Clutch cable lubricant

fab60 · Post by **fab60** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 1:42 pm

Hey guys, so my clutch cable is a little tight. I know these are old bikes and will never have the same cable action like modern bikes but I wanted to see if there was something we could do to at least better them. With that said, has anyone ever used a clutch cable lubricant to smoothen out the clutch cable/lever. I hope there are other little tips and tricks out there that will help my over fatigued forearm! :) Thanks in advance to all that reply!

Cheers

Rick

brewsky · Post by **brewsky** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 6:45 pm

I clean older cables with wd40 first then use 30w motor oil.
Fashion a funnel on one end and let gravity do the work till it comes out the bottom.
There are also dedicated luber fittings and spray can lubes.

fab60 · Post by **fab60** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:03 pm

Is it possible to lubricate the cables without completely taking it off?....wonder if it would do any hard with that lube going down into the clutch case.

brewsky · Post by **brewsky** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 7:14 am

Yes....and no..... in that order.

rustywrench · Post by **rustywrench** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:51 am

I found a cable lube at a cycle dealer that is a liquid graphite. The bottle had a tiny needle to insert into the cable. When the liquid evaporated the graphite stayed on the cable and lubed very well. Not as messy as oil and not that costly either. Rusty

Vince Lupo · Post by **Vince Lupo** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 4:52 am

I'm sure most of you know about these tools, but just in case: http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/48 ... able-luber

It is highly effective, and should be a standard for any motorcyclist's toolbox. Just remove the clutch lever from the clamp, unhook the clutch cable at the one end, clamp this tool on, insert the little straw into the hole in the side, attach your cable lube/chain lube, squirt away! Easy.

I had the same issues with my cable being stiff - might it have to do with the way the cable is 'supposed' to be routed? A couple of sharp-ish curves in that routing, and I can't imagine it helps with the cable action or the cable life.

My personal situation is a bit different in that I'm using a pair of Magura levers instead of the OEM. I wanted to use a bar-end mirror, and I didn't want brackets that had the threaded holes for the regular mirrors -- I wanted a nice clean look. As a result, the design of these Magura brackets made it difficult to implement the OEM clutch cable routing. So we decided to have the cable do one big gentle curve, rather than the OEM routing under the gas tank, then curving down to the clutch. Yes, it's not 'correct', but at least in my situation it looks fine (at least to my weird eye) and it definitely is much easier on the cable and on my hand.

smi481 · Post by **smi481** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 8:24 pm

And Motion Pro Cable Lube is the best.

It's used by the Honda Race Teams along with the
Barber Museum.

http://www.motionpro.com/motorcycle/partno/15-0002

Excellent lubrication product designed and tested by Motion Pro
specifically for bike cables only .... unlike the motor oil or WD40
many of us have used in the past ... that only works for a few
hours.

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Clutch cable lubricant

Clutch cable lubricant

Motion Pro Cable Lubricant