Clutch and Ticking noise

[Road_Clam]

Originally Posted by dentheman

I am curious why not to use synthetic in a high mileage bike, since I just changed to synthetic in my Shadow?

Reason #1 is high mileage clutch drive plates have reduced thickness vs new, and that reduced overall thickness allows the clutch spring pressure to be less preloaded, thus less friction effective. Clutch plates eventually obtain a "glazed" surface which also reduces grip against the steel driven plates.

Reason #2 is that high mileage clutches means the clutch springs have been through a lot of heat cycles and they tend to get "laxed" (laxed means the spring looses some of it's "free height") thus also offering less preload on the clutch plates vs, new. This scenario also is an issue with vintage 25+ year old bikes that still have the original springs. They also get "laxed" from being prelaoded compressed for such a long period of time.