RGS clutch slave cylinder rubber 'donut' dust (crap) cover

Phase 1

Cut and shut to fit...hydraulic out, cable in....



Phase 2

After a few 'engineering solutions' push rod length being just one ...it works a treat....So I have either option, Cable or Hydraulic. The cable is so much lighter,,, for an old codger with arthritis...in the wrists :) :)

Finishing touches yet to be applied..



IMG_0459_zpstokmtftc.jpg


And my thanks to Mr Todd

Graham
 
my goodness... If you want to do it proper looking, at least fit the original shifter cover with the hole for the shifter blocked by a shrink-fitted piece of round alloy...

The cable on the cable clutch on my Jota tended to lengthen over time, which made me constantly correct the play. And when you stopped and forgott to untighten the cable again, you could bet it broke... Can't see this as an improvement, but that is me with 3 bikes on hydraulic clutch actuation...  ;)
 
Laverdalothar said:
my goodness... If you want to do it proper looking, at least fit the original shifter cover with the hole for the shifter blocked by a shrink-fitted piece of round alloy...

The cable on the cable clutch on my Jota tended to lengthen over time, which made me constantly correct the play. And when you stopped and forgott to untighten the cable again, you could bet it broke... Can't see this as an improvement, but that is me with 3 bikes on hydraulic clutch actuation...  ;)
Click to expand...

Yes the cable can need adjusting even as the engine warms up along with cable stretch..but I can now hold the clutch with one finger rather than a fist full...I did this mod back in the 80s and had no problems what so ever..commuting 80 miles a day and even the odd track day at that time.

I will as you pointed out replace the make shift cover (if I can be bothered) but probably not as I have the original cover. I don't have the 'it must be perfect' gene, rather safe and practical.  if I wish to move the bike on I'll replace with the hydraulic set up.

IMG_0461_zpspkbsm5xa.jpg


Just to keep the purists happy,... Ive modified the make shift cover to be more in keeping with the laverda ethos..... ;) nice don't you think,,,
 
a different master would have solved the problem, too, without stepping into the cable adjusting trap...  ;) I have 13mm pumps (14 would mabe be ideal...) on both the Jota and the SFC since several thousand kilometers, no issue whatsoever. OK - had one time a damaged piston that I would not be able to fix on road side, needed a help of a drill, a thread cutter and needed a shortened M6 screw. The rest was done on a greenfield during a Laverda meeting. Oh - one time a broken O-Ring on the SFC, fixed in 30 Minutes.

On almost every Laverda meeting and/or ride-out, we had a broken clutch cable... ;)
 
Laverdalothar said:
a different master would have solved the problem, too, without stepping into the cable adjusting trap...  ;) I have 13mm pumps (14 would mabe be ideal...) on both the Jota and the SFC since several thousand kilometers, no issue whatsoever. OK - had one time a damaged piston that I would not be able to fix on road side, needed a help of a drill, a thread cutter and needed a shortened M6 screw. The rest was done on a greenfield during a Laverda meeting. Oh - one time a broken O-Ring on the SFC, fixed in 30 Minutes.

On almost every Laverda meeting and/or ride-out, we had a broken clutch cable... ;)
Click to expand...

I've only owned Laverdas for 41 years and have never broken a clutch cable when using the extended lever.  Due to my very fine breeding I only have small hands and don't cope too well with a heavy clutch operation. I'm sure Graham is more than capable of the huge task of avoiding "the cable adjusting trap"by simply adjusting the cable at the easily adjustable (Yam R1) lever assembly every now and then.  cable can be replaced in the unlikely event of breakage in a couple of minutes - they're about ?3 on e-bay. - Regards - Phil
 
The end game is for me, 'can I ride the thing without inflicting pain on myself' (wrists) The RGS isn't a radical riding position but the weight of the clutch was a problem to me. I have a Triumph Sprint GT SE I bought new in 2014. The clutch on that (cable) is to heavy for a modern machine IMO. As a consequence Ive only covered 2k miles in that time, I would normally have covered 10k a year at least.

I would like to ride the thing, not just look at it....
 
if the hydraulic clutch on your RGS is that heavy, strip and rebuild the whole thing as something is probably wrong.

