Dry Clutch (?)

burty · Post by **burty** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:39 am

Is there any real benefit to a dry clutch? At all? For a race bike or road bike?

dandywarhol · Post by **dandywarhol** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:42 am

Long before slipper clutches were thought of you just learned to race with "feel".
The way to prevent rear wheel hop is to never fully re-engage the clutch on a downchange..........effectively a "slipper" clutch but at a fraction of the cost!

This was the only way to downchange on a 2 stroke - stopped it seizing! It also eliminated the need to "blip" on the downchanges which meant that you had full braking control and not trying to brake and blip at the same time (especially in the wet)

....................and you try tellin' youngsters today.......they think they know it feckin' all.........rant rant............

Post by **Max** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:44 am

I hear yah Dandy...

I'm still trying to figure out what these "tire warmer" things are. I always thought it was a few laps...

Post by **Max** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:48 am

And BTW, with all the track time I did instucting and through the 4 hour... Never once did I think the TRX need any help from a slipper clutch. Not even one singe "ooops" moment. It was so easy and fun to ride I was just smiling ear to ear, except down the straight. Well, even then as long as there weren't any other bikes around!

Post by **phuk72** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:33 am

Is there any real benefit to a dry clutch? At all? For a race bike or road bike?

For racing yes - much easier and quicker to work on.

Also, it means that any bits of the clutch that wears away (for example with slipping the clutch) gets blown clear.

Post by **Max** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:56 am

It also means when you high side it on the clutch side you get to spread little springs all over the track and spend a lot more money. Don't ask me how I know this.

throttle · Post by **throttle** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 2:44 pm

burty wrote:Is there any real benefit to a dry clutch? At all? For a race bike or road bike?

Yes! You can look at cool mechanical art spinning around when you start the engine.

I love mechanical stuff, and I've laways been a sucker for exposed primary drives, cam chains and clutches. I guess that's part of the reason I don't like bikes with full fairings; you just can't see the engine.

I suppose one man's 'real benefit', is another man's trash.

Triton · Post by **Triton** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 8:33 am

Errmm, I'd love a slipper in my TRX - on our race team SXV550 fitting a STM slipper clutch gained Josh McFarlane about a second a lap around Oran Park's motard circuit.

Dry clutch? Hate the rattley heaps of shite, I have a Newby belt conversion and dry clutch in my Triton and it works well but wears plates out faster than a Greek wedding. Impresses Ducati riders but that's its only upside.

And Max, highsides are designed to spread clutch parts all over the track -but a better way is to have a mechanical OOOSDC moment... ever had the centre nut undo itself?

Post by **Max** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:25 am

Triton wrote:ever had the centre nut undo itself?

Funny you should mention that...

I had a chain snap once on my FZR400 back in '88 and it bent the shifter shaft. When I removed the clutch cover and clutch to remove it, the center nut practically fell off in my hand (on its last thread or there abouts)... I can only imagine the carnage that would have occured had it come unglued during the race.