Clutch Cable Smoothness Question

When squeezing the clutch lever, it seems to be 'rough' and when letting it out it seems to want to 'jump' slight increments instead of smoothly coming back out. Is that the way its supposed to be or do I need to make an adjustment somewhere?

About how smooth should the clutch feel when squeezing and letting it out...similar to how the front break lever feels? On my bike the front brake feels really smooth...no jumpiness whatsoever.

It should go very smoothly. Have you oiled the cable? This should be done regularly and if not it will be "rough" to use.

No, I didn't oil it. I'll give that a go and see if it helps. Thanks for the idea!

If after oiling (make sure oil comes out other end) it still feels the same, you make have some frayed wires or such. Other possibility is routing of cable, make sure it's not kinked anywhere. Let us know.

If you are feeling notchiness, the place to look is inside the cover, at the release mechanism.

The assembly will dry out, causing binding.

If your mechanism is like mine, there are 11 balls sliding / riding on ramps, and no lubrication will allow little divots to get worn into the ramps.

Thanks Guys...

Well, I lubed the cable up good and also adjusted it to factory specs. Tonight or tomorrow I'll take her for a ride and see how it goes.

As far as pulling in on the clutch now...it seems slightly smoother. Maybe I do need to look at the release mechanism.

KaZoo - Is the cover you are talking about the part that I took off to do the cable adjustment or am I looking to remove a different cover?

Little B wrote:

Thanks Guys...

Well, I lubed the cable up good and also adjusted it to factory specs....

I would lean toward cable issues as well. Certainly the first thing to try.
What did you use for lube? Chain bar lube would be a good choice I should think. Remove the cable from the handler bar and use a third hand type clip to hold it high above the bike. Next, tape a drink straw to the high end, cable/sheath interface. Use a oil squirt can to fill the straw with chain bar lube and have a good nights sleep. Put it back together tomorrow or the next day. The dam, if it is a good enough seal will allow the bulk of the oil to drain only into the sheath and not onto the concrete.
Jim@MilkyWay

Little B wrote:

. . .
KaZoo - Is the cover you are talking about the part that I took off to do the cable adjustment or am I looking to remove a different cover?

Probably the part you removed is a rectangle, on the outside of the sprocket / chain cover, held in place with two #3 screws.

The release mechanism is located inside the chain cover. The end of the clutch cable connects to a yoke inside of the cover, which when pulled by the cable, converts the pull rotationally through an incline, forcing the clutch push rod into the clutch pack.

There is a lot of friction inside of that assembly, due to the number of parts utilized.

I haven't done it yet, but I was thinking of using a spring scale on my lever, to see the amount of pressure needed to pull in a fully lubricated assembly.

I know after I took mine apart and cleaned / lubricated it all, it worked remarkably better.

I think if you pull the cover off, you can shoot brake cleaner into the assembly to flush out the dirt, then use spray white lithium grease as an alternative to taking everything apart.

I tried to find a parts schematic of your bike to post, but I didn't have any success there.

Kazoo, Little b, Is this what your looking for? The image is lousy but maybe workable?

If the cable is well oiled, the mechanism inside the side cover well greased it must work smoothly. Otherwise change the cable cause if it snapps you´re in trouble. This is a wrong place to save money.

JimatMilkyWay wrote:
What did you use for lube? Chain bar lube would be a good choice I should think. Remove the cable from the handler bar...sheath and not onto the concrete.
Jim@MilkyWay[/quote]

The straw idea is a really good one! I might try that next time since I didn't have a lot of luck with the cable lube tool from Z1. I used motion pro's cable lube for lubricant.

KaZoo - Thanks for the clarification. Yes, the part I removed was the rectangular piece you mentioned. Even if the bike does better with the cable lubed up, I may go ahead and use the spray lithium grease idea as it seems to be a good preventative maintenance type thing to do.

Blue - Thanks for the schematic!

I'm going to be replacing my handlebars soon and if I wind up changing out the clutch cable, it will be a good time to do that.

Thx again everyone. I'll report back after my ride to let you know how it went.

I prefer transmission oil on the cable,
and lithium grease on the actuator.I
fought this battle years ago.I also
polished the clutch plate ends,beveled
them and smoothed the riding surfaces
of the inner and outer basket.A fresh
cable always helps the action and my
piece of mind.