Hey all,
So I washed my bike on Saturday and didn't ride it until today (Tuesday). Shifting was hard work when I first started my ride. My assumption is the water rusted the clutch plates together and then they finally broke loose after a few minutes of riding. Is this normal? What can I do to prevent it in the future? Thanks!
Totally normal.
Don't get water in there, or dry it out. ;D
Press'n'seal food wrap works for me when tryingto keep wash water out of places like the clutch or exhaust outlets.
normal. in the future just ignore it. put in first gear, hold clutch in (or rather the other way around) and rev it a bit. they will break free. though you wont be able ot push your bike anywhere unless your in neutral. or you can just not get it wet.
i heard that revving it a bit to spin out the water after the wash will help make it not happen too
Just start it after you wash it and let it run for a few minutes. Problem solved. [thumbsup]
How about not using water to wash the engine down in the first place. I don't get why people think water works to clean a motorcycle engine. Water don't do shit but make the beast with two backs shit up. Causes electrical problems and corrosion, yay. Do a search on how many have gotten water in the guages, steering head tubes which gets trapped in the head tube and rusts the bearings. And of course there's your experience with the clutch plates.
The only proper way to clean a bike is to give it a dry bath.
WD40 or diesel and a rag & toothbrush with some elbow grease. Blow the clutch area out with some compressed air and call it a day. Tedious, but there really is no easier way to go about it. S100 or whatever trendy bikewash is the current hot seller has no effect, and I have tried them all. Water sure as shit doesn't do anything but cause problems.
For the painted body surfaces, plain hot water and a soft clean old t-shirt will give it a mirror finish. No need to break out the garden hose.