A Scarry thing happened today!

[Nemo]

Waiting at a stop light with trans in first gear today, the bike started creeping ahead. I hit the brake, but then it killed the engine still trying to move ahead. I had to shift to neutral to start the engine again. The clutch lever had no resistance feeling to it. The traffic light turned green. I pressed the shifter to go into low gear. Have you ever tried to shift into low without pulling the clutch??? Man, that thing started moving with a jerk, jerk, jerk and jerk and then settled out, but didn't kill the engine. I'm only about 10 blocks from home, so I was able to get it into 2nd gear and drove that way for a couple of blocks or so. After slowly running the next stop light (that's bad), I started shifting up on a long stretch of highway and it now shifted fine. After that it still shifted fine even back shifting for corners and hills as I approached home. Man, what a scarry ride though!! Yesterday, it had run fine. I had just replaced the clutch slave valve and bled the system a few days ago. The reseviour is still full, but I think I'll bleed the system again tomorrow. Seems like maybe there's some obstruction in the line. Now does anyone have a suggestion to this long story? Owen

[IronMike]

Only thing I suggest is wearing Depends next test ride after you bleed it out again.

[painterman67]

mine did that but it was more of a need for a fluid flush........mechanic told me it was old and had condesatedd water in the line and that heated and caused the week clutch lever pull. After the old girl cooled of it would work wright till it got hot again and bam no clutch pull.........fluhed lines and all was well for a year till it did it again.................good luck

[Venturous Randy]

As a suggestion, rather than cram it in to 1st gear with it running, kill the engine and put it in 1st and then pull the clutch in and try to start the bike. With the clutch in, the starter should turn over and pull the bike forward enough for it to start.

RandyA

[cowpuc]

As a suggestion, rather than cram it in to 1st gear with it running, kill the engine and put it in 1st and then pull the clutch in and try to start the bike. With the clutch in, the starter should turn over and pull the bike forward enough for it to start.

RandyA

 

Indeed,, or start it in neutral, get off the bike and push it (or get it rolling some other way) and than drop it in gear... I shift mine all the time with no clutch,,, kinda a left over from the mxing days...

May sound crazy but I had a hard time bleeding one of my 1st gen clutch systems years ago and it drove me nuts... I finally ended up laying the bike on its side before I could get all the air out of it..

[pmelah]

mine is doing that now took the cover off the master and dark brown fluid in it i changed it last Sept thought it might make 2 yrs on a flush but may have to just go with 6 month changes i just don't like how dark the fluid has gotten but also put 10 k in a year on the old girl and that's with it sitting up for 5 months during recovery might have had 15 k on by now if it were not for that

[Squidley]

Owen,

 

Sounds like a bit of air is still trapped in the system. Another bleed is in order, and it is a bit tougher on the clutch as the resistance is a bit different than the brakes. Another thing you may want to try is bleed it up. Go to a feed store and buy a syringe that they give livestock shots with without the needle. Modify it to accept the correct size tubing that will fit over the bleeder on the bike. Fill the tube and empty the reservoir and push fluid up into the reservoir. This will pretty much assure that you will force any and all air out of the system....

[bongobobny]

Also, make sure you are not overfilling the reservoir! It should be about 1/2 to 3/4 up the site glass with the reservoir level...

[Huggy]

Owen,

 

Sounds like a bit of air is still trapped in the system. Another bleed is in order, and it is a bit tougher on the clutch as the resistance is a bit different than the brakes. Another thing you may want to try is bleed it up. Go to a feed store and buy a syringe that they give livestock shots with without the needle. Modify it to accept the correct size tubing that will fit over the bleeder on the bike. Fill the tube and empty the reservoir and push fluid up into the reservoir. This will pretty much assure that you will force any and all air out of the system....

 

I always bleed up even my brakes!

 

[Nemo]

Thank you all for your concern and opinions. I had completely drained and refilled the reservoir and bled the slave valve 6 or 8 times. I also had tried starting it in first gear, but the starter wasn't powerful enough to move it forward. You know, this is a heavy Trike now. I'd wished I had a helper to push, to get it rolling. And, when I said that the reservoir was still full, I meant that it was still at the proper height. I'll see now if this new bleeder project proves to be successful. I don't ever want to go through that again. Owen.