Ducati 696 - stalls when put into gear (Clutch not disengaging??)

[metroplex]

I haven't ridden my 09 696 in over a year and decided to exercise the bike before the end of this riding season. I thought the engine oil wasn't warmed up enough, but I let the engine warm up to 2 notches on the temp gauge. I have the bike on a rear stand, so I engaged the rear brake, held the clutch lever in fully, and clicked into 1st gear only to have it stall.

I asked another Ducati owner at work, and he suggested I look at the sidestand switch and the clutch reservoir banjo fitting to release any possible air trapped in the system. The only thing I haven't done yet is bleed the clutch at the slave cylinder at this point. The last time I bled it was about 5 years ago.

When I let off the rear brake, I can actually start the bike in 1st gear and the rear tire will spin. My speedo says 4-5 mph and the engine runs fine. But when I fully depress the clutch, the rear tire keeps spinning. Trying to stop it using the rear brake just stalls out the engine.

It's a wet clutch, is there any chance the plates are stuck together permanently? Or is it more likely the clutch needs to be bleed at the slave cylinder? Or is there a bigger problem?

[stopintime]

Is there any resistance at all at the clutch lever? None: bleed it. Lots/hard: clutch stuck.

The clutch plates stick together after a 'while' - a year qualifies as a 'while'. Mine does a tiny jump forward after sitting just a few days.

[metroplex]

There's no resistance in the lever at all, it feels normal. I don't know how air would get in there, but I'll try bleeding it.

[BK_856er]

If the clutch lever feel on the 696 is anything like the 695 with APTC wet clutch, it can be hard to tell from the lever feel if anything is actually actuating.  Yeah, try a good bleed at the slave cylinder and see how that goes.  If that doesn't work, it could be that the slave crapped the sheets during the hibernation and the rod that goes through the engine case and pushes the clutch isn't moving.  If you start to see fluid from the slave weep hole that could be a clue.  I've never experienced sticky clutch plates on my wet clutch M695, but that doesn't mean it's not possible.  Maybe get the oil hot, shut if off and roll it back and forth while in gear?

BK

[Speeddog]

If the hydraulics haven't been bled for 5 years, it's well past time to do it.

If the clutch still won't disengage:
Engine off, shift it up into 6th, pull the clutch lever, and roll it forward and back.
That should unstick the plates.

[Howie]

I did on my 750 once.  Rocked it back and forth in gear a couple of times and was good to go.  Clutch and brake fluid should be changed annually, so a flush and bleed won't hurt.

[S21FOLGORE]

Sticking clutch plate was (still is) pretty common in dirt bike world back in the 80s and 90s.
(Typically, they get ridden regularly for a while, then left untouched, sitting for months. When you fire up the bike next time, the clutch plate are often stuck together.)

Watch the video, you can do this with your bike ON THE STAND, so that you won't risk the toppling your bike over.



(It's nothing special. Just put the bike on the stand, start the engine with gear in neutral. The rear wheel starts spinning because the clutch plate are stuck. Pull the clutch in, shift into 1st, press rear brake pedal on. The bike stalls.
Repeat this for a couple of times will free up the clutch plate.
Like others said, it is a good idea to replace the fluid and bleed the system.)

[metroplex]

I bled the clutch and the brakes, and tried a number of things. But what worked was warming it up in Neutral, then shutting it off, click up to 6th gear, fire it up, and as it is rocking around/stuttering, blip the throttle while slipping the clutch, and it freed up the plates.

Thanks everyone!!!