Clutch cable goes....

[IRingTwyce]

***POP*** right in the middle of a downshift while riding the other night. :cuss: I was about two miles from home and stuck in second. :crutches: Well, having shifted clutchlessly in my car for years by matching revs, I figured it could probably be done on the bike. Mostly because I didn't want to be going 20 mph in a 45 on a BUSY two-lane with NO shoulder and ditches and swamp on both sides. After fooling around a bit at speed, I finally got it to shift. Made it up into fourth and made it home. Downshifting was MUCH trickier however. Not to mention a much more jerky experience. Basically going either direction you have to be at the bottom end of the gearing to get the revs close enough. Shifting up leaves you lugging it a bit, but not terribly. Downshifting, as I said, was a jerky experience.

Anyway, made it home fine. Ordered a new cable the next day from the local Suzuki dealer for about $10.50. Just waiting (impatiently) for it to come in so I can install it.

[Graydog]

That takes skill. Never tried it on the GeeZee but have on other bikes. I always ended up in neutral. Any chance of internal damage?

[patrick_777]

Not if it's done right. And it sounds like he did it perfectly.

[alanmcorcoran]

Hey Patrick or Iring...

...d'ya mind elaborating a bit on the matching revs? It seems like clutch cable failure eventually happens to all of us and clutchless shifting would be a good skill to have...

[Water Warrior 2]

Hey Patrick or Iring...

...d'ya mind elaborating a bit on the matching revs? It seems like clutch cable failure eventually happens to all of us and clutchless shifting would be a good skill to have...

Here ya go Alan. Clutchless shifting is actually quite easy and smooth with practice. Shifting up is smoother than shifting down of course. After your initial launch just get up to your usual shift point and do the following. Lift on the shifter a bit to apply some pressure( not a lot) and then roll the throttle off and on again. This will unload the gears and allow the tranny to shift up while the power is lessoned. You are now in a higher gear and applying power as per normal. Practice this and you will soon wonder why the clutch is even there. As for down shifts the procedure is a bit more sensitive. Apply pressure down on the shifter( roll off the throttle ) but at a lower speed and RPM than normal to reduce the jerkiness and engine braking effect. The tranny will slip into a lower gear.
Haven't tried this with Lynda's GZ but it might work. Years ago I had a suzuki SP 370 enduro with a really slick tranny. I could find a false neutral between every gear while clutchless down shifting. Rolled off the throttle and slipped into false neutral, zapped the throttle once and downshifted as the revs ( coming down ) matched the speed and selected gear. Sounded awsome with a straight pipe out back.
I think every one should be able to shift without the clutch( at least upshift anyway ) Less moving parts involved and your left hand will never wear out.

[Easy Rider]

Haven't tried this with Lynda's GZ but it might work.

After such an eloquent explanation of the technique.........and then you say you have NOT tried it on the GZ yet ?? :poked:

On every other bike I have ever owned, I have been comfortable with clutchless upshifting, especially in the higher gears. Shaft drives seemed to be the most forgiving.......
HOWEVER.......
I have not been able to do it "comfortably" on the GZ because of too much clunking and jerking.
Either it is the different combination of engine/transmission OR I'm just losing my touch. :cry:

[patrick_777]

I went out and worked on this today, and WW explained it pretty well.

Upshifting is seamless on the GZ and I catch myself clutchlessly shifting up all the time. The trick to downshifting, however, is to think about what the rpm will be when you shift into a lower gear. You really have to match the speed with the timing of the shift, while keeping pressure on the shift lever with your foot. When it feels like it really wants to slip into gear, slightly close and then snap open the throttle as you're keeping pressure on the shifter, this will cause the engine to slip out of the upper gear (when you close the throttle), rev up while the bike is in between gears (as you snap open the throttle) and catch the lower gear at its preferred rpm.

The engine doesn't have the horsepower to wheelie or throw you, but if you're not ready for it, the back tire can skip as the engine grabs the lower gear (first is bad about this, but second can do it if you're not careful).

Stopping is tricky though. Neutral is nearly impossible to hit if you're moving at anything over walking speed. The bike however, can crawl along in first very slowly without any clutch whatsoever. It takes some work to get the feel of finding neutral, but your best bet to keep from falling is to make sure you're in first before you try to find neutral. Otherwise, you'll accidentally hit first from second and skid the back wheel.

Honestly, the hardest part to it is to try and keep your hand from instinctively using the clutch. If you've been riding very long at all, you'll have to concentrate on that in particular.

Everybody should practice this at least once. I wouldn't worry too much about damaging the engine or gears if you have good and/or fresh oil (*glares at Alan*).

[Water Warrior 2]

[quote="Water Warrior":2y5zlita]Haven't tried this with Lynda's GZ but it might work.

After such an eloquent explanation of the technique.........and then you say you have NOT tried it on the GZ yet ?? :poked:

On every other bike I have ever owned, I have been comfortable with clutchless upshifting, especially in the higher gears. Shaft drives seemed to be the most forgiving.......
HOWEVER.......
I have not been able to do it "comfortably" on the GZ because of too much clunking and jerking.
Either it is the different combination of engine/transmission OR I'm just losing my touch. :cry:[/quote:2y5zlita]

Haven't tried on the GZ B/C Lynda won't let me at the keys anymore. She really got attached to the bike after our tour half way across Canada in June. But I still get to do the maintenance and checks. A win win situation for Lynda.

