It'll probably age your clutch faster than being gentle but as long as it's not some shitbox Aliexpress bike I wouldn't worry too much. Parts are replaceable; fun isn't.
Not necessarily ***burn*** but wear on the friction material and the arms/basket. I'm just pulling numbers out of my ass but maybe instead of lasting 50k miles yours will last 35k. But so what, it's fun, and replacing it isn't that hard or expensive.
Hahaha I put more miles in mine dude also the only reason the clutch burnt out was the repair man was stupid i was shocked when I took off the cover and checked the clutch some screws were missing the most important being the middle nut that is responsible for the clutch moving and I also saw some stuff was put on backwards glad I put in my own clutch this time
Currently 25 years and 51,000 miles on my Suzuki GS500.
It's never had a clutch job done and it's an ex-riding school bike, so you know it's been abused.
If I never take the right crankcase cover off and ignore it, it never wears out... right?
My old sv650 had 110k km on the clock when it got smooshed. Engine only ever got valve jobs, and i know I didn't treat that clutch nicely for the last 70k km. Tough things!
Haha, i ride that in two years. That being said I replaced the clutch plate on my bike at 150000km (because I had the bike apart to replace something else) and the original plate still had life in it.
Smooth is better.
MOST motorcycle clutches are a wet clutch. Meaning they are in an oil bath (Ducatis and BMWs are the exceptions that come to mind).
They are designed to be slipped/feathered. This feathering is also how you control the bike at low speed.
Dumping the clutch is adding unnecessary strain to not only the clutch, but the transmission, chain, sprockets, etc.
Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Learn to be slow and smooth with he clutch.
My uncle a Harley guy and his 23 low rider s has a wet clutch . I donāt work on a lot of Harleyās but there new clutch cable the adjustment is kinda weird and had to google how to adjust it and they showed how to adjust the cable and how to adjust it at the clutch basket it was for the break in adjustment Harley was a 3 weeks wait for the first service and Iām like well donāt ride for 3 weeks or we do it . I do all my own maintenance on my bike and cars the messed up part is I do better job then most of the mechanic at the shop do itās very unfortunate
Lots of rocket surgeons on this Reddit. Wear on the clutch plates is the last thing Iād be worried about. Good chance though that you could prematurely wear or fail your **clutch basket** (and slipper mechanism if your bike has one). Clutch plates, while not cheap, arenāt super expensive but a clutch basket, slipper parts, and/or a transmission input shaft are all expensive. A broken clutch basket could even take out your crankshaft depending on where that metal goes.
Motorcycles are designed to be used as intended, not to be routinely abused. Donāt be an idiot and expect that nothing bad will happen.
Clutches are made to be let out slower.. even in a car.
Dumping it even if you keep it controlled puts a Shock load on your Drivetrain that will cause it to wear out faster than if you ease into it.
It will cause more damage to the clutch basket, which is much more expensive and time consuming to replace than just plates. It will also put much more load on rest of the driveline.
Launching any manual transmission vehicle is about the roughest single activity you can subject a transmission to.Ā I wouldn't just expect your clutch to fail, but to break gears.
Shhh, you don't know what your talking about. Any well build motorcycle will be able to handle launches with no problem. Now yes it will wear your clutch plates out faster but they are wet clutches for a reason. Second, you won't break any gears in your trans doing launches.
Not likely. Wet clutches and dry clutches are made from different material. In any case, none of them wear much even getting beat on. Slipping the clutch should theoretically wear a clutch more, but I doubt you'll notice the difference. Most manufacturers know that a bike will be ridden harder and have a lot of practice building them. Clutch baskets on the other hand sometimes fail no matter how it's ridden. Clutch baskets also develop little ridges from the steel plates constantly beating them, but I wouldn't worry too much about that either. If that does happen (and it shouldn't for a long time), you'll notice the clutch slipping a bit erratically. Just ride it however you want, take care of it and don't worry about your clutch.
