bigyellowthing Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 I had to ride my 1100 ET / EX in traffic recently and within a couple of minutes the lever was dangerously close to the bar and neutral was off for an early bath.Is it just mine or does everyone suffer rapid clutch fade?Is there any way of making it better or is traffic dodging a no no? Quote Link to comment
Screwriverracing Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Sound like you need to do a clutch rebuild, they are usually very reliable.Cheers SRR Quote Link to comment
KATANAMANGLER Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 How old is the cable? If its frayed, stretched and unwinding it can have the same effect. Quote Link to comment
bigyellowthing Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 Hi KatanamanglerThe cable is fine, lubed with ptfe oil regularly, friction plates are nearly new (EBC), steel plates aren't blued or bent, oil is recent and clean and clutch basket is undamaged.The adjustment is fine until the engine gets warm.I have an efe oil cooler and filter housing fitted.Is this normal? Quote Link to comment
KATANAMANGLER Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Personally I have never rated after market friction plates. Tried the EBC plates once and I found they slipped a lot when the bike was cold and dragged when it got hot. I switched back to OEM ( they cost more for a reason) and the problem disappeared. That's just my personal experience. 3 Quote Link to comment
bigyellowthing Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 Perhaps you have a point.I guess I have a winter job replacing the plates.Cheers for the advice 1 Quote Link to comment
Gixer1460 Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 (edited) I can't recommend anything made be EBC! Their Green brake pads used to be good then they changed the mixture to become FVQ! The clutches just don't seem to perform - lots of racers on a budget try them, burn up a couple of sets and revert to stock so not exactly saving money! Edited October 12, 2015 by Gixer1460 Quote Link to comment
wraith Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 Yes, EBC clutchs are NO good, had some EBC plates in my GSXF Kat and with in 200 miles they where fu*ked in the way I could put the bike in 1st gear let the clutch out stand by the bike rev it to 9000rpm and the bike would not move. Get some OEM plates. Quote Link to comment
Screwriverracing Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 You can't beat oem plates , always used them in my turbo. Also I shot blast the plates on a rebuild to give them a little more grip.Cheers SRR Quote Link to comment
Arttu Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 So you are getting more free play in the lever when the engine gets hot? Doesn't sound normal and I don't think it's because of the EBC plates. Unless the plates get badly warped when they heat up. One possible reason could be if the clutch shaft gets more axial play when warming up but I don't know why this would happen...The GSX clutch is pretty reliable and well behaving when in good condition. But for that simple device there are surprisingly many things that can be wrong. One often overlooked thing is checking straightness / flatness of all relevant parts. Especially the steel plates can be slightly warped even if they look good so better to check them against some really flat surface like thick glass. Even small warpage adds up when the plates are stacked up in the pack and then causes all kind weird behaviour. Also the pressure plate and bottom of the center hub can get distorted. Unfortunately it isn't too easy to check them. 1 Quote Link to comment
Blower1 Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 I have FBG plates in my EFE and the clutch lever free play is bigger when the engine is hot.Still the clutch is working properly. It not slip and neutral is easy to find.As Arttu wrote, the straightness off the steel plates is important. Last year I get my EFE clutch steel plates level grind and after thatthe clutch has worked perfectly, except that bigger lever free play when the engine is hot.Even the new oem steel plates can have small (0.01mm - 0.05mm) high spots. Quote Link to comment
Screwriverracing Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 Also check the bottom plate is still wired in correctly, have seen the locking wire cause problems before.Cheers SRR Quote Link to comment
johnr Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 i have to add my two pennorth for what its worth, stock plates are as good as they come, but i once did a guy a favour and he gave me a set of new barnett kevlar plates for my kat in return. by a considerable margin they were the best clutch plates ive ever experienced, they just hook up and fire you forwards, no slip, no grabbing, no woolyness, as soon as they bite, youre launched forwards, and no ammount of abuse would make them play up. id have anpother set, but im not sure id spend what it costs to buy them. 1 Quote Link to comment
Gammaboy Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 You don't have something wierd going on like one of the guys on the Aussie Katana forum - someone had stuffed SZ plates into an SD (or vice versa) - the springs and plate thicknesses are different.... Quote Link to comment
badgerkdd Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 Depending on the age of the cable, oiling it might be the wrong way to go? Modern cables have the ptfe liners and oiling the cable causes it to swell and the cable then sticks. That's what I was told once anyway, by a mechanic friend. Quote Link to comment
Gixer1460 Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 Depending on the age of the cable, oiling it might be the wrong way to go? Modern cables have the ptfe liners and oiling the cable causes it to swell and the cable then sticks. That's what I was told once anyway, by a mechanic friend. Well tell your mechanic he's wrong! PTFE is a pretty inert material and is actually used in hydraulic and fuel systems - both oil based - with no ill effects! Quote Link to comment
johnr Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 what actually happens is that people oil cables that have ptfe liners and arent supposed to be lubed, the oil on the cable gets dust stuck to it and the repeated use of it slowly drags the dirt down into the liner, this oil and dirt mix becomes a sort of grinding paste and slowly erodes the liner on the cable and the resulting gloop of oil dirt and abraded plastic siezed up the operation of the cable. folks have always said that the oil makes the plastic swell, but it doesnt, its much more simple than that. 2 Quote Link to comment
KATANAMANGLER Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 John's a plumber they know more about PTFE and blocked tubes than most. 1 Quote Link to comment
hagrid Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 (edited) I had to ride my 1100 ET / EX in traffic recently and within a couple of minutes the lever was dangerously close to the bar and neutral was off for an early bath.Is it just mine or does everyone suffer rapid clutch fade?Is there any way of making it better or is traffic dodging a no no?i suffer this with my gsx 600 f ,she is fine if i am solo riding but the second i go 2's up when she gets warm i start to get clutch drag as well as the symptoms above when stopped, i had a new clutch fitted as well as a new cable 2 months ago and she has done it since practically the day after the clutch was done, bike shop says there is nothing wrong with the clutch. Edited October 25, 2015 by hagrid Quote Link to comment
Gixer1460 Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Check chain tension when two up.......probably too tight! You need some slack to allow the gears and shafts to re-align a bit!......well that's my theory anyway! Quote Link to comment
bigyellowthing Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 Cheers Gixer,I'm going to go back to standard plates which seems to be the way forward Quote Link to comment
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