Bear with me, as I have only been riding for about a year so I dont know all the in's-and-out's of motorcycle engines. That being said, I am mechanically inclined and have rebuilt car engines before so I know the basics.
Anyways, I ride a '77 cb750 supersport and I have a question about the clutch and hard shifts into and out of 1st gear. Basically I have 2 problems/questions:
1. Having only dirt bike clutches as a reference, the friction zone on my clutch seems very short. I have to let out the clutch about 80-90% before the clutch plates start to grab. This leaves about 10% of friction zone 'distance' whereas on a dirt bike a much larger % of the clutch distance is in the friction zone. Are my clutch plates worn/wearing out, or do street motorcycle clutches just have a shorter friction zone than those on dirt bikes?
2. My transmission shifts/clunks hard into--and out of--1st gear about 1/3 of the time. I realize an 37 year old bike isn't going to have a brand new transmission, but is this a common problem? From what I can find it seems that the 2nd-3rd gear transition is usually the one to misbehave.
If I need to replace my clutch plates then maybe i'll take a look at the tranny while Im down there; or maybe ill wait for the winter to tackle the bottom end. Thanks for the help.
Anyways, I ride a '77 cb750 supersport and I have a question about the clutch and hard shifts into and out of 1st gear. Basically I have 2 problems/questions:
1. Having only dirt bike clutches as a reference, the friction zone on my clutch seems very short. I have to let out the clutch about 80-90% before the clutch plates start to grab. This leaves about 10% of friction zone 'distance' whereas on a dirt bike a much larger % of the clutch distance is in the friction zone. Are my clutch plates worn/wearing out, or do street motorcycle clutches just have a shorter friction zone than those on dirt bikes?
2. My transmission shifts/clunks hard into--and out of--1st gear about 1/3 of the time. I realize an 37 year old bike isn't going to have a brand new transmission, but is this a common problem? From what I can find it seems that the 2nd-3rd gear transition is usually the one to misbehave.
If I need to replace my clutch plates then maybe i'll take a look at the tranny while Im down there; or maybe ill wait for the winter to tackle the bottom end. Thanks for the help.