Soft Clutch

[fermin]

I though I read somewhere that the clutch lever in these machines requires a strong left hand grip,  mine (1983) is very soft, I can only think its the spring.  Any other causes?.  It has been sitting down for the past 5 years (or more)and just being brought back to life.

Clutch cable is new and replaced following the procedure in the manual, although afterwards I had to tighten the lever screw because it would stall when 1st gear was engaged.

[Barry]

The clutch lever pull should be moderately heavy or middle of the road - not japanese light but there are heavier clutches on other bikes with single plate clutches. Have you adjusted it correctly ?
Rob Valdez recently posted this clutch adjustment method from the riders manual. Is that how you did the new cable installation.

http://www.suraklyn.com/r65_forum_gallery/albums/userpics/10021/normal_clutch%7E0.jpg

[fermin]

Yes, adjusted as per manual.  But soft enough that the lever doesnt return all the way out and the last 1.5 or so mm of free play can be manually pushed.  Its a soft "spongy" feeling kind of when you shake someones limp hand...

[Barry]

Sounds like the return spring may be missing If it's the same as mine there should be a return spring fitted at the gearbox end. It's a tapered spring item 14 that fits between a recess on the gearbox cover and a spigot on the clutch operating arm. It's not shown on your diagram so it may be that later bikes are different and use your item 4 .  Someone with a later bike will know.

[Bob_Roller]

The post '81 model year bikes, had the spring inside the rubber boot, the '78-'80 year bikes, had the spring outside of the boot .