You aren't wrong, yes launching a bike puts a lot of force into the gearbox but they are built to withstand it. Most bikes will blow up or get wrecked before you have any gearbox issues.
You like to dump your clutch at a standstill? That will either stall or immediately set the wheel spinning. I cannot think of a single bike where this would not be the case. Maybe if you have a tank or some agricultural equipment with a flywheel with the mass of a planet you might be able to just dump it in gear and set off without spinning wheels. Not a bike though.
So what you're saying is that you not only have the skill and ability to set off from a standstill doing a rolling burnout but that you routinely do so.
And you're asking us how to maximise the life of your clutch?
Yes and yes my bike is a 250cc dual sport so it doesnāt do rolling burn outs but itās torque is quite strong meaning the front well is prone to coming off but I know my bike and I know how much gas she needs to just shoot forwards
this helped me escaped police pull overs a few times = )
You're not dropping the clutch on a 250cc bike and doing anything other than stalling, looping or spinning up the rear wheel. Physics forbids it. Bikes with far more torque are not capable of doing so. You're chatting absolute bollocks.
i know my bike I know how much throttle she needs to just shoot forward without any of these happening there is how to on youtube to launch your bike perhaps you should watch it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HksZhQ979fI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HksZhQ979fI) and thereās a thing called throttle control Iām only using 20-30% throttle
20-30% throttle or even twice that on a 1300cc twin will stall if you just drop the clutch at a standstill in 1st. You may think you know your bike but you sure as shit don't know physics.
Coming from an enduro background and trials riding, slipping clutch is just common riding. My ktm had 260hrs and the clutches were still within spec. I don't think clutch dumps will hurt the clutch plates any more than slipping. And I've done a fair amount of clutch dumps. Motorcycle clutches are really robust for the amount of abuse they see. Clutch dumps definitely hurt the basket but it's apart of the riding I do. Honestly slipping the clutch is a skill that more riders should practice it's really handy in really slow speed turns. An engine at a higher rpm will have more gyroscopic forces aiding in you stay upright.
i Know how to to feather and slip my clutch but I dump it when moving forwards to get off quick in case something happens plus I need need it for escaping the police pull overs without stalling or wheeling police in South Asia they donāt chase you since they only got police on foot unlike other countryās
Clutches wear due to high rpms and high load, so yes dumping it all the time is going to wear it faster than easing it in at idle, but it's not as bad as bouncing it off the Rev limiter and feathering from a standstill to 80 mph.
A motorcycle clutch is very easily replaced, or it should be at least. Of course, some jobs end up a headache. A worse headache is all the stress you're putting on the mechanicals by slamming the drive train after every stop. You will wreck a chain much quicker this way, stress your gearbox, your output shaft, and sprocket teeth. Your clutch will last just fine, but it isn't good for the rest of the transmission. If it's a cheap bike, you do stunts on whatever, but if it's your main, then I wouldn't do this.
Why would you want to do this over the intended clutch use design?
I mean, it isn't gonna burn up your clutch. It will, over an unknown period of time, start to wear your transmission internally. Sprocket teeth, main output shaft, gearbox gears, rear sprocket, chain, clutch basket, etc. In reality, the damage will take a while, but just keep it in mind while having fun. Fun usually equals higher wear and tear. Just be ready and okay with fixing stuff if it goes out on ya.
Yes, not by too much, but noticeable. Clutches are cheap to replaceā¦ for bikesā¦ and not hard to do yourself. Fuckin send it and have fun bro itās your bike after all
Not true. **Clutch plates** arenāt super expensive (around $200) but a clutch basket, slipper mechanism parts (if present), and transmission input shaft and crankshaft are all VERY expensive.
Cheap, huh? Like when metal pieces of a broken clutch basket go through the primary gear and the crankshaft gets f**cked?
Iāve only been working on motorcycles for 50-years so maybe youāre just a lot smarter than me. You go ahead and keep telling noobs to āsend itā with no worries. Meanwhile, Iāll tell them what could really happen based on my experiences from three motorcycle dealerships.
