Stupid Cable

 Folks,

I snapped my clutch cable during my drive back from Stanford watching  
volleyball.  That is the bad news.  The good news is that I was able to  
make it back home 12 miles through about ten stoplights without breaking  
any laws.  I would shift and slow way down with the plan that I'd run a  
red light if necessary, but all the lights were tripped by cars and I even  
found neutral when I got home.

At least I hope it is the cable, I know it isn't snapped at the lever.

I'z just lucky.

Joe

XL600R

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Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

 
Joseph Rooney wrote:

I had this problem once, but I was riding a NX200. I would paddle with
feet at stop lights, get bike in motion and stomp on first gear. From
there on, it was an easy ride, so easy that I went to work two days w/
o clutch...

I fear that happening while driving a car. When I had the knee injury
I had to drive 50km. My cars are always stick shift and I injured left
knee. It was a very painful drive and I believe that I wore out the
transmision worth of thousands of kilometers in those 50.

-- Tiago

 
I drove my first car, a '74 Subaru DL, for almost 6 months with a
broken clutch cable when I was in college.  I'd just turn the car off
when I had to stop, then put it in first and turn the key.  It would
buck and snort to life then I was good to go.  Upshifting is a no-
brainer, but down shifting takes a bit of skill and practice.  Once
you get it, however, a clutch becomes a piece of optional and
extravagant equipment (at best).

JayC

 
I had that happen on my RZ350 once, about 25 miles from home. The
first 1/2 of the trip was smooth sailing on back roads, but when I got
into town it got tricky. With Barnett clutch plates, neutral was
nearly impossible to find. I recall using the sidewalk to avoid
stopping at one particular light. That bike would bump start with just
two or three steps, so there really wasn't any reason for me to have
done that. Well, other than the fact that I was 21.

The throttle cable broke on my FZR once, up at the grip. I fished out
the cable and tied it to a key, then held the key against the grip to
ride. It worked surprisingly well.


Just FYI, I have a basket case XL600 motor on the shelf in my garage.
There are lots of good parts left if you find that you need anything.

Craig

 Joseph Rooney wrote:


That happened to my Suzuki GS550 outside Portland on a Friday afternoon.
  I found a motorcycle shop on the other side of town that had one,
which involved MY SON riding my clutchless bike through rush-hour
freeway traffic to get to the shop before 6:00.  I could never have done
it and I'm amazed that it worked out OK.  Nifty shop.  Dark, grubby, run
by a fat guy in a leather vest who let us use his tools.  Just what a
bike shop should be.

--
Cheers, Bev
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I can picture a world without war, without hate.   I can picture
us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.