Hey guys,

Broke down on my way to work today, I'm sitting in a dunkin donuts right now as I type this looking at my bike outside on the sidewalk.

I have a foot clutch setup which has no clutch cable but I've got it dialed in so the free play is perfect. I've been riding on this setup for 2 years now without so much as a single adjustment needed.





That said, a few weeks ago my my clutch cover started leaking from the seal around the clutch pull arm. This was the first sign that something was up, as it's never done this before. I was in traffic when my bike started to get difficult to shift. I figured it might be time for an oil change as I kept going with the traffic. Eventually though, I heard a tinny snap at the clutch pedal broke free. The arm that typically requires force to move is no longer under any tension and it swings back and forth without effort.

I'm assuming this means my clutch throwout bearing is toast. That said, I don't know why or how this happened. Do they get old and wear out? It's a 2000 so it's been in there for 17 years, which I suppose is not a bad run.

Either way, looking to see if anyone has experienced something similar and what the problem was. One of my brothers will be by this afternoon to tow my bike back to my parking lot where I'll pull the clutch cover off and see what's up with it. Hoping it's nothing too serious.

EDIT: One additional piece of information though, the bike does still shift and run. For whatever that's worth. To get it to this dunkin donuts I would start the bike in neutral, push it, jump on and drop it into first gear. Ride it to the light, slow down, stand alongside the bike and repeat lol. So I do think it's just the throwout bearing and not something more detrimental to the engine as a whole.

Also wondering if it would be bad to just ride it home and match revs to shift between gears.

Not ideal obviously but neither is sitting here all day waiting for a tow.

stopping for red lights and traffic would be a bit of a problem, but otherwise you should be ok...good luck

If I lived anywhere near you I'd head over to U-Haul, load up a bike trailer, and come pick you up. They rent for a massive $14.95 a day!

My Roadie is pretty easy to shift without the clutch but taking off from a push start and kicking it into gear probably isn't optimal for the tranny.

Let us know if you get back home OK.

If it is the bearing then more than a few riders have replaced theirs with a 7003B angular contact bearing. It's made to take a load from the side in one direction only so has to be installed a certain way. There's a lot on the internet about these bearings.

NickJFerro wrote:
Hey guys,

Broke down on my way to work today, I'm sitting in a dunkin donuts right now as I type this looking at my bike outside on the sidewalk.

I have a foot clutch setup which has no clutch cable but I've got it dialed in so the free play is perfect. I've been riding on this setup for 2 years now without so much as a single adjustment needed.

That said, a few weeks ago my my clutch cover started leaking from the seal around the clutch pull arm. This was the first sign that something was up, as it's never done this before. I was in traffic when my bike started to get difficult to shift. I figured it might be time for an oil change as I kept going with the traffic. Eventually though, I heard a tinny snap at the clutch pedal broke free. The arm that typically requires force to move is no longer under any tension and it swings back and forth without effort.

I'm assuming this means my clutch throwout bearing is toast. That said, I don't know why or how this happened. Do they get old and wear out? It's a 2000 so it's been in there for 17 years, which I suppose is not a bad run.

Either way, looking to see if anyone has experienced something similar and what the problem was. One of my brothers will be by this afternoon to tow my bike back to my parking lot where I'll pull the clutch cover off and see what's up with it. Hoping it's nothing too serious.

EDIT: One additional piece of information though, the bike does still shift and run. For whatever that's worth. To get it to this dunkin donuts I would start the bike in neutral, push it, jump on and drop it into first gear. Ride it to the light, slow down, stand alongside the bike and repeat lol. So I do think it's just the throwout bearing and not something more detrimental to the engine as a whole.

Sorry about your breakdown. I have never converted to or tried foot clutching, but I'll take a stab, could it have something to do with the leverage and force of your foot over the course of time being a lot greater than a cable draw? I'm pretty certain at least the side loads on the lever and stopping point of the bearing throw was never in any way designed with foot actuation in mind.

Just a guess... could you have snapped your clutch spring fingers off as they may have fatigued over the years from over extending slightly (assuming here you aren't running a Barnett style clutch).

Thanks for the info on the bearing. I'll have to see what it's looking like in there when I get the bike home and the cover off.

I've got the barnett pressure plate in there now. With the arm moving freely I'm wondering if either of the bearings on the piece that the parts fiche calls the "axle" is also shot.

The throwout bearing was the only thing I could find on this forum with symptoms similar to what I was experiencing here. But I found nothing in that thread about the 7003B angular bearing. I'll see what google turns up on that part.

EDIT: In looking back at the pressure plate I installed it appears to have it's own bearing. Is the barnett bearing part different from the stock one?

One thing about hand clutches. It's limited to just how far it can pull on everything down stream.

Just wondering if that pedal had a stop on it or if there were times it yanked on the clutch innards too hard one too many times with that 12D boot tromping down on it.

Foot clutch has a stop too. My foot can't push down past the floorboard. The travel is the same as it was when it was hand operated. Good question though.

Is probably good (to a point) that you have a Barnett pressure plate with that sort of setup. Stock setup would have probably failed fast.

On the lever spin. The BPP has its own bearing and the only way your push pull rod could pull through that bearing is if the bearing’s inner race retainer let go, which would take a hell of force. Just another guess maybe the side loads on the lower bushing for the lever shaft wore to the point that shaft and pull rod gears no longer engaged well.

When you get it home and pull the cover you’ll of course get all your answers.