When I built this 1972 750 Commando in the mid nineties, I upgraded the clutch to the 850 plates from Barnett. I had read about improving the clutch in Norton Notes or elsewhere. Somehow, I missed the part about needing a new thinner 850 pressure plate to replace the thicker 750 unit. Natch, things wouldn't fit so I left out one friction plate and one driven plate and reassembled to see how it would work out. If it slipped, I could always look into it later. All the bits were meticulously aligned and the cable was well lubed.
As it happened, the clutch did not slip and neutral was easy to find. The clutch lever was VERY tough to use and I never tried any motorbike clutch that was anywhere near as tough. For whatever reason, I did not associate my odd clutch stack with the tough to use lever. As the bike neared completion, I used one of those grip exercisers to strengthen my hand and found that after a days riding my hand was so tired I started to avoid any unneeded gear changes. Everyone who tried my clutch lever said that there was something wrong.
The bike sat for twelve years due to rear hub problems detailed on a previous thread and now that the Norton is the current project again, other niggles are being addressed, the heavy clutch among them. Phil Radford at Fair Spares had hipped me to the pressure plate issue and mentioned also that the clutch finger might be out of place so the first pic below was shot to verify if the finger was where it should be. The primary cover was taken off and the new 850 clutch stack Phil had shipped was installed with a used 850 pressure plate. Everything fit right in this time!
The pushrod was reinstalled but the finger in the gearbox seems to have slipped out of place and has so far resisted all attempts to raise it back into position. Is there a trick to this? I remember having this issue with my first Norton forty years ago after replacing the kickstarter pawl but can't recall how I licked the problem. Any tricks to it? See the second pic.
Clutch finger before I messed with it:
Clutch finger after I messed with it:
Vintage Paul, close to having a useable clutch!
As it happened, the clutch did not slip and neutral was easy to find. The clutch lever was VERY tough to use and I never tried any motorbike clutch that was anywhere near as tough. For whatever reason, I did not associate my odd clutch stack with the tough to use lever. As the bike neared completion, I used one of those grip exercisers to strengthen my hand and found that after a days riding my hand was so tired I started to avoid any unneeded gear changes. Everyone who tried my clutch lever said that there was something wrong.
The bike sat for twelve years due to rear hub problems detailed on a previous thread and now that the Norton is the current project again, other niggles are being addressed, the heavy clutch among them. Phil Radford at Fair Spares had hipped me to the pressure plate issue and mentioned also that the clutch finger might be out of place so the first pic below was shot to verify if the finger was where it should be. The primary cover was taken off and the new 850 clutch stack Phil had shipped was installed with a used 850 pressure plate. Everything fit right in this time!
The pushrod was reinstalled but the finger in the gearbox seems to have slipped out of place and has so far resisted all attempts to raise it back into position. Is there a trick to this? I remember having this issue with my first Norton forty years ago after replacing the kickstarter pawl but can't recall how I licked the problem. Any tricks to it? See the second pic.
Clutch finger before I messed with it:
Clutch finger after I messed with it:
Vintage Paul, close to having a useable clutch!