New vic owner last fall. 14 XCT, tri-ovals. Unknown if another other mods. 48K miles. Yesterday on my way home the gear shift indicator started acting erratically. Going up a very slight incline I add some throttle and notice the gear shift indicator shows I'm in a lower gear without me down shifting. I down shift and gear indicator stays. Then going down slight incline I up shift and the indicator doesn't move. The it does move, and can't figure out where it wants to be! The remainder of my ride, about 4 miles, the indicator is up and down without me shifting. I was able to get home. I realized that my clutch lever had felt very stiff so I checked and the jam nut on the cable adjuster had completely come loose and the adjuster was all the way tight. There was no free play. I adjust the clutch cable to spec today (1.5mm free play) and went for another ride. Everything worked perfectly...for the first 20 minutes. Then going up a slight incline again, the same thing happened. I was cruising along in 5th. I add throttle and RPM increases and I maintain speed. But I look down, and the gear indicator says 3rd gear and I haven't shifted. I downshift and the gear indicator changes. I up shift, and it doesn't change. Then it is erratic. I make it home. It worked okay at the 4 way stop (able to down shift to first, etc.) but still not acting or indicating correctly. So I am guessing the clutch is slipping and it's time to replace friction plates and discs. Am I on the right track? Any advice is appreciated.
Once I noticed that my clutch was starting to slip. I also had that clutch lever jam nut tighten to the point where it would not let the clutch lever return properly. I was able to loosen the nut off and all was good with no clutch damage. I caught it begore damaging the clutch.
I had a lot of issues as described by OP when using that clutch pull relief thing that came with my bike. Removing it helped tremendously with clutch issues everything has been great.
I have noticed when the engine gets very hot that the clutch gets funky. On an 80 degree day basically staying in 2nd/3rd for several miles of some twisty road I thought my bike was seriously messed up. Got better when sitting for a bit though.
This was just a one time thing it hasn't done it since and I did adjust it a bit. It's hard to find a twisty road in Indiana so will be a while before I run into a day like that again.
I have noticed similar issues before on my CCT and it seemed to only happen toward the end of my service interval with the oil change. Occasionally i could get it to do it when 2-up and gassing hard for like the 3-4 and 4-5 shifts. If it isn't your clutch cable adjustment maybe take a look at your oil. If that isn't it then your discs are probably glazed and that's no bueno.
Since I've read the some riders report clutch slipping problems with full synthetic oil I drained the Redline and replace with T5. Still slips. I guess I'll be replacing the friction plates.
It's certainly not unheard of at that mileage range (48k). Some folks drag their clutch a bit more than others. Over time it will wear out the friction plates sooner. I think I'm one that does that even though I try not to.
almost 100K hard miles on mine.
But its either in or out.
and Im fastidious about cleaning and maintaining freeplay...even ran an EZ Clutch for a while.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Victory Motorcycle Forum
497.1K posts
48.6K members
Since 2007
A forum community dedicated to Victory Motorcycle owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!