My 'emergency' clutch repair

[oldnslow]

Here's a picture of my 'McGyvered' clutch repair that I did 650 miles from home. (They only break when at least 200 miles from home) And before I get 20 lashes, I know the only reason it was an 'emergency' repair was because I was foolish enough to take a trip without a spare cable.

A Kind hearted man for a ride to town and a trusting hardware store to loan me a drill, and I was back in bidness!

 

[PeoriaMac]

Whatever works....works.

Mac

 

[Omega Man]

Erasing the feeling of helplessness.....

 

[angysdad]

I was once doing a cross country (USA) trip and broke a clutch cable in small town Nebraska. The anonymous book led me to a gentleman who took the cable off his bike to help me out. I made it to Death Valley where cable #2 broke. I McGuyvered it with special clutch repair bolt I had purchased (package of two) in Nebraska. That got me to Vegas, where I bought a new one and a spare. About 2 weeks later riding through coastal Oregon, a K bike pulls out in front of me and immediately pulls to the side of the road. He had broke a clutch cable. I still had the second repair bolt to help him out. What comes around goes around. Someone helped me out, and I was able to pass it along soon afterwards.

 

[oldnslow]

Erasing the feeling of helplessness.....

so true...the first 30 seconds of 'Oh Crap' followed by 15 minutes of 'Oh Geez, we're screwed now' to 45 minutes of 'coming up with a plan' to 90 minutes of 'implementing the plan' to then returning borrowed tools and back on the road!

I had to keep the bars turned slightly to the left to fully disengage the clutch at stops, but we bee lined for the interstate and headed for home.

 

[oldnslow]

I was once doing a cross country (USA) trip and broke a clutch cable in small town Nebraska. The anonymous book led me to a gentleman who took the cable off his bike to help me out. I made it to Death Valley where cable #2 broke. I McGuyvered it with special clutch repair bolt I had purchased (package of two) in Nebraska. That got me to Vegas, where I bought a new one and a spare. About 2 weeks later riding through coastal Oregon, a K bike pulls out in front of me and immediately pulls to the side of the road. He had broke a clutch cable. I still had the second repair bolt to help him out. What comes around goes around. Someone helped me out, and I was able to pass it along soon afterwards.

Second day into this 9 day trip, I blew the seal in my rear shock. The Anon Book saved my hide...guy gave me his shock off of his bike, just asked me to mail it back to him (which I did last Monday) when we finished the trip!

The clutch gave way on day 7!

The 'goes around comes around' is true. I believe I had this bad luck because one day before the trip started, I was a jerk to an Arkansas State Park employee over room reservations....i
I regretted how I acted towards her even before the bad luck set in. I have since sent her a letter apologizing for my rude and obnoxious behavior... Have you ever found yourself saying things and realized they were wrong but they just kept coming out?

 

[BCKRider]

When I broke a clutch cable several years ago I was just on a little cruise of local back roads. Had a very indistinct memory of something I'd read or been told that you COULD both shift up and down without a clutch, but once you killed the engine, that was that. So I down shifted to first about a half mile from a stop sign where the back road I was on joined a major two lane hiway. Gave me time to plan my options.

The best option was to just make the left turn I needed to make to get home, if traffic on the hiway was clear in both directions. Second best option was to make a right turn onto the hiway in first gear, then make a U-turn when traffic allowed. Last option was to kill the bike at the stop sign. Turned out I could use option number 2.

I think I may have upshifted to 3rd (easier than downshifting without a clutch) and then remembered I had two MORE stop signs to get through before I had clear sailing home. Somehow got through those too and got to the top of my driveway before the brakes killed the engine.

Different bike now, but think I'll have a good look at the ends of my clutch cable tomorrow. Most of these memorable moments can be avoided.

 

[35634]

Gotta luv jury rigged things that work. I'm on a quest to replace as much of my K as possible with hinges, locks, clamps, fasteners and whatever from HomeDepot and Sears.