Colorado Norton Works easy pull clutch kit

I've been nursing my poor Combat's clutch along for some time now. I've got a rebuilt box, and a new primary chain but when I get around to the clutch I always think I'll do it later, with lots of experimenting around with the stack height, thinning the pressure plate, and all that. I had a mixture of stock fiber plates with one lone Barnett plate, and it worked well enough. Pull was reasonable, but neutral was getting a little bit hard to get into at a light. Just something I was going to get around to. Then, I spotted the CNW easy pull 750 style clutch kit, and decided the time is now. They gave their usual impeccable mail order service. 16 degrees here this morning, so I just wanted to get it over with, minimum garage time, and be done with it. As you would expect, it didn't take much more that about 45 minutes to pop it in, and by that time it was a balmy 30 degrees, so time for a test ride. The pull it very, very light, take up is nice and progressive, and the best part about a Commando gear box - snicking it into neutral was, well, the magic was back. About $150 with shipping, plus you get $15 back if you send in your old pressure plate. Really nice stuff, made to order for my current frame of mind. I usually de-commission all bikes but one for winter riding, and this year it's the Combat, so I'm ready to roll.

Here's the link - scroll to the bottom:

http://www.coloradonortonworks.com/catalog/drive.asp

Hi Brithit,
Did you happen to install one of Dynodaves clutch rod seals while you were in there? If you did not it may be just a matter of time before your new clutch becomes fouled with 90W oil and once again you will be hunting for neutral.

GB

Pair the CNW clutch pack with their hydraulic clutch kit and you will think you have died and gone to heaven...Don't fight it, buy it, you'll be glad you did.

RS

geo46er said:

Hi Brithit,
Did you happen to install one of Dynodaves clutch rod seals while you were in there? If you did not it may be just a matter of time before your new clutch becomes fouled with 90W oil and once again you will be hunting for neutral.

GB

Click to expand...

Have it. Also his starter and starter cables on the Mighty MKIII. I'd get a little dribble from the gearbox in the Combat, so I put one in a while back, versus the occasional strip and clean. And it works, no gearbox oil in the clutch now. By way of contrast, my MKIII's clutch has been absolutely perfect, no slip, no drag, and a very easy pull. Done nothing fancy to it. I'm sure a hydraulic conversion would be nice, but the Combat is super sweet right now. Now my '69 Trident, that's got a stout pull. Should look into one of those, I think someone is selling one.

Roadscalder, I'm interested in the hydraulic clutch, but not for ease of pull but for fine tuned feathering/easing of engine power on to tire to creep arounds or launches w/o wheelie or spin out. Any feedback on the progressive engagement vs cable?

RoadScholar said:

Pair the CNW clutch pack with their hydraulic clutch kit and you will think you have died and gone to heaven...Don't fight it, buy it, you'll be glad you did.

RS

Click to expand...

I've got that combo and it is miles above the stock set up from my experience. I've got carpal tunnel syndrom in my left wrist so the hydraulic clutch is perfect for me. One finger clutch action.

I liked it so much I bought a similar hydraulic clutch conversion for the Triumph T140 chop I'm building now. No more clutch cables for me.

I did put an hydrolic clutch from Magura (for Honda dirt bike) long time ago (and it is still here with the current rebuilding), the pull is easier but it does not stop the clutch to stick from time to time as a good Commando clutch always does!!! (I have a belt too)
Philippe

hobot said:

Roadscalder, I'm interested in the hydraulic clutch, but not for ease of pull but for fine tuned feathering/easing of engine power on to tire to creep arounds or launches w/o wheelie or spin out. Any feedback on the progressive engagement vs cable?

Click to expand...

The beauty of the hydraulic clutch is that it's engagement bandwidth never varies, so that you can turn it into a "hardwired" brain function. I notice the hydraulic clutch most at speeds 30 MPH or less in traffic and/or situations that require a lot of clutch action while doing tight corners and hills, such as you lucky people who live in Pennsylvania...probably up and down the eastern smokies; or a lot of stop and starts.

My expereince with cables is that their behavior is only consistent when you are going up and down gears while maintaining a brisk pace above 50 MPH with no stops. Cables, especially clutch cables, that get their proper exercise, saw up their guts really quickly no matter how how or when you use them. The bottom line for me is that you have to "learn" a clutch cable every time out; I'd rather concentrate my limited brain power on going a bit smoother/faster over familiar turff.

RS

I have a Hayward belt drive with Barnet friction plates on my 74 and the clutch is a one finger operation. No snatching, nice and progressive with no slippage. Highly recommended.

RoadScholar

The beauty of the hydraulic clutch is that it's engagement bandwidth never varies, so that you can turn it into a "hardwired" brain function. I notice the hydraulic clutch most at speeds 30 MPH or less in traffic and/or situations that require a lot of clutch action while doing tight corners and hills, such as you lucky people who live in Pennsylvania...probably up and down the eastern smokies; or a lot of stop and starts.

My expereince with cables is that their behavior is only consistent when you are going up and down gears while maintaining a brisk pace above 50 MPH with no stops. Cables, especially clutch cables, that get their proper exercise, saw up their guts really quickly no matter how how or when you use them. The bottom line for me is that you have to "learn" a clutch cable every time out; I'd rather concentrate my limited brain power on going a bit smoother/faster over familiar turff.