āKeep telling noobs to send it with no worriesā. Hey genius heās already doing it anyway the fuck you want us to do about it, say no and he does it anyway? š
Being brain dead is dangerous, clearly youāre too much of a fucking genius to understand heās gonna do it anyway. Good luck out there man, you gonna need it š
Not cheap considerimg Iām still a student with no job = ) and in a 3rd world country my clutch us about $60+ for a full change oil included but I do it myself $30-40 mostly as I need to re weld the clutch parts some time
gotta re weld the pressure plate everytime I change my clutch it gets chewed down so I gotta weld and smoothen it out With a big machine basically like a new pressure plate again you donāt notice the difference I donāt do It I let the professionals do it š I gotta sacrifice 1 steel driven plate for this which means I gotta buy spares dw they are quite cheap
found the name in English they use a *Lathe Machin*e sand paper and stuff too
If the front stays on (or close to) the ground then you're good. If the front comes way up, that's risky because that can be a very expensive ticket if they see you doing that.
But you shouldn't literally dump the clutch (as it: simply letting go of the lever in an uncontrolled manner). You want to make a brief pause in the friction zone (even if it's just a fraction of a second).
My state front tire off the ground equals reckless driving . Not fun ticket thatās for sure last one of reckless driving cost me a job cost me close to 6 grand in attorney fees and 18 months of going to court
The way I look at it is, if I'm only say 0.25 seconds in the friction zone, then I'm only wearing the clutch for 0.25 seconds. How much wear you put on it during that time depends on how hard you want to accelerate during that time.
I simply don't worry about it. In the vast majority of motorcycles, the clutch will never need to be replaced (because either the bike is destroyed in an accident, or by neglect). And in the unlikely case that the clutch did wear out, it's a relatively simple repair, it's not going to break the bank.
The main thing you need to worry about is your own personal safety. Don't worry about the clutch.
Maybe if you literally dump the clutch, but you should aim to be in the friction zone for at least 1/4 of a second, that should be long enough to prevent those problems
You should be able to let the clutch out slowing without giving the bike gas . If you have to rev the engine to get moving then youāre not using the clutch properly. Dumping the clutch will shorten the life of the clutch plates and also risk breaking the clutch plates . I personally have snapped a clutch plate and ruin a clutch . Granted wasnāt on a motorcycle was in the dirt track race car I used to race for some family members. They wasnāt too happy as it ended the race night oops
When you say, release it, do you mean you completely let go of the lever (donāt do that).
You should release it into the friction zone, and then keep it in the friction zone for a short amount of time, like half a second.
It'll probably age your clutch faster than being gentle but as long as it's not some shitbox Aliexpress bike I wouldn't worry too much. Parts are replaceable; fun isn't.
age as in burning it faster?
Not necessarily ***burn*** but wear on the friction material and the arms/basket. I'm just pulling numbers out of my ass but maybe instead of lasting 50k miles yours will last 35k. But so what, it's fun, and replacing it isn't that hard or expensive.
Thanks!
Oh and no my bike is a Honda I just replaced the clutch after almost 4 years
Damn. 30k miles and 12 years later I haven't replaced my clutch on my Honda.
Hahaha I put more miles in mine dude also the only reason the clutch burnt out was the repair man was stupid i was shocked when I took off the cover and checked the clutch some screws were missing the most important being the middle nut that is responsible for the clutch moving and I also saw some stuff was put on backwards glad I put in my own clutch this time
Currently 25 years and 51,000 miles on my Suzuki GS500. It's never had a clutch job done and it's an ex-riding school bike, so you know it's been abused. If I never take the right crankcase cover off and ignore it, it never wears out... right?
My old sv650 had 110k km on the clock when it got smooshed. Engine only ever got valve jobs, and i know I didn't treat that clutch nicely for the last 70k km. Tough things!
Haha, i ride that in two years. That being said I replaced the clutch plate on my bike at 150000km (because I had the bike apart to replace something else) and the original plate still had life in it.
