I have a 750 Bonnie and the clutch wobbles like mad, when separated, there is a large (4"ish dia.) bronze washer to separate the hub from the outer. when I rebuilt the bike I couldn't get what I considered a close fit, so I made my own bronze washer and lapped it down until I was satisfied that the fit was as close as I could get, after a 1000 miles it was as slack as ever. Bonnie clutches hate traffic, I believe the only reason Triumph fitted a disc brake, was to stop you being dragged through traffic lights.The best mod is to fit Norman Hyde plates, which give 1 extra plate, this transforms the clutch, after a lot of pondering I think the improvement is largely down to better quality plates. I recently purchased Dennis Wilsons outfit, it has a multiplate, which he tells me is currently dry, but has run wet and it is so light that at a recent rally, people who had a little grab of the lever thought it was a standard clutch. it shows no sign of slipping even on hill starts and only grabs slightly if I don't pull away cleanly, my other multiplates range from OK but heavy to OH DEAR.
Issues with multi plate clutches
- Thread starter greg brillus
- Start date
A Venhill Featherlight cable with the Teflon liner will reduce the lever-squeeze effort by about 30%. This was measured with a spring scale and the comparison was to a freshly oiled conventional cable with no problems.
You only need enough lift to prevent drag and account for any thermal expansion. If when everything is up to operating temp and you are in gear, engine running, on level ground, clutch lever in, and not creeping forward and are able to easily paddle the bike backward you have enough lift. Much more than that is pointless. Yet occasionally you might get a crunch if the plates haven't freed off, momentum, or oil drag still have the gears slightly turning.
Adequate lift, a slow reliable idle speed, and waiting a second or two after having disengaged the clutch, before engaging first will minimize crunching.
Steven
Interesting pionts so far guys but I think you have missed my initial point.....lets look at this from another example... A couple of months ago I did some work on a 47 Rapide with again another muliplate clutch, also a V3 from memory....anyway the initial complaint was very poor gearshifting, especially down shifting. The gearshift mechanism is crook and bla, bla, bla......went through the whole exersise and found very little wrong with the shift mechanism ( no surprizes so far) I then test rode the bike, and found the shifting really bad, and almost impossible to down shift.....Ah huh.....must be the clutch....upon inspection it had not enough travel, so i removed the excessive end float due to incorrect fitment, and changed the handlebar lever for one with 1 1/8 pivot points. Test ride again, and much better, almost acceptable, but still not 100% right non the less. So i put the bike on it's rear stand, with clutch cover off, and spun the back wheel in top gear with the clutch lever squeezed fully in.......whilst looking at the clutch spinning, the whole assembly was wobbling around like a swash plate....probably about 1 to 2 mm at the outer edge of the basket.....long story, short....the G3 Mainshaft was bent, causing the center hub to wobble around.....no wonder the clutch was dragging, how could it not............Now...if the outer basket does the same thing due to sloppy bushes and so on, and remember what i said about the new clutches having very tight tolerances from the plates to the hub/ outer basket.......Then whats the difference...???? Is this condition any worse than running with buckled plates. I am convinced that if the center hub and the outer basket are running true with minimal "Wobble" then a multiplate would work just fine......Anyone come to "Grips" with this.....Ha, ha..........Greg.
Hi Bruce
Yes, I just gave Venhills drawings of the clutch, brak and throttle cables. They made a nice job of them all, including the little steel elbows at the carb tops. The front brake cable really improved braking, which was already quite good.
Greg, you are correct, a multiplate clutch can run just fine on a Vincent. I have a Veetwo that works great and I know of a V3 that has done a lot of miles without problems.
With the Veetwo, I had to chuck the original bronze friction plates in favour of Barnett Kevlar which I run in a small amount (50cc) of type F ATF.
The clutch is nice and light and works great for starting off fully laden, two up&luggage.
It also is good for multiple starts when heavily laden in city traffic, even in hot weather. I have noticed that some of the stock clutches do not like this type of abuse and the bikes turn into direct drive models, not fun to deal with !
Glen
Yes, I just gave Venhills drawings of the clutch, brak and throttle cables. They made a nice job of them all, including the little steel elbows at the carb tops. The front brake cable really improved braking, which was already quite good.
Greg, you are correct, a multiplate clutch can run just fine on a Vincent. I have a Veetwo that works great and I know of a V3 that has done a lot of miles without problems.
With the Veetwo, I had to chuck the original bronze friction plates in favour of Barnett Kevlar which I run in a small amount (50cc) of type F ATF.
The clutch is nice and light and works great for starting off fully laden, two up&luggage.
It also is good for multiple starts when heavily laden in city traffic, even in hot weather. I have noticed that some of the stock clutches do not like this type of abuse and the bikes turn into direct drive models, not fun to deal with !
Glen
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The reason for that, is not enough end float on the basket. When the plot gets really warm the shaft stays roughly the same length, but the aluminium around grows quite considerably. I use .015" as the minimum here, and until you`ve tried that, you might find you need more.
Greg,
Yes, I did miss your original point. Now having read your most recent post I see what you're driving at. If the clutch basket is wobbling about due to worn bushes or the inner hub is doing likewise, for some reason, the end result can't be much different than warped plates in the long run.
I concur with your assesment that if the hub and basket are running true with minimal wobble a multiplate would work fine. There isn't any reason it shouldn't.
Steven
Yes, I did miss your original point. Now having read your most recent post I see what you're driving at. If the clutch basket is wobbling about due to worn bushes or the inner hub is doing likewise, for some reason, the end result can't be much different than warped plates in the long run.
I concur with your assesment that if the hub and basket are running true with minimal wobble a multiplate would work fine. There isn't any reason it shouldn't.
Steven
If only the shaft to the clutch hub is bent, when the clutch is disengaged the hub and basket will not be concentric and the plates will drag. When the clutch is engaged, maybe the basket adjusts to the bent shaft via the play in the basket bearing.
I don't know, just a thought.
H
I don't know, just a thought.
H