by MickYork » Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:31 pm
I had a Rocco adapted motorcycle clutch on Avanti 225 which was working fine.
I set off from York to Mersea Island and burnt my clutch out in the centre of York.
My "mates" set off without me, whilst my son picked me up in a van and took me home.
The only available clutch at home was a second hand Indian GP which didn't look brilliant.
I fitted the second hand clutch but phoned a well known dealer near Doncaster and arranged to pick up new plates, springs and some oil on the way.
3 hours later i set off by myself with a clutch that slipped over 50mph.
I collected the clutch parts and put the plates in a sandwich bag, soaked in oil.
With my slipping clutch i made reasonable time and met with my mates and overnighted at Spalding.
I decided to wait until Mersea before changing the plates.
Arriving at Mersea I waited until the following morning to change the clutch.
Up bright and early i set about changing the clutch.
Pretty straight forward and in under 2 hours i had the new plates fitted.
The clutch was un-workable !! The lever needed the strength of ten men to pull in and was impossible to ride.
I suspected the clutch spider may have warped....
So stripped it down again, bought a new spider from a well known dealer from the North West (who confirmed the Indian spider looked bent).
All fitted and back together.....just the same !!
It was now past dinner time and my mates, who had been set watching, with their clean hands, were cracking the cans open and giving their opinions on the fault and cause.
Sure enough the Vespa rider, now on his 4th can kept on saying "could be the cable" .
After patiently explaining, several times, why this couldn't be the cause, in fit of pique, sweating, oily, generally pissed off and to prove a point i changed the cable.
Sure enough i then had the smoothest operating clutch i'd ever had, with no slippage what so ever.
With hindsight I suspect the cable was sticking, which caused the original burnt out clutch and then the damaged cable was sticking in the outer causing the stiff clutch operation.
So, in answer to your question, as others have suggested, change the cable !!