21,000 on the original plates and basket. Clatters like a good'un though. A good clean and restack usually stops the grabbiness, just do it as part of the normal service. Restacking a clutch is easy.
Just riding it may sort it out. It's probably a bit gooed up with disuse. As the Duke says, a good clean out is probably in order.
congrats on the purchase i have a 999 and the clutch action is always a small issue, the master cylinder is a poor design and lets air into the system, i bleed the clutch after every long ish ride and its very simple. just see if there is and 'play' in the lever first and then wip the 3 scews out of the fluid cap and inside youll see a small 6 or 7 mm screw head. with the bike level just release the screw by 90 degrees and pull the clutch lever slowly towards the bar. if air comes out then happy days, nip it up and put the cap back on the clutch fluid reservoir. also the 749r came with a slipper clutch as standard, and they are a bit 'grabby' so it might be a case of getting used to it a little more..
I'm amazed you regularly need to bleed the clutch in this way. I dont... Surely there must be something wrong somewhere.
I agree, there must be something wrong with it. Never have to bleed any of mine apart from when swapping lines or renewing fluid.
I done the silent clutch mod to mine. So simple to do and very effective. It also eliminated a slight "growning" sound when pulling away quick. I also removed the rubber gasket from the clutch cover housing and spaced the cover out using the existing washers that were inbedded into the gasket. This simply mod prevents clutch dust from building up inside the stack and keep it cool. You could always buy bling open clutch covers to do the same thing but my personal taste is to keep it looking standard. The clutch will alway feel different to most other bikes. I noticed a very quick "grabbing" effect when I first rode mine but you soon get use to it. It's just one of those Ducati thing I guess !!
Took the clutch apart over the weekend and took it to Ducati john for a once over. He says the plates are like new and stack height is spot on. I notice that there is only one concave plate (the one with the dot on) but he said this is normal for slipper clutch. I read that some people have two in? anyone done this? He also mentioned he knew someone who sealed the clutch cover and filled with a bit of oil so it effectively became a wet clutch. He also said replacing it with a 48t clutch arrangement can gt rid of the grabbing completely. this will costs £430 supplied and fitted. has anyone experience of this?
I would advise that you get a few miles under your belt on the bike getting used to it before you consider shelling out on any expensive alternatives. The nature of the engine character combined with the dry clutch are always going to be different to the bike you learnt on. Give it time and I feel you will get used to it and not need to swap anything over. Cheers.
Went to Halfords the other day to get some lithium grease to try the 'lithium grease mod' but they only sold it in huge tubs. I ordered some off the net and am going to try smearing it into the friction surfaces and then rubbing off the excess as recommended. Will report back on how it works...
Forgive my ignorance if I'm wrong but I thought the idea was to gently wind the bolts in until they bottom out and the springs will then have the correct pre-load. Will the springs themselves not load the threads enough to prevent them from unwinding? I have a y-shaped allen-key tool made by Park tools I use for this sort of thing and tend to nip allen bolts up with similar pressure to that which it took to undo them.
I stripped a thread in the engine casing for the clutch cover by not using a torque wrench, one I didn't even need to undo. @nelly saved my arse.
Yep, just one more little nip with the socket wrench and BANG! :Banghead::Banghead::Banghead::Banghead::Banghead::Banghead::Banghead::Banghead::Banghead::Banghead::Banghead::Banghead::Banghead: Lesson learnt!
Hey Simon, I too have a 749R and had exactly the same problem. It either grinded or stalled, no in between. And if there was a slight hill, the bike would stall constantly. I was at the point where I was going to have the slipper clutch taken out, as I looked like a noob stalling it on a slight incline. Finally, I took it into my mechanic at Ducati Richmond(I live in Canada) and they adjusted the clutch, its as good as new and rides like any other clutch. Lots of give, no grinding or stalls. I would take it in, explain the problem and ask them to adjust it. I can not tell you exactly what they did, but it was a simple fix according to them. Hope that helps, good luck. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
I have rebuilt my clutch and converted it to a blingy open type. The plates are Suzuki GS650 pattern plates, which are reputed to be not only much cheaper than oem but much smoother as well. They are designed to be run wet though and seem to be prone to absorbing water, so I applied the lithium grease mod for good measure and cooked them at 200c until they stopped smoking as recommended. I imagine these plates could also be used in a slipper clutch in order to reduce grabbiness. I also stuck an extra friction plate under the first plain plate, as before, for the quiet clutch mod. So I'm wondering, am I alone in having a Ducati open dry clutch with Suzuki plates, the quiet clutch mod and the lithium grease mod????