Alan.......Try letting the bike slow down more ( less RPM ) until the tranny unloads with the throttle off and a little down pressure on the shifter. The bike may or may not be as jerky due to less engine breaking effect. The higher gears/low RPM will be the smoothest with this procedure as apposed to lower gears/low RPM. Should also be able to go from 2nd to neutral really really smooth just prior to a stop.

[music man]

I have had my clutch cable break on me about 30 miles from the house, and thats why I now have an extra clutch cable, I don't carry it on the bike unless I go on a trip. When mine broke, instead of paying 12 bucks for a cable, I had to get it overnight delivered and it cost like 56 dollars, as my bike was sitting at a store (luckily My wife is the manager of a convience store that is a big chain, and it was another store in the chain), they had storage buildings and the manager let me use a empty one to leave my bike in.


So to keep from having to ever pay 55-60 dollars for another one, I ordered another one when I got my bike home.

Later

[Easy Rider]

Haven't tried on the GZ B/C Lynda won't let me at the keys anymore. She really got attached to the bike after our tour half way across Canada in June. But I still get to do the maintenance and checks. A win win situation for Lynda.


I don't blame her!! :crackup :haha2:

With that in mind, I suggest that you NOT try a clutchless shift when you get a chance. If you F*** it up, you are a DEAD man !! :skull: :biggrin:

[Easy Rider]

Everybody should practice this at least once. I wouldn't worry too much about damaging the engine or gears if you have good and/or fresh oil (*glares at Alan*).

Yes good explanation .....BUT.....not sure I agree with the part about "snap open the throttle". Don't really think it is necessary to do more than increase the RPMs a bit and "WFO" could do some real tranny damage if done wrong. :)

Also you mentioned neutral but I wasn't clear about what you meant there. I would NEVER suggest shifting OUT OF neutral with the engine running without the clutch.

I believe it is possible to ride a bike with a broken clutch cable without shifting. This assumes that you are not on a freeway at the time. I believe the clutch safety switch is on the handle bar and, as such, senses the position of the lever and not the clutch itself.

Cable breaks. Get it into 2nd gear (with engine off). Hold clutch lever against bar; side stand up. Ignition on, hit starter and give it a tiny bit of throttle. Bike should start IN GEAR and off you go. To stop, hit kill switch. If stopped more than a few seconds, turn ignition OFF so headlight won't sap battery.

This probably won't work for more than a few stops 'cause the battery will run down if the stops are close together. It should allow you to get off the road, though, or all the way home if it isn't too far.

[Water Warrior 2]

[quote="patrick_777":1ybzyv4g]Everybody should practice this at least once. I wouldn't worry too much about damaging the engine or gears if you have good and/or fresh oil (*glares at Alan*).

Yes good explanation .....BUT.....not sure I agree with the part about "snap open the throttle". Don't really think it is necessary to do more than increase the RPMs a bit and "WFO" could do some real tranny damage if done wrong. :)

Also you mentioned neutral but I wasn't clear about what you meant there. I would NEVER suggest shifting OUT OF neutral with the engine running without the clutch.

I believe it is possible to ride a bike with a broken clutch cable without shifting. This assumes that you are not on a freeway at the time. I believe the clutch safety switch is on the handle bar and, as such, senses the position of the lever and not the clutch itself.

Cable breaks. Get it into 2nd gear (with engine off). Hold clutch lever against bar; side stand up. Ignition on, hit starter and give it a tiny bit of throttle. Bike should start IN GEAR and off you go. To stop, hit kill switch. If stopped more than a few seconds, turn ignition OFF so headlight won't sap battery.

This probably won't work for more than a few stops 'cause the battery will run down if the stops are close together. It should allow you to get off the road, though, or all the way home if it isn't too far.[/quote:1ybzyv4g]

Good thoughts there. I would personally opt for a 1st gear start using the starter. There would be a little less strain on the starter and battery IMHO. After that just keep shifting up and or down as needed.

[Easy Rider]

Good thoughts there. I would personally opt for a 1st gear start using the starter. There would be a little less strain on the starter and battery IMHO. After that just keep shifting up and or down as needed.

I don't think that most people are going to be comfortable shifting without the clutch......especially down. If you agree with that, then you NEED to start in 2nd to get any useable speed at all. :cool:

[Water Warrior 2]

Just a little further note on trannies. When and if you grind some gears do not panic. You are not really grinding gears at all. What you hear are the "dogs" in the tranny. They are qiute robust and can take a fair bit of abuse. The gears themselves are always meshed with one another and the dogs are used to engage the selected gears(driver/driven gears) when you shift. We have "constant mesh" transmissions. Hope this sounds understandable.

[Water Warrior 2]

[quote="Water Warrior":175bnyno]Good thoughts there. I would personally opt for a 1st gear start using the starter. There would be a little less strain on the starter and battery IMHO. After that just keep shifting up and or down as needed.

I don't think that most people are going to be comfortable shifting without the clutch......especially down. If you agree with that, then you NEED to start in 2nd to get any useable speed at all. :cool:[/quote:175bnyno]

Very true. I would not recommend this for those not fairly proficient at clutchless shifting. My bad, had a brain fart and wrote to the folks who are comfy with clutchless shifting.