Clutch

[madtabbis]

I have been riding the VTR for last 8 months and all has been well. Recently while pulling off slowly the bike has spun the rear wheel, the revs shot up and jerked forward I had to pull the clutch in quickly or I would have been down the road on one wheel and into back of car. ( not a failed wheelie attempt) As I was not expecting that to happen Not sure if clutch is knackered or something else is wrong? This is the second time it has done this in last 3 weeks. Any advice?

[Wicky]

1) Stop pulling yourself off, either slowly or jerkily, whilst publicly out on the bike - I know it can't be helped sometimes but you'll go blind

2) Practically, try bleeding your clutch (Where is the current bite point?)

[tony.mon]

Are you describing a situation where the bike seems to have opened the throttle more than you thought you had opened it?
Because that's quite worrying, and will, as you say, have you on your butt at some point, probably halfway round a greasy wet roundabout, or trying to pull away at a tee junction.

Storms are know to have a clutch problem, where the clutch, during a hard getaway (traffic light GP, or dragstrip launch) will instead of slipping, make a graunching noise and suddenly lock instead of slipping controllably.

But what you've described is neither clutch slip or the above problem, more likely to be throttle cable-related.

Could you describe it in a bit more detail?

[benny hedges]

wonder if it's a sticking carb slide???
it would pull away smoothly (with reduced power) then when the engine makes enough vacuum, the 2nd slide would move and yes, the revs would shoot up etc...

[motostorm]

if you take off front sproket cover youll probably find the clutch pushrod covered in gunk and or crud anyways clean the lot and the hole in the casing , pushrod should be spotless and very lightly lubed before replacing ,remove slave clyinder from cover , refit cover then cylinder , and replace / bleed fluid , it should help

that problem will at least be embarrassing and at worst painful , (if ye try and make a quick getaway at a turn )

hope its correct and of some help
that greatly reduced my similar problem

[AMCQ46]

Madtabbis,
I am with Tony on this one, as most of us know the Storm can have a clutch issue which give unintended wheelies as it goes from slipping as normal then there is a "grunch" noise and instantly the clutch locks finaly resulting in trouser browning.
My bike does it all the time, I can make it happen or stop it happening depending on how much torque I try to slip through the clutch, clutch works fine and slips prgressivly at low torque [throttle opening], but if I try to modulate a lot of torque, it does the "grunch" / lock every time, and cleaning the pushrod and bleeding the hydraulics has made no difference.
BUT

You talk of "the revs shot up"............which is not the case with the clutch grabbing, and if this is the case you have a new problem


But It could be that you thought it must have been more revs as the bike does fly forwards if the clutch locks, or it could be that as the bike jumped it caused you to open the throttle more...........in which case you have same clutch problem as me and others.

I learn to ride round the problem [how lazy is that!] as the bike has lots of torque, so I get the clutch out at lowish revs and minimum slipping, then open the throttle. I also have to remember not to get into traffic light drag races.

I plan to have more of a look at the clutch plates and basket this winter, but for now I have no solution

[madtabbis]

Thanks for all the replys

so I will try out your solutions.

The bike has just been serviced so the clutch will have been adjusted etc


But what AMCQ46 describes fairly accurate as to what the bike is doing. Maybe my description was not 100 % It is a bit of a worry for me as I have girlfriend on the bike and daughter at times , Girlfriend got scared and went out bought her own bike and said " I am not riding on that beast" sod off

Thanks for help

[tony.mon]

The bike has just been serviced so the clutch will have been adjusted etc

No it won't- they're not adjustable!
That's the one good thing about hydraulic clutches, no need to adjust, as they self-adjust.

To be fair it's quite easy to ride round the problem, just get the clutch out early and use the engine's torque to pull you up through the revs, as you're probably doing already.
Once the clutch is fully home and not slipping you can use as much throttle as you like; it'll just lift the front.

In fact I set my best drag strip time ever using this method!

I have to report that I have spent some time and money in trying to sort this problem, replacing clutches, baskets, clutch centre bearings, top hat bearing, plates etc- nothing seems to fix it.

My money's on the big bearing behind the clutch set into the crankcases, which means engine out and splitting the cases to replace.
The bearing's only about a tenner.
And you can do it in a long weekend, no need to disturb the top end as the crank stays in the top half of the engine.

But while you're there you might as well replace mains and big end shells, that'll be another £50, but better done while the engine's apart rather than have to go through the same malarkey again another time.

I'd quote £275 plus parts- ride-in to ride-out.

[madtabbis]

Thanks

I might consider doing that In end of Jan once after Christmas bankruptcy period is over

[Eclectic]

I think this must be the same curse my girl has! If im on my own, it doesnt happen. Get plonked byside a mate or my brother at a set of lights, get ready, set...GO....*PAAARP*

Not the "eat my dust muhfukkas" launch I was expecting.....Instead a hell of a jerk follwed by nipping the clutch back in! I was hoping to find a solution, instead I find this :/ Which the immediate thought is I wanna sell it! But Im sure Ill learn to live with it.

Have you tried your last method Tony?

[benny hedges]

mine was ok, then i burned a set of plates out at last years bulldog, then it started slipping at high rpm but no grab.
i then replaced the blued slipping plates with a used set off tony from a bike that used to grab... they looked A1 condition.
but then mine started to grab. nearly had me off a few times lol!
so this makes me think (obviously) that the grabbing issue is more related to the condidtion ./ wear ./ warpage of the plates rather than a more ominous inner bearing failure.

as ive just bought a barnet set for mine, we;ll see if replacing the basket & plates cures the problem or if i have to go deeper.

[Eclectic]

Awesome, I await your findings!

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[matt1966]

I had the same problem bleeding the clutch a few times seemed to cure it.

[Eclectic]

Really? Id be amazed if that had ANYTHING to do with it?? All the clutch hydraulics do is push the rod, theres no load there.

Though Ive bled mine once since gettin her, its already looking dark again after a week, so she still needs a new bleed.

[tony.mon]

Bleeding and cleaning the pushrod and sprocket cover area can certainly have an effect, as can stripping and cleaning the clutch master cylinder.

Any of these could mean a delay on the clutch actuating mechanism- if you imagine your clutch lever action you flick it out to the bite point, then hold it still, then feed it gently out- at least that's what I do.
So if there's any stickiness on the mechanism it can be still feeding out when you've stopped moving the lever at the bite point- sort of delayed action.
Then it catches up with a jolt, and the clutch locks.

But no, I've never just replaced the big bearing and then seen if there's any difference, last time I replaced that bearing it was on a spare engine which I hadn't previously run in a bike, and so i don't know if it was a grabby one or not.
But I fitted a new bearing while I was there; it certainly doesn't grab now....

Benny's point about plates etc seems good, but I have tried replacing friction plates, steel plates, top hat bearing, clutch centre bearing and clutch basket, one at a time, with no change at all on a grabby one without success, you'd have thought that one or more of these things would have nailed it if one of these was the culprit.