oil change
valve adjust
new rear tire
carb adjustment
And many quick fixes have been done along the road.
The old and the new
After playing with the free play on the motorcycle it became apparent that the problem lie deeper within. I started the search looking over the routing of the new cable hoping it was a simple bind or kink but there were none. I pulled off the caps on the transmission case to check out the actuator and to my dismay there lay the problem. It didn’t take more then a few more pulls on the clutch to realize the clutch actuator was bending and with another pull it broke.
Replacing the part was not bad at all. The Transmission cover on the Royal Enfield had to be removed. The clutch actuator itself was bolted on the back side. After receiving the replacement form Classic Motorworks it was not a hard task at all to simply switch the actuator out and make simple adjustments. I also decided it was a perfect time to reroute a proper clutch cable.
I remembered I had tried to order some spare cables not long after buying my bike. I remember hearing something about cables breaking in a lot Royal Enfield reviews. However at the time I ordered the parts Classic Motorworks seemed to be back ordered on cables. So I ended up with only one.
Last night after kicking the gears all the way home did two things right away. The first thing I did was let out a sigh and grab a beer! The second was to somehow find what I hoped was a clutch cable for the motorbike. Awesome it was! But something about it looked different. When I pulled it out of the packaging it sure was different. This clutch cable was maybe fifteen inches shorter and had a steel tube on one end making a 90° turn.
Well, something had to give! Besides my car the motorcycle is currently the only other mode of functioning transportation in a house of four. So it was going to work one way or another. It took about 35 minutes of routing the cable different direction. One way it would melt on the engine. The next way it would engage the clutch turning left. Eventually I found an appropriate route.
Actually getting the clutch cable ends into the transmission was not as hard as to be expected. By removing the transmission plug #17 one can actually see the operating lever #4. It is much different on my motorbike; there is actually a small metal tab to prevent the cable end from slipping into the transmission. This tap was simply pulled out and pushed back in with a pick.
So off we go… everyone made to school and work this morning!
I am a firm believer that adventures are always right around the corner. However, for today’s adventure I did not even make it around the corner. It started at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMOCA). I spent some time wandering a collection of musical devices from LP’s and eight tracks to I pods with my friend Shari. It was amazing to see what new things are out there like digital bubble wrap and also reminisce about all the LP’s I have stashed away in closets at my mother’s house. Anyway the bike adventure started when I left the Museum.
Shari dropped me off at my motorbike and I threw on my jacket and kicked over the bike to her vintage musical groan. I hoped on the bike and took off down the street to the intersection. As I pulled up behind Shari she went left and I slipped the clutch to go right. As I slipped the clutch there a snap, thud, and then nothing… I found myself stalled in front of Scottsdale’s premier biker bar The Billet. I pulled in the clutch shifted to neutral and kicked her over quickly to realize the cable had snapped and she stalled going into first so pushed to the side to figure out what was next.
What does one do now? Never having lost control of the clutch before I was not sure. So what I did do was pull out the cable from the sheath and string it through the saddlebag. I wrapped it around my hand for some leverage thinking I could just pull it by hand. This attempt at bypassing the lever did not get me to far. At least I saved myself some embarrassment in front of the bar. The rest of the trip was spent slamming the bike through gears to get her home. Going into first from neutral was tricky and took a lot of gas often sending me sliding to the back of the seat. Leaving one stop I hit first gear so hard the Royal Enfield pulled a small wheelie. When the front tire returned to the ground there was enough force to see a small amount of oil pushing out of my upper most fork seals.
The motorcycle ride home was full of such small events. At one point it started to rain, not unusual for my type of luck. I just imagined myself trying to slam the bike into gear and sliding across the road. For a second I swore at the gods above and gave them a word or two. “If I Slide out and end up in blacked for a moment or two, I am going to personally come up there and tell what I think of you!” The rest of the ride home was spent trying to time each traffic light as the rain slowly dissipated.
Next step… fixing the clutch!
Twitter: BlackMotorBike
