Thanks

[Puddleducker]

Thanks to the folks going northbound on 235 by Hewitts this afternoon. I had a part break on my bike and was in the left lane and was able to slow you down to get off of the road without getting ran over. Motorcycles are everywhere and I appreciate the consideration.

 

[vraiblonde]

Holy cow! What is that?

 

[Puddleducker]

That is my clutch lever. Broke off as I hit 3rd gear. I couldn't drop the lever and only had a small area to shoot the gap to get out of the way. It was only 2:50 so luckily, the traffic wasn't too thick.

 

[RoseRed]

Lucky guy you didn't get run down.

 

[RPMDAD]

glad you are safe puddleducker

 

[vraiblonde]

That is my clutch lever. Broke off as I hit 3rd gear. I couldn't drop the lever and only had a small area to shoot the gap to get out of the way. It was only 2:50 so luckily, the traffic wasn't too thick.

That's what it looked like but it seemed impossible to me that it would just break off like that.

I'd have had a heart attack if that happened to me.

 

[littlelady]

Quick thinking on your part. I am glad people were watching out for you. Happy ending is always good. I don't know much about bikes but wouldn't that cause you no control of your bike? Yikes!

'

 

[Bann]

Thanks to the folks going northbound on 235 by Hewitts this afternoon. I had a part break on my bike and was in the left lane and was able to slow you down to get off of the road without getting ran over. Motorcycles are everywhere and I appreciate the consideration.

Wow - glad you were able to get over safely and without any other mishap.

 

[Larry Gude]

How did you manage it? Just force it into neutral? Not too tough up shifting with no clutch and certainly doable down but a bit touchier!

 

[GWguy]

How did you manage it? Just force it into neutral? Not too tough up shifting with no clutch and certainly doable down but a bit touchier!

Shifting sans-clutch is no big deal. When I was a kid I had a bike with no clutch cable, and I still managed to ride everywhere for months. But I was stupid kid.

The bigger issue is not getting run over from behind when you suddenly slow down.

 

[glhs837]

What happened to the bolt whose job it was to take that load? Stripped or fallen out? Good reactions BTW, a lot of folks would have just given up and crashed. Step 1. NEVER PANIC. Don't stop riding until the crash is complete. Or, in this case, there is no crash.

 

[Ken King]

Guessing the bike has hit the ground before, if not you might want to contact the manufacturer about the defect as others might not be so lucky to get out of the way, those shouldn't break with normal usage. Surprised you didn't see it during your pre-ride walk around.

 

[glhs837]

Dunno, Ken, the metal broke because the bolt which holds that piece together is gone. That thin metal isn't meant to take the loads of gripping the clutch handle, the bolt, whose hole can be seen in the bottom center and right above it, simply isn't there.

 

[Ken King]

Dunno, Ken, the metal broke because the bolt which holds that piece together is gone. That thin metal isn't meant to take the loads of gripping the clutch handle, the bolt, whose hole can be seen in the bottom center and right above it, simply isn't there.

Wouldn't that missing bolt be for aligning the clutch lever position and less for holding it together?

 

[glhs837]

Wouldn't that missing bolt be for aligning the clutch lever position and less for holding it together?

I don't think so, looks like it's right at the point it needs to be to send that load into the back half of the wrap-around, where the load is sent back into the handle bar. Without that, the force is sent right into the pot metal of the housing. which as you can see is a thin hollow shell, no webbing, nothing to resist load in a pulling direction.

 

[Ken King]

I don't think so, looks like it's right at the point it needs to be to send that load into the back half of the wrap-around, where the load is sent back into the handle bar. Without that, the force is sent right into the pot metal of the housing. which as you can see is a thin hollow shell, no webbing, nothing to resist load in a pulling direction.

Looking at the picture a little closer it appears that there should be 4 bolts holding the two halves of the clutch lever mount together and in place. Maybe the missing bolt was over-torqued at some point and cracked the case, or that it was cracked if the bike has ever been dumped and then the bolt worked out, or maybe it was sabotaged. Don't know as I can't actually see all of it close up.

 

[glhs837]

I see what you are saying, four bolts from the back side towards the front. The part in his hand is the threaded portion the bolt comes into through the non-threaded portion still on the bike.

 

[Puddleducker]

The bike is an 81 HD. I have been rebuding it since December. I just put new bars on it and had moved the controls around. Used 2 1/2 tubes of loctite and neglected to put any on the bolts holding the controls. One bolt wiggled out and over stressed the metal. It was a cheap lesson on attention to detail. Maybe sharing it will save someone else from an accident.

 

[glhs837]

+5 to my internet failure diagnostic score!!!!

 

[Puddleducker]

Lucky for me, I had zip ties in my tool bag and used a screw (not as critical) from the other side to get home.