Clutch cable help!

[Guest]

I have a set of clubman bars on my 78 gs750. I have now gone through 2 clutch cables. The stock ones seem to be a bit long for the particular bars. Should I be using a short cable and if so which one? Thanks!

[eil]

Where are the cables breaking?

Are you using OEM cables? They tend to last longer than aftermarket ones.

Length in and of itself shouldn't be an issue unless the routing is putting a sharp bend in them somehow.

If you want a shorter cable, I believe the one from GS1000S will fit. It's still available (and affordably, too) from OEM vendors and fits my GS850 perfectly with lower bars (albiet not as low as clubmans).

[jaguar6165]

I don't know if the first was OEM or aftermarket, the second was aftermarket I believe. They are breaking in the clutch lever at the end. I'm not sure if its the lever, I may switch it back to stock. I currently have an aftermarket shorty on the bars. Would it make a difference to grease the end in the clutch lever?

[eil]

Probably dodgy cables. Yes, grease the end that goes into the lever. The "barrel" (I don't know what it's called) needs to be free to turn inside the slot in the lever when you pull the lever. The OEM cables have a plastic sheath around the barrel to aid in this. If your cables didn't have this, that's probably why they broke.

[jaguar6165]

No plastic sheath on the cable. Ill go for OEM this time and grease it up. Might switch back to the stock clutch lever as well just to be safe. Thanks

[CrazyCloud]

When you put the new cable on at the lever and get it routed, keep it unattached where it leads to the left side of your bike by the engine; then give the lever a pull-- it should pull easily with one finger and be smooth. Is your clutch pull pretty hard? If so, someone might have put in aftermarket clutch basket springs that are a challenge for non-stock cables. Watch the cable where it keeps breaking as you pull the clutch in to see if you can see anything going on, make sure it's routed through the clutch adjustment nut on the lever correctly and not snagging. Good luck.

[fastbysuzuki]

I once made the mistake of oiling the nylon coated oem cable resulting in the coating swelling and putting exessive strain on the end fitting resulting in eventual locking up of the inner to outer.