clutch cable or spring

2000 sv650, first bike and never realised my clutch was so stiff till i sat on a friends new speed triple. holy crap mine is stiff!! so i took my cable out and gave it a good clean out and hung it up over night. its a bit better than it was, but is still stiff. i reckon its time for a new one, but im just wondering if the spring or something else might be gone? is there any way to tell if its the cable or if theres another source that might need replacing? cheers

The speings being good cause it to be stiff, when you pull the clutch you push against the clutch springs. Did you oil the cable whne you cleaned it?

Id say if you have given it a damn good clean and grease but still not happy (remember to check the lever) then get a new cable. The SV's clutch is resonably light normally.

Also don't forget to grease and adjust the worm drive, its behind the front sprocket cover, as this will also give you a heavy clutch feel.

Number 17 is the worm drive on the Alpha sports site and there nice pics.

[jambo]

It's rare you need to replace a clutch cable that isn't frayed. I would make sure you have oiled it properly so there is motor oil or similar down the entire length of the cable first. Also make sure the clutch lever has been cleaned up, and the pivot point oiled as well. The clutch worm gear, as stated can be a bit rubbish if there's no grease in the bearings. Do be careful as you take this out as if the cage has worn, the 10 small ball bearings can roll out and disappear. That's not good.


Jambo

the clutch cable was oiled and hung overnight. it felt a little tiny bit rough sliding but i just put that down to the nature of the metal wound cable. i adjusted the worm screw by tightening it to tension then backing off 1/4 of a turn as the manual says. is the worm drive the circular ring that the screw directly enters or is it something behind? cheers

[jambo]

Have you cleaned and oiled the clutch lever itself as well as the cable? As Grinch has posted above the worm gear is the whole of part 17 on that diagram. Once removed the centre part with the arm on it that the clutch cable attaches to can be removed from the outer casing and all parts cleaned & greased.

Jambo

Yep, cleaning, greasing it is important, as due to its location it gets a lot of dirt and you want a nice clean action, else it can get problematic back at the leaver.

[northwind]

My worm drive actually lost most of its bearings so instead of smoothly gliding up and down, it was metal-on-metal, made for a VERY heavy clutch. I was like you, it went wrong over a long time so it never actually felt heavy to me till I rode another bike. Could well be your problem...

Yep, I've lost a coulple of bearings before and its made it awful, infact I now keep the old ones so I can replace bearings if I loose any cleaning and greasing it up.