Covering the clutch.

[TwoSeven]

Not wanting to appear confrontational, but what a load of complete bollocks!

What on earth would a cop try to charge you with? Please!

As for the rest it smacks of the advice people use to give with bicycles -never touch the front brake.

I believe from memory the ticket the copper was going to give me was for careless driving

[F5 Dave]

He must have been a plonker, there's no way that would come off in court. Perhaps he had his eye on you & wanted a reason to pull you to see if you had a licence.

[TwoSeven]

Now that we are on a soap box & slightly off the clutch topic (sorry CSL), but the one thing about braking is that practise is the only way to stay sharp.
I

I agree. I have a little practice routine that I go thru when I have been working on the bike. Part of it involves stopping suddenly from various speeds - just so the old subconcious gets trained on how the bike reacts in an emergency.

[Gasman]

Very learned words Dave, and 100% correct (says he who almost rode into the the back of a hatchback last weekend because he wasn't looking properly!)
I especially like the bit about doing it in your head.....that really works.

[pete376403]

The only time I've ever really needed to cover the clutch was the one time I was riding with a broken clutch cable. Seized a kawasaki 350 bighorn at about 100km near the entrance to stokes valley. Rode it to a standstill (big fishtail thing, though) and the tyre was nicely flatspotted. It seized because my "racing developments" included outsmarting the factory by removing the oil pump and running pre-mix. (when you're 18 you know WAY more than the factory engineers)

[Zed]

I was just wondering if any of your seasoned riders, or not so seasoned for that matter, cover your clutch at all times when you ride?

It was drilled into me by the scary guy that took me for my BHS test that I should ALWAYS cover my clutch. I've actually also noticed that by doing this it's worn my clutch lever on the underside & it kinda flops around.

So what do others think? Is this a good idea? Bad idea? Or just a matter or preference?

Ta Muchly.

I prefer to ALWAYS keep my hands firmly on the grips at all times unless I am USING the clutch or front brake. In times of emergency I find my hand grips the lever in a split second and so I don't think that covering the lever 'just in case' is at all beneficial, in fact I think it's quite dangerous especially to a newbie rider.

[vifferman]

The only time I've ever really needed to cover the clutch was the one time I was riding with a broken clutch cable. Seized a kawasaki 350 bighorn at about 100km near the entrance to stokes valley. Rode it to a standstill (big fishtail thing, though) and the tyre was nicely flatspotted. It seized because my "racing developments" included outsmarting the factory by removing the oil pump and running pre-mix. (when you're 18 you know WAY more than the factory engineers)

Hey - I remember them things! Big, green and noisy!

[pete376403]

Hey - I remember them things! Big, green and noisy!

Thats the one. The only bike I've ever owned from new - $1169 in 1972.
If I took the carb cover off, it sounded a bit like a helicopter with the rotary valve "chopping" away. Used to shear flywheel keys until I lapped the rotor to the shaft. Wonder which tip it is at the bottom of now?

[Motu]

The adjustable forks seemed such a good idea at the time (to an 18yr old) did you ever try different axle positions?

[vifferman]

The adjustable forks seemed such a good idea at the time (to an 18yr old) did you ever try different axle positions?

Then there was the pioneers of laying the rear shocks down to try to get a rising rate, or fitting tyre valves to the fork caps to get semi-pneumatic forks. All good stuff.
Or not...

[F5 Dave]

Then there was the pioneers of laying the rear shocks down to try to get a rising rate, or fitting tyre valves to the fork caps to get semi-pneumatic forks. All good stuff.
Or not...

Well depending where the shocks are it does give a rising rate, what’s your point?

By & large the big improvements have come from improvements in shock technology (like shims & bladders), not single shock placement.

Yes air was a crappy medium for boosting spring rate in the forks. The valves were useful for bleeding air out of them which tends to buildup on dirtbikes at least. My 2002 GasGas has bleed valves (albeit threaded) for this very pupose.

[spudchucka]

He must have been a plonker, there's no way that would come off in court. Perhaps he had his eye on you & wanted a reason to pull you to see if you had a licence.

A cop doesn't need "a reason" to pull you over to check licence details. Section 114 of the Land Transport Act 1998 gives the police that power, no other reason is required.

[FROSTY:Me]

Never thought this would turn into a heated debate-eeep.
I think someone hit it on the head when they say its a bike/rider combination thing -so On some bikes there is a real need to cover the clutch.
I;m from an era where jap bike brakes really diddnt work too well in the wet
The secret was to actually keep the brakes a fraction on and drying the disk.
I would cover the clutch for fear of seizing and also to get that fraction more brakes

[F5 Dave]

A cop doesn't need "a reason" to pull you over to check licence details. Section 114 of the Land Transport Act 1998 gives the police that power, no other reason is required.

Well he said this was in the uk, & I realise that, but if ever I’ve been pulled over, which is not very often, the Cop has tried to justify why, so I suspect that this guy was justifying himself with some silly story about covering levers, I mean you wouldn’t pull someone up for that would you?

Course not, you’d probably pull someone who looked over his shoulder as if they were scared of you suggesting no licence or whatever. Something that alerted you to feel his collar & see what's what.

[F5 Dave]

Never thought this would turn into a heated debate-eeep.
I think someone hit it on the head when they say its a bike/rider combination thing -so On some bikes there is a real need to cover the clutch.
I;m from an era where jap bike brakes really diddnt work too well in the wet
The secret was to actually keep the brakes a fraction on and drying the disk.
I would cover the clutch for fear of seizing and also to get that fraction more brakes

Yeah I remember those days of crappy brake pads. You’d drag the brakes every so often to keep some heat in them else they would get totally wet & cold & not work, not work, Eek pull harder, not work, LOCK.