Clutch: hard to pull?

I look forward to it, Capt_Zoom - just don't go adding any nostalgic spark advance devices. I like a bust thrilling ride, TwoMany, but my idea of heaven is two hands on those bars moving more or less in a straight line.

Anlaf
 
Well, the twist clutch is going to have to wait. The parts came and the farrells for the clutch cable don't quite fit into the housing or the throttle sleeve. So I set it up using a traditional lever.

My setup was is now as follows:
-Brand new worm gear assembly lubed well with bearing grease.
-650central 46" clutch cable without elbow. I ordered the 46" thinking I was going to use the moose racing EZ pull mechanism...right now I haven't but the cable just barely works legthwise. If I need more length I'll just add the moose device.
-A $50 cyclegear trackside adjustable clutch lever assembly (removed the dust shield). http://www.cyclegear.com/CycleGear/.../Snapback-Clutch-Lever-Assembly/p/43337_59409 I'm not a huge fan of this brand but we wanted a black assembly and lever to match the right side.

Routing.
I still have to make the routing more permanent but at present I have it routed just behind the choke on the left side, over the choke, under the tank to the right of the headlight backside and over to the left side bar. For the moment I just have it zip tied to my throttle cable which runs under the tank on the left side of the top motor mounts. I also lubed the hell out of the cable using regular cable lube.

The verdict:
Holy crap what a difference. Went from a 20lb+ lever pull (measured by a fish scale attached to the end of the lever) to a 4lb pull. My wife thinks she can handle this just fine. I'll do more fine tuning when the roads are dry but I think we have a great setup as is. Its about half to one third the clutch pull than my Yamaha Raider's hydraulic clutch. i think she'll be a happy camper.
 
Now for the twist throttle idea. After seeing how light my pull is now I have no doubt that a twist could work. This is the part I ordered from Dennis Kirk.

https://www.denniskirk.com/motion-pro/push-pull-throttle-black.p57549.prd/57549.sku
dk57549.jpg


To get it to work with the 650central clutch cable I'd have to do the following. either cut off or shave down the cable ferrell so it can fit into the throttle assembly. I'd also need to make a threaded (both inside and out) insert so a regular clutch adjustment screw could fit. Next If the ferrule didn't fit into the sleeve after shaving I'd have to enlarge one of the holes probably a millimeter so the ferrule would fit. Keep in mind my old NOS stock clutch cable had a plastic piece that went over the ferrule so it would have been a problem working with the twist clutch. So that's where things are.

I know this...if my wife likes the lever she's probably not going to want me to play with it. So the twist clutch might have to wait for my next build. I'm keeping the parts. Sorry its going to have to wait guys. Couple things though if anyone wants to try this. Levers typically have a 4:1 pull ratio. A twist clutch would be similar to a pulley mechanism but I don't know the formulas to calculate how that 1.25" pulley would reduce the strength required to pull the clutch cable...which working backward from my 4lbs and a 4:1 ratio would be something like 16lbs to pull the cable out with just your hands. Its been so long since I had physics but IIRC a pull used like this should cut the 16lb load in half, which would put the twist at about 8lbs for a 35-45 degree twist. 8lbs is about what my Raider's clutch lever pull is.
 
When I set up my bikes,
I start with clean lubed parts, the cable adjusted to full slack, the jam nut on the worm screw adjuster broke loose and have the left side cover off.

I connect the cable to the worm screw arm and with the lever fully pulled, I adjust the cable at the perch until the cable is properly adjusted. The cable is properly adjusted when the cable and arm are at 90' degrees to each other, continue adjusting the cable 2mm past the 90'of the worm screw arm and cable.
( 90' IS VERY IMPORTANT IT IS THE MAXIMUM LEVERAGE POINT the 2 mm allows for cable slack and a full pull to 90' between the worm screw arm and cable.)

At this point I mount the side cover and torque the mounting bolts to spec.
Once the side cover is mounted adjust the worm screw until it makes light contact with the push rod and removes all lash to the pressure plate and back off the screw 1/4 turn and secure with lock nut.

Next I adjust the cable at the perch to remove all slack, after which I back off the adjustment to allow 2mm free play in the cable measured between the perch and lever.

I use MMM's Easy-pull cable that gives the proper length for the bike, when combined with the high ratio lever makes for a very easy lever pull.

Riksoto
 
Read through all the post...good info...had an 83 Special with a very hard pull. Put on a new cable(after dripping 10-30W oil through it), cleaned and greased the worm gear, when I tightened the worm gear housing down it squeezed the worm gear and rotated hard, I flipped the housing around and didn't tighten it down so hard and it rotated smoothly. My worm gear only had one hole (upper) so I drilled another one below it....put it all back together and it reduced my pull by 75+%%%%......I believe tightening down the worm gear housing too much was probably the primary problem...Thanks for the advice....:thumbsup:
 

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