Clutch making an odd noise and has less travel?

[Taipan]

Woman at work has a w reg curvy. She says when she pulls away it sometimes makes a screech from the engine. Also she says her clutch goes from bite to full out with less travel and when she puts it into first it isn't as smooth as it used to be and often grinds and its not as easy to select neutral as it used to be. The clutch isn't slipping under hard acceleration. She thinks this all started after her brother fitted new chain and sprockets? Any ideas on whats going wrong?

[Sid Squid]

First place to look is the clutch release bearing and associated thrust washers.

mine has a similar issue, to me i believe its a slipping clutch/the clutch is not disengaging fully, its a travel issue in the plates possibly? im going to look in a few weeks and il let u al kno how it goes but im going to try a method that worked on my old scram which shud b a similar idea... if the clutch has screws with springs through the plates a fair ammount of wear will make the clutch drag more so by adjusting said screws u can get a bit more life out of clutch before it needs changed... this isnt gospel, its a theory, if it works il re-post though im sure someone more knowledgable will help out shortly and shoot me down haha

[Taipan]

I tried the bike myself and it didn't feel any different to mine. Coincidently I rode mine fo rteh first time in a couple of weeks and it did the exact same thing hers did, made a little screech and sort of slipped a bit. Mine is overdue an oil change. I wonder if hers is?

Yeh mine was due a change wen it first did it, but check the oil level too, it is a wet clutch so perhaps the oil level is low? Mine has a weepy clutch cover issue so I believe it cud b oil level? Once again these are just theories I'm afraid!

Check the clutch adjustment at the worm drive (I think this is what sid squid was also saying above). To do this you:

Take off the front sprocket cover (3 x 8 mm bolts...you'll need a socket on an extension to get to them). Pull the clutch lever and see where the push-rod goes into the engine; this is what seperates the clutch plates when you pull the clutch in. To adjust this,m slacken off the clutch cable at both ends. Take a 10 mm ring spanner (i think its 10 mm) and a flat headed screw driver; put the flat headed screw driver in the slot and the ring spaner on the nut surrounding the sloted thread. Holding the screwdriver steady, release the nut. Wind in the pushrod with the screwdriver until it juuuuust touches (to get a feel, when it first touches, back off and then wind to a touch again). Now, with it just touching, wind out about 1/8th of a turn (haynes says 1/4, sid squid says 1/8...1/8 seems better). Holding the rod steady in this position, nip up the nut with your ring spanner. Retightend clutch cable to the desired slack, leaving yourself some room at the handlebar end to loosen off or tighten once the clutch cover is back on.

If this dosn't help, try replacing the engine oil.

I've had some clutch woes recently, started last year when the bike was a struggle to get into neutral when it was hot (for example when going through a busy town). An oil change made things better, but it slowly crept back in and I had even worse clutch problems, despit various adjustments. My dad ended up replacing the clutch plates (and springs) and smoothing down the notches of the clutch basket - net result is a clutch that works properly and a bike that goes into neutral when ever I want it too

Keep us posted on what happens

[Taipan]

Thanks for that. Thinking back I remember how I used to like how easy my bike was to get into neutral at the lights. Its not that easy now. I also recently took the worm drive off to tighten the gearbox sprocket (oil leak) and re-adjusted it as per Haynes afterwards. So I'll redo it ala Sid Squids 1/8th and not Haynes 1/4 and report back what difference its made.

[Taipan]

Originally Posted by Taipan

Thanks for that. Thinking back I remember how I used to like how easy my bike was to get into neutral at the lights. Its not that easy now. I also recently took the worm drive off to tighten the gearbox sprocket (oil leak) and re-adjusted it as per Haynes afterwards. So I'll redo it ala Sid Squids 1/8th and not Haynes 1/4 and report back what difference its made.

And it worked just fine! I can now select neutral at the lights etc again.