Clutch Slipping

[gbw]

Sunday I took a class and became an instructor for a program called Motorcycle Control Clinic. During the class the clutch on my 77 GS750B started slipping so bad the bike would no longer move forward. We adjusted the cable every which way to correct the situation on the range but that didn't help at all.

So my questions is, once I figure out and fix whatever the heck is wrong with my clutch, is my 77 GS750B going to be a good bike to use for teaching this class?

The class teaches slow speed maneuvering. The skills taught would be useful for driving very slowly (3 mph or less) around parking lots, making u-turns in tight spaces, and generally having more control over the bike at very low speeds.

The method used to obtain stability at these speeds is to run the bike in 1st gear at about 2 times idle rpm (I was running around 2k to 2.5k rpm), let the clutch out until your just in the friction zone (slipping the clutch), and drag the rear brake to control your speed.

After each exercise we "breeze out" the clutch and brakes by riding around the range in 1st gear for a few laps without using the brakes, then rest the bikes for about 10 minutes.

So it seems to me this technique, while very affective, can be hard on the clutch. It seems it was very hard on my clutch which I'm sure is stock (35 years old).

I've talked to my local expert (Joe Nardy), and read a lot on the forum today (don't tell my boss!) so I'm ready to dig into the clutch and see what is going on. I'll post up here if I have any questions.

But really, is a 35 year old GS the right bike to teach a class like this with? Am I just asking for trouble?

As a side note, and an excuse to add pictures to this post, I'll say that since my bike quit working halfway through the class, I completed the class on another instructor's 2010 Triumph Tiger 800. Wow! What a nice bike. I would really like to have one of those! It looked about like this


I also ran the exercises a couple of times on another instructor's HD Road King FLHP. It looked just about like this except it had no windshield. I was glad to get a chance to ride it but I'm not very interested in adding one to my stable

[Dogma]

Doing these exercises on a GS doesn't seem as though it should be much more torturous for the clutch than sitting at numerous long lights on the multitude of GSs that can't get into neutral while at idle. My bet would be that you find something else that let go coincidental to what you were doing at the time.

That Tiger does look like a fun ride. Maybe when we don't have a mortgage I'll start thinking about that sort of thing. The class sounds like a good one too. I can get around a parking lot fine, but I'd like to tighten up my u-turns.