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Clutch help

hhkiwi

hhkiwi

Tuned and Synch'ed
Joined
Mar 21, 2013
Messages
82
Location
Ulm, Germany
I'm new to Guzzis and hydraulic clutches.

The clutch on my 1200 Sport engages very late, i.e. at the very end of clutch lever travel. Is there an easy way to adjust this?
 
Try bleeding the clutch, the bleeder is at the end of an extension hose and parked on top of the battery. the lever can be adjusted for hand size try a different setting. Is the trans shifting without clunks? nice and smooth?
 
Thanks Rafael, there's no problem shifting - the gears go in and out smoothly.

I just find it unusual that for 3/4 of lever travel nothing happens - the clutch does not start to engage until the lever is almost completely out.

But maybe that's the way it is with Guzzi hydraulic clutches? In which case I will need to get used to the way it works...
 
I've had similar complaints with my 1200 Sport.

The biggest issue for me was switching between my 1200 and my KTM 640A. The KTM has a cable operated clutch which was adjusted to engage fairly close to the bar and made the engagement point of the Guzzi that much more noticeable.

I've gotten used to the clutch on the Guzzi, no amount of bleeding ever changed the engagement point.

You can adjust the lever travel but I don't know how much that will really help.
 
Bisbonian said:
I've had similar complaints with my 1200 Sport.

The biggest issue for me was switching between my 1200 and my KTM 640A. The KTM has a cable operated clutch which was adjusted to engage fairly close to the bar and made the engagement point of the Guzzi that much more noticeable.
Click to expand...

Same here. My other bike is a Harley Sportster with a cable clutch which starts to engage very early, i.e. while the lever is still close to the grip, with the clutch not fully engaged until the lever is almost fully out.

As explained, on my 1200 Sport nothing happens until the lever comes to the end of its travel. Looks like this may be a quirk I need to get used to.

I love the bike though with the exception of the seat - it's too low for me and tends to make me slide forward. Not to worry, Sargent will be doing a new seat for me - raised by 2" and slightly leveled.
 
kiwi dave said:
Have you tried the adjustments using the existing levers? You can get the levers closer to the handlebars by changing their setting.
Click to expand...

I have, Dave. They are already at the setting closest to the grips (I think it is setting "4") but I would like them to be closer than that.

I find it tiring having to feather the clutch with the lever almost completely out and was wondering if there are after-market levers that would bring them closer to the grips.
 
I'm surprised you want the lever closer than the adjustment allows. I would suspect you have air in your line and/or a faulty master or slave cylinder. You did try bleeding the system as suggested at the top of this topic?
 
Haven't tried bleeding the clutch yet - never done that before so I need to read up on it in my workshop manual.

There's no problem though with the clutch itself - it engages and disengages properly and consistently. It is just that all the action happens when the lever is almost fully out. In other words, when I let the lever go, the first 3/4 of travel nothing happens.

I'll try the bleeding thing as soon as possible but may not get around to it until the weekend after next...
 
Yes, I've been thinking about it, and I don't think a clutch bleed will help; if you had air in your line, the action would be happening with the lever closer to the bar.

However, I've been proved wrong before, so it might still be worth a go.
 
If you had air in the line, it would engage CLOSER to the bar!

I have hydraulic clutches (conversions from cable) on both my Guzzis for over 20 years, and this is always the case.

The only way to adjust this is to change the size of the pump or the slave (easy with my Ducatis), or get a pump with an adjustable pivot length:

http://www.redracingparts.com/english/m ... hpumps.php

Tom
 
hhkiwi said:
I'm new to Guzzis and hydraulic clutches.

The clutch on my 1200 Sport engages very late, i.e. at the very end of clutch lever travel. Is there an easy way to adjust this?
Click to expand...
On an hydraulic clutch system the more worn the clutch the further out the engagement point will be. No adjustment possible.
As for the adjustable levers, I have these fitted on my V11 sport,ST2 Ducati and 1000ss Ducati. Quality is exceptionally good as is the value.
The Ducati ST2 and V11 sport levers are the same. The Ducati 1000ss are slightly different mounting point. All use Brembo master cylinders.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Folding-Brak ... 430&_uhb=1
Ciao
 
Hi Hhkiwi,

I think you can set your point where it starts to engage more to the middle.

Here you can see a part of the handle.
Picture is from the Internet, because I have radial master cylinders on my G12.
If I'm not wrong, there is a very tiny screw at the undersite of the black "thing".
(sorry for my poor Englisch...) :oops:
Turn it loose and you can set that engagementpin for more or less play.
Maybe our dear Mr. Roper can write this in a better way as I do...

Otherwise... do like me, the expensive solution :eek: (also for elemenation of heavy clutch :cool: ).
Buy a radial set for your Guzzi, my clutch is going much easyer and uses much more travel as the original master cylinder.


Ad B
 

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I will try that, thanks. I just had a quick look at the back of the pin - it looks like there's a small set screw but it has a blob of glue on it so I need to see if I can get that off.

If I can manage to move the pin out slightly the engagement point will move closer toward the handle.

Other question - I noticed that there's a micro switch on the clutch lever that engages when the lever is fully pulled. What does that switch do??
 
If you remove that blob of glue, be sure to put another one there. If not secured that screw will probably fall out and that is a problem. The micro switch informs the ECU that the clutch is disengaged so you can start the bike when it is in gear and the clutch is squeezed in.
 
I love this site.... :D

I heated mine up a bit to remove the glue on the end of the rod. In addition, my 2009 Norge had a set screw locking the adjustment rod in place from the side. That had been put in with a red type locktite, and had to be heated to loosen it up.

I was getting tired of it releasing at the far end of the travel.


Walker
 
Walkertl said:
I love this site.... :D
Click to expand...

I know, what did people do before the Internet?

So you managed to move the small rod/actuator on the lever back a little so that the clutch action now happens closer to the grip, correct?

That would be exactly what I am after - I don't mind the force required to pull the clutch lever, I just don't like engagement action to happen at the far end of lever travel.
 
Ad B said:
Hi Hhkiwi,

I think you can set your point where it starts to engage more to the middle.

Here you can see a part of the handle.
Picture is from the Internet, because I have radial master cylinders on my G12.
If I'm not wrong, there is a very tiny screw at the undersite of the black "thing".
(sorry for my poor Englisch...) :oops:
Turn it loose and you can set that engagementpin for more or less play.
Maybe our dear Mr. Roper can write this in a better way as I do...
Click to expand...

Report back. I got a new set of short levers off Ebay from China ($65, beautifully machined, shipped in less than a week - see link one of my previous posts here). I then followed the above instructions and screwed the pin in by a turn or two and now have my clutch engagement point exactly where I want it. Perfect.
 
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