Symptoms: Pulled in clutch lever, bike continued to move forward, difficult (i.e. near impossible) to shift. Was in 1st/2nd. Bike has 77,000 miles.
Pulled over and backed out the adjuster at the clutch lever to remove all free play. Achieved ability to disengage the clutch, but of course now it is (predictably enough) slipping. Got home fine.
I assume the likely cause is either that I adjusted the cable poorly when I replaced the clutch pack in January (~6,700 miles ago), or that the cable has acquired some stretch, perhaps exacerbated by the force of compressing a brand new diaphragm spring these past few thousand miles. Intermittently since the clutch replacement, I've had some difficulty downshifting, particularly into 1st/2nd in slow-and-go traffic, but since it was intermittent I didn't think to consider the clutch cable. Now it seems to me that was the current problem developing.
When I reassembled the bike after replacing the clutch pack and lubing the splines, I followed the Clymer and FSM instructions closely. My only near-deviation was in adjusting free-play at the clutch lever to the very low end of the specified 5-7mm -- ironically, because I figured any stretch in the cable over time would be best handled by minimizing the free play so the lever would achieve the maximum throwout distance on being pulled in.
The (extensive) service records don't record any replacement of the clutch cable, and the previous owner, a friend, doesn't remember having had it replaced, so it is likely original.
So ... do I readjust the cable at the transmission, replace it, or look elsewhere for the problem? And if the answer is "readjust at transmission," should I just bite the bullet, take the tank off, and replace the dang thing anyway? That's kind of where I'm heading. But if there's a good way to handle this at the handlebar adjuster that'd be keen.
Pulled over and backed out the adjuster at the clutch lever to remove all free play. Achieved ability to disengage the clutch, but of course now it is (predictably enough) slipping. Got home fine.
I assume the likely cause is either that I adjusted the cable poorly when I replaced the clutch pack in January (~6,700 miles ago), or that the cable has acquired some stretch, perhaps exacerbated by the force of compressing a brand new diaphragm spring these past few thousand miles. Intermittently since the clutch replacement, I've had some difficulty downshifting, particularly into 1st/2nd in slow-and-go traffic, but since it was intermittent I didn't think to consider the clutch cable. Now it seems to me that was the current problem developing.
When I reassembled the bike after replacing the clutch pack and lubing the splines, I followed the Clymer and FSM instructions closely. My only near-deviation was in adjusting free-play at the clutch lever to the very low end of the specified 5-7mm -- ironically, because I figured any stretch in the cable over time would be best handled by minimizing the free play so the lever would achieve the maximum throwout distance on being pulled in.
The (extensive) service records don't record any replacement of the clutch cable, and the previous owner, a friend, doesn't remember having had it replaced, so it is likely original.
So ... do I readjust the cable at the transmission, replace it, or look elsewhere for the problem? And if the answer is "readjust at transmission," should I just bite the bullet, take the tank off, and replace the dang thing anyway? That's kind of where I'm heading. But if there's a good way to handle this at the handlebar adjuster that'd be keen.
