Clutch drag-sorry

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Further

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Apr 22, 2008
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I know this has been visited again and again, but I have a slightly different question.

First let me say that the clutch effort and engagement point have come to be the only seriously bothersome issues for me on my new 08. I love the bike otherwise - though I wish it could go on a diet.

I thought my old BMW had a stiff clutch. This thing is a BEAR! In crawling traffic it gets to the point of pain. So I just swapped out for the Gen I slave. The effort is minimally improved. I guess I can live with it now, but the engagement point which was bad before is now almost right at the bar.

This is bad. Even in the most "distant" lever setting. There's no such thing as a 2-finger shift on this bike because with my 2 smaller fingers still on the bar, I can't get it into 1st gear. I did a good bleeding with a vacuum bleeder. Doesn't matter.

So here's my question. I have a vague recollection of someone else doing a Gen I swap and finding similar problems. They said they then proceeded to bend the lever out a little further.

I can see where bending a few degrees out at the end of the lever could help a bit, but I have visions of cracking that delicate aluminum.

Can anyone comment on this? I'm thinking I'll remove the lever and put it in a vise and be REAL careful. But would it help to heat it up a bit with a torch you think????

Chris

 
I know this has been visited again and again, but I have a slightly different question.
First let me say that the clutch effort and engagement point have come to be the only seriously bothersome issues for me on my new 08. I love the bike otherwise - though I wish it could go on a diet.

I thought my old BMW had a stiff clutch. This thing is a BEAR! In crawling traffic it gets to the point of pain. So I just swapped out for the Gen I slave. The effort is minimally improved. I guess I can live with it now, but the engagement point which was bad before is now almost right at the bar.

This is bad. Even in the most "distant" lever setting. There's no such thing as a 2-finger shift on this bike because with my 2 smaller fingers still on the bar, I can't get it into 1st gear. I did a good bleeding with a vacuum bleeder. Doesn't matter.

So here's my question. I have a vague recollection of someone else doing a Gen I swap and finding similar problems. They said they then proceeded to bend the lever out a little further.

I can see where bending a few degrees out at the end of the lever could help a bit, but I have visions of cracking that delicate aluminum.

Can anyone comment on this? I'm thinking I'll remove the lever and put it in a vise and be REAL careful. But would it help to heat it up a bit with a torch you think????

Chris

Hi Chris, After I did a Gen 1 swap I had to bent the clutch lever to be able to use the adjusments on the lever. When I pulled the clutch lever in the end ball would hit the grip before the rest of the lever.

I took a boxend wrench and slid it over the ball of the lever and about 1/2 way up the lever I just bent the lever away from the grip. Did it three times before I got the lever to hit the grip evenly. It did leave 3 small marks on the lever but now I can use all the adjustment of the lever and get full movement of the gen 1 slave cylinder. Do not heat the lever. Leave it on the bike. It does not take that much force to bend it. If you put tape or etc on the lever before you try to bend it it may not show any marks. Mine works great now Let me know how it works, Harold

 
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