S/V 401 clutch question

dakaroo

dakaroo

fast rider
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
47
Location
Peso of the North, Kelowna BC
Noticed last night while squeezing the clutch lever I could hear the clutch through my helmet and sound went away when clutch released.
Question is the clutch noisy? Never noticed it before.
 
It shouldn't be noisy. When you pull in the clutch lever the mechanism at the clutch itself operates through a thrust bearing that spins at clutch speed. If that bearing starts to wear it can get noisy.

Sometimes the bearing is a flat ball or cylinder race, sometimes in small motors it's just a flat plate spinning against another one. I don't know what they use in our motors.
 
It is normal for the noise to change when a clutch pulled in so it likely nothing to worry about.

Mine makes a very slight rattle when pulled in at idle which either doesn't occur at speed or is inaudible. I assume this is because the plates are no longer pressed together so they can move against the basket. The tune of the engine can also be slightly altered by the lever sensor to avoid stalling which changes the engine sound a little.

It could be a lot worse, Ducati dry clutch make a lot of noise.
 
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I think the point is we don't know how much noise it's making. My idea of noisy may be very different to yours and every mic or helmet attenuates different frequencies.

At the end of this the rider will most likely have the clutch pulled and be near idle.
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Personally I think that's louder than real life would be but I have never heard my bike being ridden past without a helmet like this.
 
My engine makes plenty of noise, especially on the second half of the oil.

Does it work properly?
If you look at the oil window when the bike is on the stand and idling - does oil splash on the window?

Does it make noise in neutral if you go next to the clutch cover and move the level arm on the shaft with pliers, how does the shaft movement feel through the pliers?
 
mrlm said:
It could be a lot worse, Ducati dry clutch make a lot of noise.
Click to expand...
I took a few Ducati bikes out on a test ride day some years ago and loved that dry clutch sound. When you know about it, this video becomes much funnier.
You can turn on English captions

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Here's a video of a Duke 390 making the noise the OP might be hearing.

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I had asked this same thing and the dealership told me it was normal. Only does it in neautral instantly goes away the moment you pull the clutch... mine didn't do it at first but was told it was the clutch breaking in. Not sure if my dealer is full of it or if its the truth but from what I have read on here its normal.
 
You are right, I got it the wrong way around. Mine makes less noise when the clutch is pulled in neutral.
In other gears I am normally moving so it sounds different again.
 
I thought all transmissions make gear clattering noise when not in gear and idling with the clutch engaged (lever not pulled) , and the less cylinders the more noise.

And in the video above that sounds way louder than mine does... would be interested if that is with 7000 miles on some motorex 10w40 oil or something... the oil age / type definately does change the mechanical noise coming from the engine.
 
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