Standard clutch and breather

TouringGodet

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With all the posts about alternative breather setups, and the number of people preferring multi plate clutches, I thought I would chime in about how wonderful it was to get the Shadow out the last couple of weeks, which is running a standard clutch and breather. Last Saturday was our section picnic, which was only a couple of miles away for me, and today, I again took a fairly short trip involving city streets and many stops/starts at stop signs and signals. I put the straight pipe muffler replacement on last week, that my father made years ago, so around town, I try to keep the revs down as much as possible, saving the full throttle blasts (and noise) for carefully selected stretches of road. The standard clutch works well for me, and I can ease off from a stand still with just a slight bit of throttle, easily controlling the clutch for a gentle take off. And ever since I blocked off the secondary breather my father had installed back in the '50s, the bike hardly drops any oil. Back in the '80s, when I rode it across country a couple of times to NA rallies, I had to put oil in every fuel stop, and the back half of the bike would be covered in oil, mostly from the compression release entry point in the timing chest. It is so satisfying to have the opportunity to enjoy the nearly original Shadow my father bought new, and know that this is how they were designed and meant to be.

And for those times when I could crack the throttle open, to feel the engine come on to the Mk II cams with the straight pipe, pure ecstasy.
 
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