Racing and clutches

Im just getting into racing and Im curious how often you guys who race are replacing your clutch? On my first race I had it burn out, so Im just trying to get a ball park for how often I should change it to prevent this from happening at the worst time. I know a lot of factors play into this and I could just replace my clutch every race but thats too excessive I think. Thanks in advance for the input.

 

ive got like 80 races on the original clutch in my CBR and its fine.

you have enough slack in your clutch adjustment?

 

Apparently not
I replaced it about 2 years ago right before I got into track riding. I did recently replace my clutch lever but I made sure it had enough slack. I even had two tech inspection guys look at it as well. By the way I have an 2011 R1. 80 races? Well that good motivation to make sure the next one is set correctly.

 

On the other side of the coin, Yoshimura does 1 race start on each clutch. Somewhere between 1 and 80 should be good.

 

Got a slipper? Like to make it work? Expect shorter clutch life.

 

Haha. Thanks

 

A friend of mine has Tommy Haydens old Rockstar/Makita bike... man the clutch cover was a work of art/had the easiest of access!

 

Had easy access to replace it frequently?

 

Basically looks like this


Much easier to service & adjust than the "stock" one and the gasket stays put. If Yosh or Graves made one for the R6... they could sell every last one!

 

Moto-R made one like that, courtesy of Britt's desire to make changing our GSX-R clutch easier...it was a nice piece.

 

I change it once a year, never had one fail on me yet.

 

Thanks for your reply, thats what I was hoping someone would say. Do you notice much wear on the plates when you replace them? Also do you have any wear on the basket? I just replaced my plates and I noticed there are some light groves in the basket. I hope that wont be an issue.

 

My plates usually have plenty of life left. I could go longer if I really wanted to but clutches are relatively cheap and I don't wanna have to do it on some Saturday evening at the track.

I'd replace a basket that had grooves worn into it; they too are pretty cheap. You probably won't run into trouble with snagging unless there's an actual visible depression, but again, not something I'd want to have to replace trackside.

 

Yeah the groves are visible but I would say they are as small as they could possibly be. It's the minimal amount of wear. I'm assuming the groves would just cause the clutch to burn out sooner?

 

Also a side note, have you replaced you cam chain tensioner? I have a 2011 r1 and the rattle is pretty bad. Is it a fairly simple job?

 

Grooves in your basket will cause the clutch to not engage or disengage smoothly. Basically it'll screw with you at the start and during downshifts. It's not gonna destroy your motor and it likely won't cause you to crash but it's not something I'd want on my race machinery, either. It's $270 from ronayers.com; can probably be found for half that on eBay (though you may get one in the same or worse condition, who knows). Racebike maintenance is the wrong place to pinch pennies.

Yeah, replacing CCT's is usually a pretty simple job. Haven't done one on an R1 but someone here will have.

 

Much appreciated. Thank you for your response. Yeah it just sucks not being able really test out the new clutch without going to the track. Doing a 120 on side streets without registration or insurance isn't very motivating. Hopefully I won't run into any issues until the end of the track day, if at all.

 

CCT on the R1 is cake and make sure you add the plate and steel from the previous gen r1.

 

. I'm glad I didn't listen to the mechanic and give him $100 to do it. Unbelievable

 

I'm charging all my customers wrong. $100?!? To do a CCT?! You do need to set the tension correctly. But it's not hard to get to.