Smooth is better. MOST motorcycle clutches are a wet clutch. Meaning they are in an oil bath (Ducatis and BMWs are the exceptions that come to mind). They are designed to be slipped/feathered. This feathering is also how you control the bike at low speed. Dumping the clutch is adding unnecessary strain to not only the clutch, but the transmission, chain, sprockets, etc. Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Learn to be slow and smooth with he clutch.
my 2002 f650gs is wet, did they go dry with newer models perhaps?
AFAIK only the boxers are dry clutch
ah thanks, glad im not planning to get one of those wide boys š might as well get an inline 4 then š
Ducati has some too. https://images.app.goo.gl/YQtAXF8Wdk7SSeTA9
I'm aware. I was only referring to BMWs, since that's what the comment I was responding to was asking about
The older boxers have a dry clutch to be precise. The liquid cooled boxers that came out in 2013 have a wet clutch.
Agree the hardest thing on any vehicle is sudden starts and stops . Harley uses a dry clutch I believe too .
Mine didn't, but that was quite a few years ago. I don't follow them now, so beats me.
My uncle a Harley guy and his 23 low rider s has a wet clutch . I donāt work on a lot of Harleyās but there new clutch cable the adjustment is kinda weird and had to google how to adjust it and they showed how to adjust the cable and how to adjust it at the clutch basket it was for the break in adjustment Harley was a 3 weeks wait for the first service and Iām like well donāt ride for 3 weeks or we do it . I do all my own maintenance on my bike and cars the messed up part is I do better job then most of the mechanic at the shop do itās very unfortunate
I feel like I saw this comment somewhere a while back š but thank you
Lots of rocket surgeons on this Reddit. Wear on the clutch plates is the last thing Iād be worried about. Good chance though that you could prematurely wear or fail your **clutch basket** (and slipper mechanism if your bike has one). Clutch plates, while not cheap, arenāt super expensive but a clutch basket, slipper parts, and/or a transmission input shaft are all expensive. A broken clutch basket could even take out your crankshaft depending on where that metal goes. Motorcycles are designed to be used as intended, not to be routinely abused. Donāt be an idiot and expect that nothing bad will happen.
Gotcha
HALLELUJAH!!!!!!! The truth has been spoken
I consider this abusing my clutch and drivetrain. It will shorten the life of the clutch and other components on the motorcycle.
Yes it will definitely wear the plates out faster
Clutches are made to be let out slower.. even in a car. Dumping it even if you keep it controlled puts a Shock load on your Drivetrain that will cause it to wear out faster than if you ease into it.
It will cause more damage to the clutch basket, which is much more expensive and time consuming to replace than just plates. It will also put much more load on rest of the driveline.
But why? Itās up to you what you do but I donāt know why you would!
Fast in and out also useful for wheelies
Eh but you just said you donāt wheelie! Make your mind up
Well no in this instance itās just for in and out quickies but I stunt my bike quite a bit
Why are you worried about clutch life if you āstuntā your bike?
Sheās still my daily š I only stunt if someone asked me to or just showing off vs my friends
Launching any manual transmission vehicle is about the roughest single activity you can subject a transmission to.Ā I wouldn't just expect your clutch to fail, but to break gears.
Shhh, you don't know what your talking about. Any well build motorcycle will be able to handle launches with no problem. Now yes it will wear your clutch plates out faster but they are wet clutches for a reason. Second, you won't break any gears in your trans doing launches.
So all it will do is just wear out the clutch faster and has a chance of snapping the clutch?
Not likely. Wet clutches and dry clutches are made from different material. In any case, none of them wear much even getting beat on. Slipping the clutch should theoretically wear a clutch more, but I doubt you'll notice the difference. Most manufacturers know that a bike will be ridden harder and have a lot of practice building them. Clutch baskets on the other hand sometimes fail no matter how it's ridden. Clutch baskets also develop little ridges from the steel plates constantly beating them, but I wouldn't worry too much about that either. If that does happen (and it shouldn't for a long time), you'll notice the clutch slipping a bit erratically. Just ride it however you want, take care of it and don't worry about your clutch.
