Symptoms of 701 clutch failing?

KiwiKev

fast rider
Joined
Oct 31, 2020
Messages
51
Location
Christchurch, New Zealand
Howdie,
I've recently had a couple of times where the clutch lever has felt sluggish on it's return, and then today it decided to take a good few seconds to pop out but felt fine before and after......
Is this the slave cylinder Xring failing and binding up?
I just checked fluid level and all good.
 
Yes, it sounds like your slave cylinder is failing, or it might have an air bubble in the line. Maybe try bleeding it first before deciding to replace it.
Oberon and Rekluse are common replacements.
If you’re clutch was failing, you would typically notice it slipping under hard acceleration.
 
when my slave cylinder was leaking the bike was stalling when i pulled the lever and the level of fluid was lowering.
Maybe is it just the lever missing some greasing?
 
Good point. Is the clutch action matching the handle position? Since I believe you recently swapped handlebars, have you double checked everything you took off and on?
 
On mine, I noticed that when holding the lever in at traffic lights, it would go spongy and the bike would stall then fail to restart with a TC error showing. Wait 2 minutes and it would restart. Then i noticed the master cylinder seal being sucked down into the cylinder. I had no visible external leak. I put an Oberon on as the Husky parts were on back order (arrived 2 months after it failed, I’d already gone with the Oberon).
 
On mine, I noticed that when holding the lever in at traffic lights, it would go spongy and the bike would stall then fail to restart with a TC error showing. Wait 2 minutes and it would restart. Then i noticed the master cylinder seal being sucked down into the cylinder. I had no visible external leak. I put an Oberon on as the Husky parts were on back order (arrived 2 months after it failed, I’d already gone with the Oberon).
Does the seal on the clutch fluid reservoir collapse and expand as the fluid level changes? I ask because when I replaced my slave cylinder, I tried to collapse that bladder, and it didn’t work. It appeared to me to be fully expanded from the factory.
 
All I can say is mine did. At that point I was losing fluid in ‘gulps’ and I still had just under half the fluid in the master cyl.
 
Thanks. I’ll give it a closer look.

ETA.....My Magura reservoir rubber seal won’t collapse. I probably should have taken a photo while I had the cover off, but the bladder has an X pattern. I tried flattening it every which way, and while it would squish, it wasn’t going to stay that way.
And just for clarity, mine is a 2019 Svartpilen 701.....US edition.

#13 in this parts fiche image

1608142019764.jpg
 
Last edited:
Just an update on this.....
I've done about 1000km since my post, the lever has done it's sluggish return once or twice in that time but generally has been completely fine.
No idea what's causing it and will just continue to ride and see how it plays out.
 
No I haven't. I can't see how that could cause it to be good 99.9% of the time and then just the occasional sluggish return?

I think if I was going through the hassle of bleeding it, I'd probably splash out for an Oberon.

Doesn't seem to be getting worse or causing any problems at the mo, so I'm not bothered right now.
 
just created an account to come here and say that my 2020 Svartpilen I bought new in April (now with roughly 1000 miles on it), I was riding home from a long ride this last Saturday with some people and at the end, 2 miles from my buddy's place, the clutch lost all pressure in a very short time period (within a minute). like, it was working perfectly fine, and then all of a sudden it wasn't working at all. floppy lever, no pressure. no visible external leak. rode it back to my buddy's place without a clutch, timing lights and right on reds the whole way. not the best for sure but I'm stoked it didn't happen a hundred miles out of town on hilly twisties, that woulda sucked *so* hard.
 
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