No drive :-(

Hi all,

Rode down to Poole Quay last night (45 miles), ride down seemed fine, bike was running a little hotter than usual but nothing excessive, just put this down to the high volume of traffic on the way down. Parked up for about an hour then went to come home.

I think the clutch has gone. I can be in any gear, release the clutch lever fully and put on any amount of revs up to the red line and the bike just creeps forwards.

I have checked the chain is not snapped and adjusted correctly, there is still good clean oil in the engine, the clutch cable is intact. My wife thought she could smell burning clutch when we pulled away so i think it might be the plates.

Anyone want to offer some advice, hints or other possible causes.

Not the best night out when 3000 bikes ride past you while yours is being loaded into a recovery van :-(

It has been known that the front sprocket comes loose and away from the shaft at the front end of the drive system.

Whether this is just a loose nut requiring tightening to make the front sprocket grip on the drive shaft or that a woodrough key has sheared and needs replacing I'm not sure.

Could also be that I'm not only barking up the wrong tree , but completely barking to boot. But worth a quick investigation.

Tel that is exactly what i was thinking reading the problem.
You can check the front sprocket easily by shining a small led torch with a small beam pattern down the length of the chain under the chain guard. You can see the sprocket as well as the securing nut & locktab if still there.

Can anyone tell me the torque figures for the spring retaining bolts in the clutch please??

olliej wrote:Can anyone tell me the torque figures for the spring retaining bolts in the clutch please??

If you mean the bolts holding the clutch springs in I think they were 8nm.

I am sad....

Thanks for all your help guys. 4 days later the cat is running again


Check the front sprocket and it was still attached. Needed a real good clean under this casing though, i think that there must have easily been 20k miles of crud in here. This was definitely not helping matters with the clutch cam thingy/push rod. An hour of cleaning removed it all but did not fix the problem :-(

Removing the clutch cover and examining the springs (everyone a different length) and friction plates told a tell though. All the plates were fine apart from 1 that appeared to have no friction material left at all!

A quick phone call to Bitza Bikes in taunton (1st time used, highly recommend) got me a set of plates and springs by 10am next day for £20 cheaper than wemoto. The bonus for this was that they came presoaked!!

I gave the plates another 4 hours of soaking then fitted with new springs. Blow me!!! THis bike is rapidio. Ever since I got it last Aug the clutch must have been going and now i get full power transfer its like a new bike to me. Hopefully this will improve my fuel economy to (old slipping clutch can't have helped) I used to do about 100 miles on a 13-15 quid.

Again many thanks for all that took the time to reply

Glad you got it sorted

Nice one mate well done on the fix.