hey guys, after a few rides lately ! Have found that my hand feels the strain of several hours of gear changing on my 749, is there anything I could do to alleviate this problem, and allow me, to ride pain free?Any advice greatly appreciated!
You know you just invited a shed load of derogatory comments don't you? : ) You can :- remove 2 clutch springs and/or fit an aftermarket slave cylinder with a different ratio - that's assuming that you haven't done either yet
You could also do clutchless changes up the box - that would remove, perhaps 40% of the use of the clutch. Obviously not going to be much help in heavy traffic. You can buy gadgets to strengthen the gripping action.
Quickshifter? Got one on mine - less clutching and great fun also. Not a cheap fix though! Lighter clutch springs also
I have done a lot of work on my clutch this year but have ended up, accidentally, with a mega-light clutch lever. When i got the bike, the friction plate tangs were knackered but I did the quiet clutch mod, so this no longer mattered too much, as the plates can no longer oscillate. However, it did bother me that that plates were in such a state, so rebuilding the clutch was on my 'to do' list this last winter. While I was about it, I decided to go for an open cover with blingy internals. I therefore set about acquiring the necessary parts: 1 Chinese black anodised aluminium cover with Y-shaped spokes to match the wheel spokes, from ebay 1 Ducati Performance pressure plate in gold, s/h but unused from a forum member. I set of stainless springs, bolts and red anodised caps from Avanti Race parts on this forum. 1 set of s/h slightly used friction plates from a forum member. These are intended for a wet clutch Suzuki GS650 but some members of this forum swear by them - others swear at them... I installed it all and went for a test ride. At first, all seemed fine but then I started to get drag, which got worse and worse to the point where I was glad to get it home. I thought this must be due to not allowing for the extra thickness of the new friction plates, so I reduced the stack height by taking out a plain plate - still no good, so I took out another. Eventually, I ended up with just enough plain plates to alternate with a plain plate at top and bottom (except for the quiet-mod friction plate at the bottom) and the plain plates at top and bottom were both the thin, dished type of plate, so I had a really low stack height. I still had terminal drag though Then I found that with the engine still warm, I couldn't get the friction plates out - they were jammed in the clutch basket slots! The tangs of the Suzuki plates must be long enough to jam in my particular after-market aluminium basket when they warm up and expand. I then left just two of the Suzuki plates in place at the bottom end of the stack and used the old ones for the rest and took it for a ride. Yay! Sorted I now had a clutch that didn't slip, despite the ultra-low stack height and didn't drag either - in fact I have so little drag that I can not only select neutral from first at rest with ease, I can select neutral from second just as easily. I've never had that before... The big bonus though was the lightness of the clutch lever. It is so light now that, without thinking about it, I have found myself using two fingers for all gear changes - never had that before either The reason has to be the ultra-low stack height giving less pre-load on the springs. So, if you want to reduce lever pressure, try removing some plain plates, where they are doubled up, in order to reduce your stack height. So far I have found no down-side.
Re: effect - you are right to be wary I tend to find that removing two Springs works around eight times out of 10. Best way is to immediately take the bike out once you remove the springs and give it a hard fast run to test for any slipping. If there is slippage and it wasn't doing it before then obviously back right off and put the two springs back as to ignore would overheat or even possibly distort the steel plates and glaze/wear out the friction plates prematurely.
