Wilsons Sandbox
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http://www.frenchandlogan.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=261863
I just had a clutch cable *sproing* three times in quick succession, leaving only one large strand -- not really safe for a 40 mile ride home on the interstate -- yesterday after a test ride on another bike, literally as I was pulling out of the dealer's parking lot to go home! The other bike had a hydraulic clutch and at first the worsening slip as I flapped the clutch a few times made me think I was just horribly unused to the KLR somehow after just 15 miles on the Other Bike -- but no. The cable was going to pieces as I tried to get the clutch to catch. It was frayed to shreds (when I was done anyway) right inside the adjuster at the handlebar end of the cable. But the cable was only a year old, and had been well lubed at least once in that time. I noticed that the arm at the engine end of the clutch cable seemed much stiffer and harder to move by hand than I remembered. I wonder if this got sticky somehow (it's maybe been slightly too long since my last oil change, that might be it?) and I pulled a marginal clutch cable to shreds over a fairly short period of time against the increased resistance. Does that sound like what you're seeing? -- Thor Lancelot Simon tls@... "We cannot usually in social life pursue a single value or a single moral aim, untroubled by the need to compromise with others." - H.L.A. Hart> > I noticed today my clutch cable is fraying where it connects to the > small swing-arm on top of the clutch housing. This is the second one > that's done that in the last 18 months. Is this another design glitch > or is there an adjustment I should be making? Any advice is greatly > appreciated
Hmm, I've never had a cable fray there, on any bike. It's always the other end, by the lever, and the cure is to make sure the cable end is lubed and free of burrs to move in the lever. It has never occurred to me to pay more than cursory attention to the lower end, because there doesn't seem to be the potential for the cable end to rotate and flex the cable. I guess I would check the clutch arm for burrs, maybe dress it with a bench knife, and add a little lube, and try to be sure that the cable end is free to move relative to the arm. The cable should intersect the clutch arm at close to 90 degrees, or just under. (The goofy shape of the KLR arm makes it a little hard to tell what the effective angle is.) If the angle varies much from close to a right angle, there will be more movement of the cable end relative to the arm, or if the nipple is binding, more flex in the cable.> > I noticed today my clutch cable is fraying where it connects to the > small swing-arm on top of the clutch housing. This is the second one > that's done that in the last 18 months. Is this another design glitch > or is there an adjustment I should be making? Any advice is greatly > appreciated >