification of the machine or its rider.

Robbo trailered the bike to Sydney and sold it unregistered before
purchasing a Honda 500 Four, a much more complacent machine, along with a
full face helmet and decided not to attempt to intimidate the Law in future.

Both, I believe, lived happily ever after.

Probably never happened but it's a good story

PS the names and locations have been changed to protect the guilty

Oh and yes you are soft, 650 four stroke single indeed.

Capt A. L.

 

I should think re-routing the cable to a situation where smooth
operation and less chance of breakage would be the thing to do first

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:37:15 +1100

After all if I can do it...


I broke the clutch on the Hack Guzzi the other side of Caloundra.

I was living in Lismore at the time, so had to ride it what... 200k?
250? Clutchless, and through Brisbane in the wet. Luckily it was a
weekend, cos I hit Bris at about 4pm.

I discovered that when doing clutchless uphill starts in the wet a
high geared shaft drive v-twin will either spin the back wheel and go
sideways, just bog down, or lurch forward with front wheel in the air.

(Clutchless starts on the flat just need some paddling to get the bike
moving. But doing that uphill to 260kg of bike, well my legs werren't
upto it.)

Since that little episode I have always had a spare cable in the
topbox. (Don't like to tape it next to the other, they get grungy.)

But when it would be several hundred dollars and a couple of days to
get the bike home in a trailer, and you have to be at work the next
day, riding it becomes quite possible.


Zebee

 

I dunno...but

buy 2 and cable tie them side by side together...

then when one breaks the other is right there to replace

mh


***********************

And when you do that, you can also fix a spare brake cable
Oh, and also spare throttle cables

Would you have enough room for a spare of clutch discs.
How about a spare primary chain, tied to the original ?
And when you are doing that, you may as well put a spare rear chain tied to
the original chain, then, if the first chain breaks, the second added chain,
will get you home without even taking the old one off.

 

Automatic spark advance? Pffft!


BTH

 

Have you developed Popeye-style forearms since last May or something?


BTH

 

Ah the joy
500cc thumper and you forget the retard the spark
over the years it buggers the meniscus

 

I think the correct answer to the question is.. "hopefully, forever"

Nev..

 

Time to start buying bikes with hydraulic clutches.

When the throttle cable on my GSXR1100 snapped under accelleration in
3rd gear I'd have preferred if it had defaulted to idle rather than
redline, but with the aid of a lot of brake input discovered it is
possible to ride a short distance when full throttle is the only option.

Nev..

 

Christ I hope not; I've ridden hundreds of miles with no clutch, (and on
all manner of bikes from 100cc to 1300cc). It's quite easy once you get
the hang of it. (Although some bikes have stupid ignition cut-outs that
are annoying to get around).

BTW; how is a suddenly-dead bike "safer" than a bike that's running but
hard to change gears on?

 

And learn to lube your cables!

 

Why is it "not an option"?
What do you need a clutch for except hill-starts? (and most hills only
run one-way so you can just get going down then do a U-ey).

 

"When I were lad..."

=================

Onya bike

Gerry

 

Yup. My old Ducati would break clutch cables regularly, so did my old
XT500. After a while, I carried a spare, lubed more regularly, and
learned to notice when strands gave way (they don't all go at once).

But... Before I learned the above, I rode some long distances with no
clutch, or I wouldn't get home. It was only flat take offs that were a
bit difficult, but it's amazing how well you can time a run at the
lights when you have to. Of course, there was that time when I
abandoned the XT in the bush because I wasn't good enough to get up a
technical hill without clutch slipping. I walked back to civilisation,
and returned the next day with a clutch cable and a mate who was a
better rider. ;^)

So, to answer your question. Yes. You are soft. ;^P

Tony F

 

you only ride a bike on roads do you?

its a DR650... and what sort of bike is a DR650?

mh