is my Kawi wearing out...or is it my imagination

[stevewfl]

I agree the clutches are tough, on the ZX14s we drag raced them to death launching at 8K plus repeatedly for the life of the bike and I know guys that did that 1/4 mile at a time and racked up a LOT of miles .

I will change my clutch fluid. Again, never owned a bike to enough miles to worry about such till this C14

[C1xRider]

Wow, crazy.  This morning, I started the C14, backed it  out of the garage, and sat there until my buddy got his helmet and gloves on.  Put it in first gear, started letting out the clutch, and it tried to take off with the clutch lever only 1/4" from the grip.  I sat there shaking my head, after trying it several times.  It started behaving fine after a few cycles of the lever while in neutral.

Steve, you jinxed me!    

Let us know if changing your clutch hydraulic fluid fixes yours.  I wont be doing mine for awhile (too many other fires to stomp on right now).

[stevewfl]

Update:  clutch has another 8,000 miles on it, still acts weird and unpredictable as far as where the "grab point' will be until I take off a few times.

[Rhino]

Update:  clutch has another 8,000 miles on it, still acts weird and unpredictable as far as where the "grab point' will be until I take off a few times.

Did you change the fluid? and did it make a difference?

The only bike I have put that many miles on was my Valkyrie. After about 50,000 miles I had the same symptoms as you are seeing. The reason was that the clutch in the Valk has a damper plate that has 2 plates riveted together with leaf springs in between that gives the whole assembly a few millimeters of cushion. Those rivets started to come apart. The other plates looked fine and hardly worn even compared to a new clutch. Looking at the exploded view in the manual it doesn't look like the C14 has a damper plate like the Valk but the symptoms sound similar.

[JetJock]

It's not at all unusual for clutch plates to stick together a bit when cold. As soon is it warms up a little, the plates naturally release. If you have thicker oil than 10W/40 even more likely to happen.

But I'd also agree that changing out the clutch reservoir regularly with fresh fluid solves some of these problems.

[Tom J.]

I have this exact problem...kinda frequently too.  The clutch lever feels 'soft' and requires a full pull into the handle (from where I have it set anyway) to disengage the clutch.  If it's really soft, the bike will jump ahead when putting it into gear the first time.  All becomes right with the world after a mile or two down the road and a couple cycles through the gears.
Haven't really explored any fixes for it yet.  Sounds like the problem is more common than I thought.

[C1xRider]

Mine has only done this one other time since back in May when SteveWFL put the hex on me.

I do squeeze and release the clutch several times before putting it in gear now though to check how it feels.

It's probably just moisture in the hydraulic fluid, and a fresh fluid change will probably fix it.

[So Cal Joe]

If you haven't changed the fluids in a while I would do that before your trip

[B.D.F.]

Just as an aside, brake fluid has a built- in indicator of its condition; it starts out clear and gets progressively darker as it is contaminated with water. As a general rule of thumb, the fluid should be changed before it gets even remotely close to opaque. I change mine when it is 'tan' or similar. Brake fluid alone will not allow corrosion anywhere in the system that is flooded with brake fluid, any corrosion (usually around the seal lips of the slave cylinders) is due to collected water in the brake fluid.

Brian

[ZedHed]

I have this exact problem...kinda frequently too.  The clutch lever feels 'soft' and requires a full pull into the handle (from where I have it set anyway) to disengage the clutch.  If it's really soft, the bike will jump ahead when putting it into gear the first time.  All becomes right with the world after a mile or two down the road and a couple cycles through the gears.
Haven't really explored any fixes for it yet.  Sounds like the problem is more common than I thought.

I noticed this too and also that the fluid in the reservoir get kinda dark (but not the brake MC)  So I bled new fluid into the clutch master cylinder and it was back to like new feel.

[Stavee]

I had a similar problem last year. I changed the fluid and never got the operation back. neither could the dealer. Long story short, Ma Kaw ended up replacing the master cylinder.

[Eric119]

Mine does that but only when it is hot and has been sitting for a while but not long enough to cool down. When the bike is at running temp. or cold, the clutch engagement point is the same; when it is hot and has been sitting for a while, say 20 minutes, the clutch engagement point moves toward the handlebar quite a bit. The slave cylinder was replaced and it cured the problem for a while but it is back now (maybe 15K miles since the slave cylinder was replaced).

It seems very repeatable and <more or less> normal. I will change my clutch fluid and let it go at that unless or until there are other symptoms. The clutch itself works perfectly so it is nothing to worry about IMO, and there are 62K miles on my bike.

Brian

Mine did this too. I was in El Paso Tx, very warm day. Had changed my clutch fluid prior to the MC trip, so I know its not old fluid issue. At first I thought I was loosing clutch fluid but after about two or three shifts the clutch engagement was back to normal. Next day it did the same thing after a ride in hot weather and setting for a while. Guess it has something to do with high temps and sitting for a short time.