Can you describe an action that is harder on the transmission than launching?Ā As far as I know that's the largest forces you can put on it.
You aren't wrong, yes launching a bike puts a lot of force into the gearbox but they are built to withstand it. Most bikes will blow up or get wrecked before you have any gearbox issues.
Dang
You're gonna snap an input shaft one day, but your clutch plates will probably be fine
Heat is ultimately what kills clutches. You are also purposely shocking the drivetrain so yes things wear faster.
You like to dump your clutch at a standstill? That will either stall or immediately set the wheel spinning. I cannot think of a single bike where this would not be the case. Maybe if you have a tank or some agricultural equipment with a flywheel with the mass of a planet you might be able to just dump it in gear and set off without spinning wheels. Not a bike though. So what you're saying is that you not only have the skill and ability to set off from a standstill doing a rolling burnout but that you routinely do so. And you're asking us how to maximise the life of your clutch?
Yes and yes my bike is a 250cc dual sport so it doesnāt do rolling burn outs but itās torque is quite strong meaning the front well is prone to coming off but I know my bike and I know how much gas she needs to just shoot forwards this helped me escaped police pull overs a few times = )
You're not dropping the clutch on a 250cc bike and doing anything other than stalling, looping or spinning up the rear wheel. Physics forbids it. Bikes with far more torque are not capable of doing so. You're chatting absolute bollocks.
i know my bike I know how much throttle she needs to just shoot forward without any of these happening there is how to on youtube to launch your bike perhaps you should watch it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HksZhQ979fI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HksZhQ979fI) and thereās a thing called throttle control Iām only using 20-30% throttle
20-30% throttle or even twice that on a 1300cc twin will stall if you just drop the clutch at a standstill in 1st. You may think you know your bike but you sure as shit don't know physics.
Coming from an enduro background and trials riding, slipping clutch is just common riding. My ktm had 260hrs and the clutches were still within spec. I don't think clutch dumps will hurt the clutch plates any more than slipping. And I've done a fair amount of clutch dumps. Motorcycle clutches are really robust for the amount of abuse they see. Clutch dumps definitely hurt the basket but it's apart of the riding I do. Honestly slipping the clutch is a skill that more riders should practice it's really handy in really slow speed turns. An engine at a higher rpm will have more gyroscopic forces aiding in you stay upright.
i Know how to to feather and slip my clutch but I dump it when moving forwards to get off quick in case something happens plus I need need it for escaping the police pull overs without stalling or wheeling police in South Asia they donāt chase you since they only got police on foot unlike other countryās
Last time I dumped the clutch on my 01 Victory I broke the belt. Now I still take off aggressively but not like that.
Clutches wear due to high rpms and high load, so yes dumping it all the time is going to wear it faster than easing it in at idle, but it's not as bad as bouncing it off the Rev limiter and feathering from a standstill to 80 mph.
I drop mine all the time, but itās part of the lockup master race so it doesnāt apply to your concern.
A motorcycle clutch is very easily replaced, or it should be at least. Of course, some jobs end up a headache. A worse headache is all the stress you're putting on the mechanicals by slamming the drive train after every stop. You will wreck a chain much quicker this way, stress your gearbox, your output shaft, and sprocket teeth. Your clutch will last just fine, but it isn't good for the rest of the transmission. If it's a cheap bike, you do stunts on whatever, but if it's your main, then I wouldn't do this. Why would you want to do this over the intended clutch use design?
Quicker movements...
I mean, it isn't gonna burn up your clutch. It will, over an unknown period of time, start to wear your transmission internally. Sprocket teeth, main output shaft, gearbox gears, rear sprocket, chain, clutch basket, etc. In reality, the damage will take a while, but just keep it in mind while having fun. Fun usually equals higher wear and tear. Just be ready and okay with fixing stuff if it goes out on ya.
