South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

Really struggling to get the right balance on my clutch. I have messed with it for ages but just can't get it spot on. I am either getting drag or the other way and it slips when I give her a handful but in order to ride but the box is so clunky I struggle to change gear. I have heard that an oil change helps but any other ideas are gratefully received.

bikes have gears

Too much or too little oil can effect gear change. Clutch lever needs the right adjustment, lubed cables and also lubed gear linkages help, rule out these before dropping oil, fully sync can give you clutch slip too, not even gonna talk about car oil in bikes given terrible slipping and dragging because nobody would ever put car oil in a bike now. Change of oil more often is always good. Worse case the clutch plates are on the way out, what bike is it?

oil change is always first choice - when was it last done ?

clutch cable ? lubricated ? slack ? tight ? fraying ?

gear selector is the mechanism for that slack ? is it tight ? if it is either of these then the prddle won't go back into its 'neutral' position so when you next do go to move it your gear selection will be messed up.

try those,

Clutch springs.

Thanks all...... I did forget to mention that I replaced the levers with some adjustable ones. I know the bike needs a service and I already have oil but need a filter which I will probably do myself. Last service was about 2K ago and everything is lubed/greased with no play on the cable. The bike has full history. Oh and it's a sprint 1050

Might sound silly but check the bolt that connects the new lever to the lever body. I did mine up a little too much and had no end of problems. Backed it off half a turn and problem solved.

billinom8s wrote:Might sound silly but check the bolt that connects the new lever to the lever body. I did mine up a little too much and had no end of problems. Backed it off half a turn and problem solved.

I've done that too, easy mistake

Make sure you have at least 2-3mm of freeplay on the clutch cable. If this is correct and you sill have problems with slipping then you either have the wrong type of oil (car) as above or the plates are worn out/damaged.
Only replace them with genuine ones. EBC plates will give problems.

Erm......... Put a litre of oil in. God knows where that went. Did a little adjusting lever end while out today and it has improved quite dramatically. Gonna do an oil change during the week with, hopefully new discs and pads