Seems none of the after market add on hydraulic clutch systems work on vintage bikes. I remember once as a kid when my clutch cable broke on my little 160 it was up and down shift hitting the sweet spot in RPM. Only problem was red lights. Felt like an idiot pushing the thing till I could drop it into first.
Hey G Man, your one of the most inGenious guys here...got a new project for ya! Forget that cam chain roller thing ya been workin' on, there's a new idea in town!
softer clutchSomeone has already done a hydraulic clutch lifter for the CB72/77 and others. It looked really neat and, if I remember, came from a guy in New York.
The clutch on my 130Hp Triumph 955 is a lot lighter than the 305s with a much harder cable run. It's got to be possible...... One answer would be to extend the lifter arm inside the cover. You just exchange force for more lever travel. G '60 C77 '60 C72 '62 C72 Dream '63 CL72
'61 CB72 '64 CB77 '65 CB160 '66 Matchless 350 '67 CL77 '67 S90 '77 CB400F
Good mention which brings to mind.
I wonder what return spring he is using?. ...............lm
Extending the actuator arm is a great idea: cheap and easy fix. (Assuming cable is in good shape, lubed, etc.) If it's an old cable, ditch it!
Regarding cables, the best cables use stainless steel inner wire. It might be worthwhile to contact Barnett or another cable manufacturer and see if they can duplicate your clutch cable using stainless wire and a teflon inner sleeve. The stock cables are, after all, mass-production items made to a price. Cheap home-made cables can work okay if made of superior materials, but if made from cheap inner and outer material they'll have a lot of friction. Lever perches with better ratios can also reduce effort. The gamble racers in Japan lube their cables with kerosene (heating oil). Additionally, if you time time your upshifts properly in terms of load and rpm, you can upshift quite nicely without using the clutch, that eliminates a lot of clutch use. Do what you've always done and you'll get what you've always had.
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