When I still had the standard clutch m/c on my SFC1000 the clutch was as light as the clutch on my VFR & lighter than the clutch on the then wife's Hinkley bonnie. I've since swapped for a Aprilia RSV m/c (just to match the brake m/c) and that's given me a lighter clutch than my MZ Skorpion

Thinking about it, the clutch did get lighter when I stripped and cleaned the slave cylinder
 
phil37 said:
I've only owned Laverdas for 41 years and have never broken a clutch cable when using the extended lever.  Due to my very fine breeding I only have small hands and don't cope too well with a heavy clutch operation. I'm sure Graham is more than capable of the huge task of avoiding "the cable adjusting trap"by simply adjusting the cable at the easily adjustable (Yam R1) lever assembly every now and then.  cable can be replaced in the unlikely event of breakage in a couple of minutes - they're about ?3 on e-bay. - Regards - Phil
Click to expand...

Phil, I respect your experiance wich is well beyond mine (25 years). All I can say is that with the cable, you have a constantly changing point where the clutch engages, need constantly to adjust the free play and if you forget to put it back (at least without the extended arm...), you defenitely crack the cable. Happened to me 3 times in less than 5.000Km (my fault, I know...). I was just fed up with this and changed to the hydraulic system.

With the hydraulic system - assumed it is in good order and part of regular maintenance - I have only had the issues mentioned before. The failure of the piston was a consequence of the Dyno-tests we did with the bike. it never failed before and never after. the O-Ring was simply missing maintenance on my side (It is not surprising, that an O-Ring fails after 20 years and roughly 80.000Km of usage, right?). The cost of an O-ring? well...  ;)

I changed to a PS13 Pump from a Ducati Monster or Laverda 750S on the Jota and almost the same pump (this time from a 916 or 750 Formula) on the 1000 SFC. The clutch is a 2 finger operation now with no issues at all. I put up the O-Ring replacement to a 6 years maintenance cycle and that's it.

@Graham: The good thing is, you have both choices. If one day you don't want to turn the wheel on your clutch lever every 5 minutes during the warm-up-phase, you still can go back, clean all parts, replace the master by a 13mm, use stainless line and exchange the O-Ring on the slave cylinder. It is a question of maybe 2-3 hours of work including bleeding the whole thing and an investment of maybe 200? including the stainless line.

cheers
 
Lothar, bollocks.
I have no need to keep adjusting cable clutch adjusters and I also have a single biting point for the clutch.
Only been riding triples since 1979 so maybe I have been lucky????
I would suggest that if you have a constant requirement to make adjustments then there is a deeper problem with the cable system on that bike.

On the Corsa I fitted modern hydraulic clutch and brake master cylinders with dog leg levers.
Clutch was one-finger light.
On POP I fitted modern brake m/c and cable clutch pivot with dog leg levers.
Again the cable clutch (no extended lever) is a one-finger pull.
 
Only had about 14 lucky bikes then.
Can't find where Phil agrees with you.
 
phil37 said:
...
I'm sure Graham is more than capable of the huge task of avoiding "the cable adjusting trap"by simply adjusting the cable at the easily adjustable (Yam R1) lever assembly every now and then.  ...Regards - Phil
Click to expand...

maybe my missreading, I thought he agrees adjustment is necessary...

Had similar issues with the 750 SF, but less so much than with the Jota. Only 2 bikes, 4 cables, all the same issue. Adding to that the yearly Laverda Forum run in Germany where at least one cable always broke...

May everyone be happy with the cable, I can't see it as an improvement. For me, fitting this to a RGS is more an overcompensation of a relative easy to be fixed issue (besides its ugly, but he already said he does not care about that, so...).
 
Hey Lothar, you must be buying clutch cables made from pasta. I've hardly ever touched the clutch cable adjuster on my Jota, and I'm not using an extended clutch arm so it's an original Arnold Schwarzenegger lever pull.
 
Maybe it has to do with heat the engine produces (the jota when I got it was running like a bag of beens; very often, the oil-temperature went up to 130 when pushing the bike hard or in Traffic jam), as the cable is routed between engine and tank and that area can get very hot, I don't know. Maybe I just had bad luck. All I can say is that I can't see how a cable can be an improvement over (well maintained and correctly set) hydraulic system. If that would be the case, all our cars would still have cable actuation... With the exception of some cheaper bikes, I think all current manufacturer only use hydraulic systems on brakes and clutch, at least in the "big bike" class - no? Must be for a reason...  ;)
 
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