Clutch diagnosis

[dxhall]

Regardless of how I adjust the lever, cable, or clutch arm, the clutch on the new-to-me Cal Vin releases in the first mm or so of clutch lever travel.  This makes riding it a bit unpleasant.  I am thinking that the lack of travel means that the clutch springs have sagged.  The clutch doesn’t slip, which I think means that the friction surfaces on the plates aren’t bad.  Any thoughts on my diagnosis?  I wouldn’t want to get the transmission off and find that everything is in spec.

[pehayes]

Would be nice to know how many miles on this machine.  And, what kind of miles.  Long touring?  Two-up?  Trailer towing?  Etc.  Sounds to me like the friction discs are about down to the minimum thickness.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

[Huzo]

Just so I’m clear..
You say “released”, do you mean that when you have the bike in gear and driving with no slip, you only have to pull the lever in very slightly to make it slip ?
Or..
When you are stationary in gear with the clutch lever pulled in, you only have to let the lever out marginally to feel the bike begin to pull away ?
I think I know which one you mean, but just being certain.

[bigbikerrick]

DX,  does the calvin have that little   adjustment screw on the clutch actuation arm? A little but of adjustment goes a long way on that.
Rick.

[dxhall]

Thanks for the quick replies.  The bike has 22k miles.  I don’t know much about its history, but the prior owner lived in a small town so I doubt if the bike saw lots of heavy traffic.  It had a fist-sized mouse nest in the air cleaner box when I got it, so performance may have been suboptimal.

When I got the bike, there was about one inch of slack (as in, lever flopping around) in the clutch lever.  When I adjust it to remove the slack (either by adjusting the clutch lever on the back of the transmission, or the cable) the clutch will disengage when the lever is pulled in only a mm or so.  This means that, if I were at a stop light in gear with the clutch lever pulled against the bar, the clutch wouldn’t engage until the lever goes through almost all of its travel.  If I adjust things so that the engagement point is closer to the bar, I get the floppy lever again.

Bad clutch springs, you think?

[Kev m]

It's been a while, but I seem to remember my Jackal lever had a bit of flop when adjusted to spec.

[Tom H]

To me it sounds like you have the lever adjusted too tight. You should have a few mm's of clearance between the lever and the lever mount. There is a spec for it that I can look up latter if needed.

Tom

[Mr Revhead]

There are 3 points of adjustment.
1: Handlebar lever
2: Where the cable is connected to the rear housing of the gearbox
3: The little screw in the lever that pushes the clutch pushrod.

As mentioned above, a little adjustment on 3 has a big effect on 1. So much so that a couple of turns can make it impossible to correctlySo  adjust elsewhere.

So check the adjustment there first. Remember you need a little clearance there, the screw MUST have a little free play between it and the pushrod, only about half a mm is ok there, as you will see in the manual it calls for something like 6mm at the end of the lever.
Just be aware that some bikes this adjustment changes between hot and cold, so check it when hot to make sure you havn't lost clearance. My Sport is so finicky around this! Perfect adjustment when cold means clutch won't release fully when hot, perfect when hot means clutch barely engages!

So get 3 correct, then move onto 1 and 2, but check 3 at each step, and when you have it right, check it when hot. You might have to find a compromise setting where it's a little tigher than you'd like when cold, but fine when warms up.

[moto-uno]

  +1  , Peter

[Kiwi_Roy]

If you get down by the gearbox looking at the lever where the cable attaches you should be able to push the end forward but only a few mm. This is the play the bearing needs so its not under constant load.
Perhaps unhook the cable while you set the adjuster on the end of the clutch release rod.
So you feel the spring pushing the lever to the rear of the bike and you can push it forward 2 or 3 mm
Now re-attach the cable and adjust it so that when the lever is back in its rest position the hand lever is also right out or perhaps 1 mm from rest.
Now when you squeeze the lever it moves one or 2 mm easily then gets harder as it takes up the slack at the gearbox lever.
if you have small hands you can adjust the cable to have more play at the bar lever but leave the gearbox release lever with just a couple of mm free play.