grabby clutch

[Happy Eeyore]

My 79 R65 is running like a champ now and I get it out and ride it around the north Georgia mountain roads both paved and gravel.   When I got the bike I replaced the clutch disk when I put in a new rear seal and lubed the splines.  I did not replace the clutch spring or the pressure plate.  The old spring and pressure plate looked ok.  But first  gear seems grabby to me.  First gear in the R65 is pretty high but that ratio is what it is.

The clutch cable and the  position of the arm seem right .  But tryin to carefully and smoothly slip the clutch seems difficult.  I have had two oil heads  before in which I just replaced the clutch discs and they both  had clutches as smooth as silk.  Should I replace the spring and pressure plate and see it that changes the clutch engagement or is that rough clutch just a characteristic of the design. 

Winter is coming and I have a heated shop and enjoy working on the bike as much as I like riding it.  But I do not want to try and fix something that cannot be fixed .   What do the old hands think?

[Barry]

Hard to say if anything wrong because even a good clutch is quite abrupt at the best of times and takes a little getting used to. My 79 was grabby when I bought the bike but it improved considerably with use. I put that down to corrosion after being stood for years but it might have been just me getting better at using it.  Is a new disc grabby before it's worn in ?  I don't know the answer to that because I didn't need to replace mine in 18 years of use. 

[Bob_Roller]

Was this happening before the clutch disc replacement ??
I did a generic search for R65 grabbing clutch, may want to check the cable adjustment, it was mentioned .
What grease did you use on the splines ??
By chance did you aply too much grease on the splines ??
Grease can be pushed off the splines then get thrown onto the clutch disc .