staldantes

My bad. I thought I was buying the only non-synthetic 5W30 in the shop, GM Dexos2, as there was no mention of synthetic on the 1 litre bottle. Instead after researching this I find out that its called Super Synthetic, whatever that means. So I´ll be of to some other shops tomorrow to find a non-synthetic (meaning mineral right?) tomorrow. My faith in Jim (from TrialpartsUSA) is restored for the meantime. Shops here in Spain don´t tend to have the same variety as I was used to in the UK. Will have a look out for your Motul, but also read Motorex does a good gear oil.

As a newbie and new to Trialing and this forum, the one thing I have quickly noticed was the number of people with this common fault. Never had an issue with any other bike in my life and thats 20 years biking experience. I know most say its something you just get used to, but in my relative basic manoeuvring so far I have found clutch drag very annoying. I mentioned in another thread that by changing the clutch master to a that of another bike helped somewhat (further master cylinder fluid movement), but even then I have to fully compress the clutch springs to be able to find neutral. Most suggest Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) in the clutch, I sprang for 5W30 as suggested in the Clutch videos from TrialpartsUSA. So go for the ATF grade as the 5W30 didn't help me much. Might even change my oil again this week to see if it helps. I find it strange that I might even need the full lever travel to free the transmission. My springs, plates, and slave were all fine with no leakage, and system well bled. As a novice to this type of fun, I have on many occasions wanted to pause for a minute after tackling a particular obstacle and hate stopping the motor in order to do this. I can only imagine its a design fault that can be rectified with personal intervention.

All put back together, and a very similar drag still coming from the clutch . Better, but not by much. Now, being a bit of a bodger (Scrapheap Challenge stylie ) I decided enough is enough. Rummaged through my old bits and discovered a clutch lever unit with its master from a GSX1100F. Long story short, put this on, bled the system through, and voilà. At the end of the levers travel I found no drag (and neutral). Diagnosis: I either have sufficient warp on the plates (seemed flat to me even with a feeler gauge ) , my plunger in the master is inefficient and not allowing for a complete push of the hydraulic fluid , or the 5W30 was a bad choice in the end . Apart from the master reservoir of the GSX1100F unit being tilted over for a racing/touring handlebar (looks quite wrong) it works a treat, you can feel the pressure of the springs in the lever. If this continues to work well after an excursion through the forest tomorrow I might look for an alternative clutch master unit (from an enduro/trial bike) that may grant a full compression of the clutch springs but with a near horizontal reservoir like the proper Gas Gas unit.

Fantastic thread. Also a newbie, just joined, and starting to learn to Trial ride (from Northern Ireland but now living in Catalunya). Got myself a pretty decent 2000 TXT249 Andorra. From the first day out after getting the little beauty running I was having fun, I was sweating a lot as it was all new to me but I was climbing through the forest opposite our house in areas that were even tricky to walk up. Happy days. I also have a dragging clutch, quite annoying; but instead of getting the ATF I went for Jim´s recommendation of 5W30. Will get it in there today all being well, having already refreshed the DOT4 fluid and well bled. Might take out the clutch plates whilst I´m at it and give them a bit of a sand on the friction plates, as apparently this helps remove ´knurl´ and fixes drag. If anyone out there has a workshop manual I´d be willing to pay good money. Having ridden road bikes since 17, and now nearly 37 I could do with the help that forums like this offers. Ta all.