Sandbagger

I have been working on my leaking clutch slave all summer. Made the mistake of "having" to have speed bleeders on my clutch slave. That lead to a sheared off bleeder screw, replacement of clutch slave entirely. Now I put on the new clutch slave with the bleeder screw that it came with and had a heck of a time getting the seal tight enough to draw fluid. With much help from here and plumbers tape I got a tight seal and and the clutch working. Now I have the same leak from around the bleeder valve. It can't be tightened anymore. So, how do I get the seal tight enough around this bleeder screw so that it doesn't leak? How do you bleed out the line losening and tightening and keep the seal tight enough when you are done? Can't believe I have to pull the cover, drain the oil, losen up the clutch slave just because they design these things that you can't unscrew the bleeder screw the hole way out. Crazy. Appreciate your help. Sorry for my attitude. It is the 4th time I will have the clutch slave off this summer.

Havent replaced it but don't think it is working

Don, I'm sorry for both what you and Eileen are going through. I know that 80% of the volunteer, business, family work is done by 20% of the people. It is always amazing to me when I see someone like you who continues to do so much even when they have been going through so much. Don't have anything amazing to say. Just wanted to let you know that I appreciate what you have done for so many of us and I am sorry for you and your wife have been through the last couple years. Bob

This was the problem. Put teflon tape and hooked my hand vacumn and a lot of fluid and have a great clutch again. Thanks to all of you for your effort in helping me out. Would have been lost without you guys. Thanks, Bob

I tried 3 bleeders. Speed bleeder was one of them. Same result. Massive bubbles. PS- I have speed bleeders on my brakes.

I changed the clutch slave today. The previous clutch slave had a leaky bleeder due to bad female threads. It came with new bleeder screw and inner works. Bled the clutch until I didnt see any bubbles and the clutch was soft and not effective at all. Went and purchased a hand vacumn pump and got so many bubbles it was incredible. Thought was I was maybe getting bubbles from where the hose was. It was on tight. I tried 3 different types of bleeder screws. Same result. Very frustrated. Anybody know what I'm doing wrong?

One reply had mentioned that I heard something funny from the truck tire ahead of me. What I meant to communicate was that I heard something funny that I attributed to the truck in front of me, but it was actually the sound of my tire. I feel extremely fortunate that I didn't go down with the violent shaking. I was only 1 up. Unfortunately I think the story would have been different with 2 up and higher center of gravity. It appears that majority of people here feel that the mfg tire company and not the bike mfg rules the tire pressure. I believe that I will be running several pounds under the max tire pressure. I should have done a post mortem on the tire. They said the valve was broken and that is all they found. I think that easily could have been caused be riding on the deflated tire so violently. One major learning for me was that if I bought a bike from someone that I would make sure that I knew how old the tires were and not just how much thread was left. I wonder if I was riding on an old tire. I have been obsessed with monitoring my tread and tire pressure, but completely disregarded the age of the tire. Hopefully my mistakes will keep someone else from making them. Ride safe.

There might be a great lesson here for all of us Avon users. The pressure they are reccomending is significantly less than the max on the tires. Wonder how many guys like me that think that the Max pressure on the side is where you should be riding it. Additionally it was 103 degrees on the road.

This is the confusing part to me. Do we go by the tire or by the bike mfg? Do you inflate to max pressure or some target under max? These are the fundamental questions that I would like to understand. I was lectured at my bike store where I bought my tires saying that bike mfg ruled the tire pressure and not the tire. After I had my blow out I got towed to a Harley dealer and got a Dunlop 408 put on. They inflated it to 36 saying that tire pressure went by the bike and not the tire rec. It was a big spready. My bike tire said 44 max (Avon) and that is what I filled to. Our Yamaha book says front tire is 36. My ignorance says more is better so I always filled to the max (I didn't fill beyond it). Would love some discussion on this point because there are so many different views. There is one person on here that I listen too intently and he has discovered his own pressure for the Avon tires on our bike, however I don't know if that is the safest pressure. Thanks, Bob

I have debated over the last 2 weeks whether to write anything about this, but I realize the discussion might save someones life or prevent serious injury. Long story short- I blew a front tire on the highway going 75 miles an hour. I didn't crash and it is not because I was so skillful. I was fortunate/lucky whatever. First I heard something that sounded like the truck in front of me was having trouble with a tire. Next, my bike was sluggish with steering. Then the tire wall collapsed and I took off to the left across a lane of traffic. Honestly don't know what I did, but got it going back to the righ across another lane of traffic. Somewhere in all this I pulled the clutch and had the presence to not touch the front brake. The front wheel was violently shaking back and forth and it seemed like the front wheel was going to catch at a 45 and body slam me into the pavement in the front. It slowed down enough that I got it off the road on the inside of the highway. What would I like to accomplish with this post? 1) Educate people on what to do with a front tire blow out. I honestly don't know what to do I just know what I did. Hoping some others with better skills than I might know. 2) Understand the steps we can take to prevent the situation from happening. I ride on Avon Venoms. A couple smart people on this site say it is the right tire and that is enough for me. This is my 2nd Venture and I bought it last year. Was riding a front tire that had adequate tread, but I don't know how old it was. This was mistake number 1. Secondly I was putting in the tire pressure posted on the tire and not the bike. So I was at 44 psi and the Venture says its front tire is 36 psi. It was 103 degrees the day I was riding. Thought we were supposed to be going by the tire and not the bike, but I am told this might not be correct. 3) The tire is a 130 instead of a 150. I asked a guy on this site who I respect about the safety of a 150 vs. a 130 if it goes flat. My reasoning is that the wheel is the same width regardless of the width of the tire. If the tire is flat I would think that a wider tire would not wobble as much. He didn't think this was a factor and I respect his opinion, but I wonder. So, let's educate each other. What is the best way to ride these blow outs out and what can we do to prevent them? Thanks, Bob

That was the problem. Thanks and good job. Bob

Great comments thanks

I have been thinking about cutting a windshield down to 3-4 inches for a summer windshield on my 2000 RSV. Anybody try anything like this? Would like some more wind to keep me cool for summer riding. Bob

I have a 2000 RSV. Suddenly yesterday it was very difficult to downshift. Upshifting with my heel remained easy. Seemed to be easier to downshift if I was at lower speeds. After riding for several hours it worked back to normal. If it is a linkage issue any idea how I would adjust it? Doesn't seem that it would be an internal issue because I didn't feel or hear anything. Thanks for your thoughts. Bob

I went from KC to Daytona on my bike for bike week also. Had a heated jacket. It worked great, but if I used my driving lights it drained my battery and I got stuck on the side of the road. Don't have a volt meter yet. I understand your pain. I had LED turn signals but the turn signal cancel did not work and that is a safety issue for me. I have LED tail light. I think the only way to get the load down low enough is to change the driving lights and or headlight. That jacket is awesome though. I can ride in lower temps than I feel safe (Below 32). Good luck. Would like to hear what you end up doing. Bob