My A twin came with its one piece push rod. Changed it when the Honda clutch went in.
C: Clutch Comet Burman clutch questions
- Thread starter craig
- Start date
The only problem with putting a ball on the pressure plate is that it can cause the plate to lift unevenly. I used to play around with AJS trials bikes and always converted them to 5 spring, 5 plate clutches. Some of the pressure plates had no ball in them and I used to square off the end of a piece of silver steel and harden it then split the rod and fit a roller between with plenty of grease. With the square ended rod into the pressure plate (with a dab of grease) I found it was easier to get the plate to lift off square. My A Comet has this mod (5 spring, 5 plate) and goes into gear without a sound.
Hitchcock's have a nifty pushrod that incorporated a thrust needle roller bearing - its designed for Royal Enfield but fits Burman clutches as well. Contact them for more info. info@hitchcocksmotorcycles.com
![IMG_5719[1].JPG](/data/attachments/46/46014-d41440237177610d51f8ed42939f4dae.jpg)
Hello Erik, I was thinking of a Band the depth of the drum,
To keep excess oil away from the plates,
I thought I have seen something like on BSA s, Or the like,
Seems to me , Too much oil gets on the plates ?,
As I said , After I fitted the T.T. Mod' it was Perfect !!,
Till too much oil got to the plates !,
I don't let the level of oil get high, Because the inner case has been damaged in the past !,
Not by me,
I have always got on well and liked the Burman Clutch.
To keep excess oil away from the plates,
I thought I have seen something like on BSA s, Or the like,
Seems to me , Too much oil gets on the plates ?,
As I said , After I fitted the T.T. Mod' it was Perfect !!,
Till too much oil got to the plates !,
I don't let the level of oil get high, Because the inner case has been damaged in the past !,
Not by me,
I have always got on well and liked the Burman Clutch.
500cc Series A clutches had a tin cover around the outside of the drum. I guess it served 2 purposes. To stop too much oil getting on the plates and secondly as it fitted fairly tightly around the drum it stopped it from spreading outwards. This may not have been on all clutches but have been on all the A Comets that I have owned.
That's a good one,
My Brother Ron had an "A" Comet special, Proper one !, Plus Many spares !,
He could not give them away in the 60 s !!!,
And He also had an "A" Twin, I am sure you know,
So that's where I may have seen it ?.
Wonder why they didn't carry it on with the post war ones,
Must admit I have always put up with a less than perfect clutch, Thinking they were all like it,
I have always treated my Comet as a back up bike ,
Rather than main one, But now I see it in a different light,
Lighter and more easy to ride , If I am not too well etc,
Most old British bikes have some sort of Clunk , When going into gear ?.
My Brother Ron had an "A" Comet special, Proper one !, Plus Many spares !,
He could not give them away in the 60 s !!!,
And He also had an "A" Twin, I am sure you know,
So that's where I may have seen it ?.
Wonder why they didn't carry it on with the post war ones,
Must admit I have always put up with a less than perfect clutch, Thinking they were all like it,
I have always treated my Comet as a back up bike ,
Rather than main one, But now I see it in a different light,
Lighter and more easy to ride , If I am not too well etc,
Most old British bikes have some sort of Clunk , When going into gear ?.
I have two postwar singles and no clutch problems! I would recommend the Harley-Davidson primary drive oil .To my mind the open clutch drum is better for the oil to escape instead of staying inside a nearly closed drum.The second thing is the friction plates.If the old cork is contaminated with the wrong oil with additives it is worth a try to wash this out or changing the corks or buying new ones with bonded on friction material ! Erik
When oil in clutch was a problem - how do millions of Asian bikes deal with their oil bath clutches ?? I had thought about this for a while and did mods on a few bikes for getting the old crap closer to modern thinking:
With modern oils in engine or gearboxes/clutches you often produce slipping clutches . Reason: oils are a lot more slippery than types decades ago. So friction plates will not be able for providing much grip.
Second factor is the typically very wide friction material on plates. So any spring load is spread over a wide area and in consequence at lot less grip from this as oil will not easily squeeze out from between plates.
Third factor for unpleasant use of clutch is a stickiness when cold. Again wide areas of friction material will make matters even worse.
So my approach to old designs is to machine friction material to a width of 10-12 mm max.. This gets you same grip like with modern clutches plus less sticky when selecting first gear at standstill. I did mods on the Rapides and the prewar Horex with Kawa clutches and machined friction plates of a postwar Horex for great effect. So this is what I´d suggest to do with any old parts for nice operation. I would not want dry clutches as without oil in places you will see a lot more wear at places that like a bit of lubrication. Ducati owners with their rattly dry clutches replace them at 30 000 km intervals due to excessive wear. I would be ashamed to sit on a bike rattly as these are.
Look at my photos and compare friction plates with old types to spot the critical differences.
Vic
Kawa clutch in Horex:
modified Horex friction plates at the left, Kawa at right:
Kawa vs. Horex old:
With modern oils in engine or gearboxes/clutches you often produce slipping clutches . Reason: oils are a lot more slippery than types decades ago. So friction plates will not be able for providing much grip.
Second factor is the typically very wide friction material on plates. So any spring load is spread over a wide area and in consequence at lot less grip from this as oil will not easily squeeze out from between plates.
Third factor for unpleasant use of clutch is a stickiness when cold. Again wide areas of friction material will make matters even worse.
So my approach to old designs is to machine friction material to a width of 10-12 mm max.. This gets you same grip like with modern clutches plus less sticky when selecting first gear at standstill. I did mods on the Rapides and the prewar Horex with Kawa clutches and machined friction plates of a postwar Horex for great effect. So this is what I´d suggest to do with any old parts for nice operation. I would not want dry clutches as without oil in places you will see a lot more wear at places that like a bit of lubrication. Ducati owners with their rattly dry clutches replace them at 30 000 km intervals due to excessive wear. I would be ashamed to sit on a bike rattly as these are.
Look at my photos and compare friction plates with old types to spot the critical differences.
Vic
Kawa clutch in Horex:
modified Horex friction plates at the left, Kawa at right:
Kawa vs. Horex old:
Yes Erik, But if the oil didn't get in ,
It would not have to get out
, Sorry , My wife keeps telling me I am NOT funny !,
I don't think I have a problem clutch, Just that I can feel it go in gear,
I had a rich friend years ago, Who always came round on his New bikes,
I would always make him put it in first gear and laugh at the clunk !,
But My BMW 1983 K100 was such a good clutch, That it was a Pain !!,
Sometimes the gears were end on and you couldn't get it in to gear, So I used to roll it back a nats !,
Or pull the clutch in a few times, Not good if you are on top of a hill , With people behind you.
My plates have not been cork for many years,
When I raced it , I hand cut Norton Commando bronze plates,
But now standard ! , What ever that is ?.
Always looking for perfection, But never getting it !.
It would not have to get out
, Sorry , My wife keeps telling me I am NOT funny !,I don't think I have a problem clutch, Just that I can feel it go in gear,
I had a rich friend years ago, Who always came round on his New bikes,
I would always make him put it in first gear and laugh at the clunk !,
But My BMW 1983 K100 was such a good clutch, That it was a Pain !!,
Sometimes the gears were end on and you couldn't get it in to gear, So I used to roll it back a nats !,
Or pull the clutch in a few times, Not good if you are on top of a hill , With people behind you.
My plates have not been cork for many years,
When I raced it , I hand cut Norton Commando bronze plates,
But now standard ! , What ever that is ?.
Always looking for perfection, But never getting it !.