Hi,

so I am an absolute beginner but I don’t think it’s me, I struggle to find Neutral to the point that I sometimes use my hand I also feel like I have clutch drag and wonder if I should replace the clutch with a Mitani  ?

I have changed the gearbox oil with the correct Elf oil and silkoline for engine both were Dark

3 hours ago, Chillout1983 said:

Hi,

so I am an absolute beginner but I don’t think it’s me, I struggle to find Neutral to the point that I sometimes use my hand I also feel like I have clutch drag and wonder if I should replace the clutch with a Mitani  ?

I have changed the gearbox oil with the correct Elf oil and silkoline for engine both were Dark

Make sure your clutch lever is as far away from your fingers when you are holding the bar grip as it can be by turning the perch adjuster anti clockwise then adjust the small allen head adjuster screw that has a 10mm lock nut  on the clutch lever so that there is approx 1mm of free play before it makes contact with the mastercylinder piston. this will seperate the clutch plates as much as possible when you pull the clutch lever in to give the least amount of drag at the clutch plates which will help to engage neutral. NB If when you make that adjustment your clutch lever does not touch against the bar grip then adjust the lever until it just touches the grip or when you crash the piston in the clutch master cylinder may become damaged. With this adjustment the clutch will be at its hardest pressure to pull with one finger.

Trials bikes are normally fairly difficult to change into neutral, I normally just turn my bike off then put it into neutral.
On the odd occasion you can knock it into neutral with it running but its certainly not really easy.

Clutch adjustment on both of the Montesa's I have 2007 and 2017 have just enough clutch drag even when I adjust the levers to my preference when riding are hard to shift into neutral for me ELF oil helps as well but still can be a bit hard to find.  Good luck.  

I’ve fitted the dimpled apico clutch plates on my 4RT & along with the elf oil my clutch is nice & progressive

neutral is still hard to find but in my experience all the modern trials bikes I’ve owned are the same

Hi,

thanks for all the responses, Tonight I have refilled with elf gearbox oil and adjusted the lever however when I select a gear from neutral the bike jerks forward also I can’t push  it while in gear with the clutch pulled. Next step for me is a clutch bleed if that doesn’t solve it I might look at a new Mitani clutch.

again that's not unusual, give the bike time to warm up, I don't attempt to put my 4RT into gear before the fan kicks in, this also helps keep the ECU in check I believe but I don't know why....

I don't think your clutch will need re-bleeding

some people get on their bike & push off gently before putting it into gear & this frees off the clutch bit this has never been a problem for me

hope this helps

So tonight I bled the clutch to no avail I am now thinking I will put a new clutch in it I will order the clutch tool, total pain in the a*** especially as the bike has very low hours that’s why I bought it as it looked like it had just come out of the showroom.

56 minutes ago, Chillout1983 said:

So tonight I bled the clutch to no avail I am now thinking I will put a new clutch in it I will order the clutch tool, total pain in the a*** especially as the bike has very low hours that’s why I bought it as it looked like it had just come out of the showroom.

Something is wrong with your clutch mastercylinder or the slave or the hose has a hole in it. If your standard clutch isn't working then putting a new clutch in it is very unlikely to rectify that.   https://youtu.be/hdHmiNNgL2I?si=SQVmrH_Ud1a_

Edited July 3, 20251 yr by Tr1AL

Hi thank you I will have a look again tomorrow, when I pull the lever I would estimate the salve cylinder is moving 3-4mm

Hi I reverse bled the clutch however it still surges a bit when I select a gear although I find it weird that with the engine running in gear and the clutch pulled fully I can push the bike forward and back but if I stop the engine it won’t freewheel 

I find this counterintuitive, but if you blip the throttle, the clutch will release better.  I've only ever noticed this on trials bikes.  If anyone has an explanation or theory, I'd love to hear it.

I've also found that dimpling the clutch steel plates has a very positive effect on clutch release.  But this is a well-know trick, that I probably first saw on circa 1970s Suzuki OE plates.