Your experience with clutches

Just a quickie,

My SV has 19k on the clock, over the past 5k the clutch (sometimes) drags like hell with the lever pulled in. On these bikes do the plates tend to warp before they start slipping? Or can the clutch lifter be a problem? Im just looking for the most common problems with the clutches on these as I have minimal time to work on it

[Viney]

Is the clutch adjusted properly, and not just at the lever? Search on here for clutch adjustment by SidSquid. If not, get this done and see how it is. Then if not better get the compnents checked out. Worm drive, then clutch basket for notches, then the steels, then fianly the plates. Theres bearings and other stuff, but at 19k, id doubt if they are the problem.

Do you do a lot of clutch induced wheelies/burouts etc? This can also decrease clutch component life.

Mine grags like a dog with no legs, but mines done 50k of town work. Yes it needs new steels and plates, and will get some...eventualy.

[yorkie_chris]

The worm drive is the simplest one to check, mine gets quite regular attention as any knackered-ness in the lever movement results in my wrist and thumb crunching and siezing and me reaching for the scotch.
Probably 15 minutes to dismantle, clean, grease and reassemble.

[JediGoat]

Sorry......I totally misread the title of the thread as "Your experience with crutches".

But seeing as I thought I'd share my thoughts anyway, I find that after a couple of days, the handles really dig in and you are better off wearing cycling gloves to relieve the pressure on the palms of your hands.

Oh....and they are handy for turning the telly over if you can't find the remote.

Jo <- getting coat now....