THE FIFTEEN MINUTE CLUTCH REBUILD

You aren?t quite sure. Was it bad traction or was it the clutch? In our experience, if you?re wondering about the clutch, it almost always is the clutch (especially if Ron?s been on the bike). And once a clutch starts slipping, its wear rapidly accelerates. If you catch it early, though, you can save your day with a dirty temporary fix.

Step one: Push on your rear brake caliper. This is a shortcut you?ll thank us for later.

Step two: With the brake caliper piston depressed, you?ll be able to remove the clutch cover without removing the rear brake pedal. Just depress it until it hits the footpeg.

Step three: Take note of which plates go in first and last. Some bikes have a different plate on the very bottom of the stack. Virtually all clutch stacks start and end with fiber plates, so there will be one more of these than there will be driven (metal) plates.

Step four: Now that you have them out, forget everything you know about clean work habits. Drop the plates in the dirt and rough them up. Don?t stop until they are good and scratched. Then clean them off with contact cleaner.

Step five: Now find some old spark plugs and steal the washers. Usually, they are the right diameter to add preload to the clutch springs. Put them in before the springs when you reassemble the clutch.

Step six: Change the oil. Use a conventional motor oil instead of some fancy synthetic. In this case, slippery oil isn?t a good thing. When you put everything back together you might have about one moto of slip-free riding if you don?t abuse the clutch. This isn?t a permanent cure, just a delay until you can get new plates.