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Alrighty that exactly connects to my question and appreciate your study to be so detailed. Must add to my must have list. I've had perfect factory clutch action for good intervals on two Combats so I'm not one of those complaining or with any wrist trouble. No desire on my regular Combat but Ms Peel has special needs of exact engagement w/o thought or compensation over time.

Are there any tricks to installing the kit or keeping it right?

>>Are there any tricks to installing the kit or keeping it right?<<

Installing the kit requires that you drill out the bore that your cable used to stop on, on the outer cover. The angle you drill on will determine how easy/difficult it is for you to attach the "hard" brake pipe that penetrates the outer cover and presents a threaded barb to the braided stainless flexible line that connects the internal slave to the master, not a big deal, but the slave is a loose fit in the mainshaft counter bore and the hard pipe has little to no "wiggle" room.

Once installed and bled, you can attend other Norton short comings with the balance of your retirement savings...

RS

Thanks some more on the preventive wisdom. I have a love/hate attitude to the all or nothing fast engagement of cable clutch. But able to move off on a dead idle with a bit of care. Drag race launch comes to mind and snatch around parking aim
: )

I don't understand the issue with the standard clutch. My 850 clutch is an easy 2 finger deal; it doesn't slip at all and works just like the service manual outlines as far as setting up stack height, etc. Not saying that the Hyd clutch isn't a nice thing but the stiff clutch levers that many Commandos have don't HAVE to be that way.

hobot said:

Are there any tricks to installing the kit or keeping it right?

Click to expand...

Nope. Easy as pie to install. Took me an hour and a half and if I did install one again I could probably install and bleed it in under an hour. The only trick is finding a nice hydraulic line path so it does not interfere or rub on anything and that was easy as well.

I don't understand the issue with the standard clutch. My 850 clutch is an easy 2 finger deal; it doesn't slip at all and works just like the service manual outlines as far as setting up stack height, etc. Not saying that the Hyd clutch isn't a nice thing but the stiff clutch levers that many Commandos have don't HAVE to be that way.

Click to expand...

Me also, 4 Surflex, 4 steel and std pressure plate fills to edge of circlip groove. 10 year old Venhill 'Nylocable', two finger job and no slip. Only thing that stopped it being easy was water in the cable after a severe drenching. When it dried out it was impossibly stiff so think that proves the cable is the major part of the problem. Dried and lightly lubed and has been fine 4 more years.

Oh neat-o coco, I like routing snakeystuff for looks as well as security. Hope to find non-SS abrasive hose though.

My Cdo cable clutches have been as good as any get, in long-ish intervals. Friction plate cleaning, fine tune of clutch adjuster, routing/aligning to lever adjusting-replacing after crashes pretty much returned to old lady easy non slip function.
I've no desire to change Norton in Trixie Combat set up. But I want to do stunts and stuff with excess torqued per mass Ms Peel, like 1/4 m sprint in 4th the whole wAy.
If hydraulic clutch can lower the skill-feel of clutch partial engagement then sounds good for Peels deal. I'm half way depending on clutch plates not holding when engaged to protect drive train if tire spin don't first. With a TT gear box likely will have to go with the super duper multi coil spring clutch to take the torque.

Hobot, the kit that CNW sells comes with a PVC coated stainless, braided hose. No abrasion will happen like using uncoated SS lines. The only non reversible part of buying that kit is having to slightly enlarge the clutch cable hole on the transmission outter cover.

Party on.

Oh goodie CNW thinks of everything, or at least the folks that design and supply CNW. I did think about reversal to cable but figured a top hat bush dropped in would do it and be a better fitting upgrade. i'm still on the high of thinking about it but not yet priced the kit to bring me down to earth, softly I hope.

Smoke tire warm up, inch up to staging light, rev up a tad and feather clutch to take up drive train slack, yellow lights start down, bring rev's up till boost shows a few PSI short of triggering water injection, green light > relax clutch a bit so tire bites and bike leaps forward then let go clutch as slowly opening throttle to keep tire in chirp state enough to float front tire the rest of the way. That should refine sense for the hard suff like climbing up wet leafy grass slope and not spin or stall out.

Hmm, hydro master cylinder removes the factory bar switches. This is something I'd hoped to avoid but now must consider for both sides abandoning real Norton.
Actually may be a bike/life saver as I've had events the momentary kill switch was not effective. In for a penny gone down for pounds and pounds.

Keith1069 said:

I don't understand the issue with the standard clutch. My 850 clutch is an easy 2 finger deal; it doesn't slip at all and works just like the service manual outlines as far as setting up stack height, etc. Not saying that the Hyd clutch isn't a nice thing but the stiff clutch levers that many Commandos have don't HAVE to be that way.

Click to expand...

Me also, 4 Surflex, 4 steel and std pressure plate fills to edge of circlip groove. 10 year old Venhill 'Nylocable', two finger job and no slip. Only thing that stopped it being easy was water in the cable after a severe drenching. When it dried out it was impossibly stiff so think that proves the cable is the major part of the problem. Dried and lightly lubed and has been fine 4 more years.

Click to expand...

I agree with both of you. As I stated earlier, my 850 MKIII clutch has been very good. Light pull, no slipping or dragging. My '72 Combat was only fair at best, and needed a rountine stripping and cleaning to get it back up to snuff. The clutch rod seal really seems to have cured that. I would attribute the reason for my current round of sticking to tired steel plates that weren't flat anymore. Some Commando clutches I've tried are just awful, others are sweet with very little fettling required to keep them that way. I'm sure the awful ones are fixable, but some of my friends just are not into improvements, I guess.