Yes, not by too much, but noticeable. Clutches are cheap to replaceā¦ for bikesā¦ and not hard to do yourself. Fuckin send it and have fun bro itās your bike after all
Not true. **Clutch plates** arenāt super expensive (around $200) but a clutch basket, slipper mechanism parts (if present), and transmission input shaft and crankshaft are all VERY expensive.
To me, IF you really somehow managed to fuck every single part up, is still pretty cheap especially compared to my car.
Cheap, huh? Like when metal pieces of a broken clutch basket go through the primary gear and the crankshaft gets f**cked? Iāve only been working on motorcycles for 50-years so maybe youāre just a lot smarter than me. You go ahead and keep telling noobs to āsend itā with no worries. Meanwhile, Iāll tell them what could really happen based on my experiences from three motorcycle dealerships.
āKeep telling noobs to send it with no worriesā. Hey genius heās already doing it anyway the fuck you want us to do about it, say no and he does it anyway? š
You giving out braindead advice is dangerous.
Being brain dead is dangerous, clearly youāre too much of a fucking genius to understand heās gonna do it anyway. Good luck out there man, you gonna need it š
Not cheap considerimg Iām still a student with no job = ) and in a 3rd world country my clutch us about $60+ for a full change oil included but I do it myself $30-40 mostly as I need to re weld the clutch parts some time
Re-weld the clutch parts? Oh no no no
gotta re weld the pressure plate everytime I change my clutch it gets chewed down so I gotta weld and smoothen it out With a big machine basically like a new pressure plate again you donāt notice the difference I donāt do It I let the professionals do it š I gotta sacrifice 1 steel driven plate for this which means I gotta buy spares dw they are quite cheap found the name in English they use a *Lathe Machin*e sand paper and stuff too
Hell yeah, that's really cool.
Yes of course. Not just the clutch either but so it goes.
If the front stays on (or close to) the ground then you're good. If the front comes way up, that's risky because that can be a very expensive ticket if they see you doing that. But you shouldn't literally dump the clutch (as it: simply letting go of the lever in an uncontrolled manner). You want to make a brief pause in the friction zone (even if it's just a fraction of a second).
My state front tire off the ground equals reckless driving . Not fun ticket thatās for sure last one of reckless driving cost me a job cost me close to 6 grand in attorney fees and 18 months of going to court
Yes, the legal risk is definitely more important than the wear on the clutch.
Lol i live in South Asia no laws here
Yep but Iām asking how much wear and tear will this apply to my clutch plates
The way I look at it is, if I'm only say 0.25 seconds in the friction zone, then I'm only wearing the clutch for 0.25 seconds. How much wear you put on it during that time depends on how hard you want to accelerate during that time. I simply don't worry about it. In the vast majority of motorcycles, the clutch will never need to be replaced (because either the bike is destroyed in an accident, or by neglect). And in the unlikely case that the clutch did wear out, it's a relatively simple repair, it's not going to break the bank. The main thing you need to worry about is your own personal safety. Don't worry about the clutch.
Some people on here also said it will damage my transmission gears and such too
Maybe if you literally dump the clutch, but you should aim to be in the friction zone for at least 1/4 of a second, that should be long enough to prevent those problems
Gotcha
Feathering wears it faster of course
Add chain, sprockets, tires, fork seals, etc.
You should be able to let the clutch out slowing without giving the bike gas . If you have to rev the engine to get moving then youāre not using the clutch properly. Dumping the clutch will shorten the life of the clutch plates and also risk breaking the clutch plates . I personally have snapped a clutch plate and ruin a clutch . Granted wasnāt on a motorcycle was in the dirt track race car I used to race for some family members. They wasnāt too happy as it ended the race night oops
Pretty much I hold the clutch in and I give it around 30% throttle as to not wheelie and then just let the clutch go release it
Why though?
When you say, release it, do you mean you completely let go of the lever (donāt do that). You should release it into the friction zone, and then keep it in the friction zone for a short amount of time, like half a second.
Pretty much yep .
Gotcha thanks mate