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Clutch Question
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Other than the obvious, what is the difference between wet and dry clutch.
My main concerns are clutch life, low speed and the friction zone, etc.
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Size.
Wet clutches can be built smaller because the oil cools the plates.
Drawback is that rubbed off friction stuff foules the oil.
As far as my experience goes, lifespan is not a problem for
both types, although a comparison of a BMW-R50 (35 horses)
with a dry clutch and a Kawa LTD-440 (55 horses) with a wet
clutch is not really a good comparison. Anyway, both types
never gave me any problem.
Oh.... Old oil tends to make the wet clutch sticky, so
that shifting into first gear becomes a problem. And it makes
the wet clutch slip, so that the engine revs more than it should.
But you renew the oil at regular intervals of course.
What you mean with 'low speed' and 'friction zone' is not
clear to me.
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By low speed, I mean maneuvering in a parking lot, such as turning around or
into a parking spot.
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Okay, I get it.
My experience: No difference.
Bikes weight, width of the handle bar, center of gravity, tire width,
tire pressure, wheel diameter, seat position and a miriad of other
things have more influence on maneuvering at low speed than
wet/dry clutch.
I also understand 'friction zone' now.
Again: no difference.
Experience:
Dry clutch: BMWs R20, R25, R50, R69, Ural (yeach!)
Wet clutch: Kawa LTD440, Honda VF400, Yam YZF-R6,
Suzi GT250. (was that wet? I forgot).
And many others I can't remember if they were dry or wet. (Salira,
Ardie, Panther, Triumph, Gilera, MZ, DKW, Horex, Harley and
more).
Don't tell me what type of clutch a Harley has, this one was a
single cilinder vintage 1927. All I remember is that it leaked
oil from everywhere, and you had to pump oil manually every
couple of miles. It had a hand operated gear shift (right hand
side of the tank), a foot-operated clutch, and a break lever at
the left hand side of the handle bar. That foot operated
clutch made a difference though. Someone push started
it once. When the engine picked up, he could not release
the clutch because he was running beside the bike.
So the bike took off and crushed a pram with baby to
a brick wall.
My father had a repair shop, I rode them in the fifties of the
last century as a child, before I ever got my drivers licence.
My dad pretended he did not know I took off with the bikes.
In hindsight, I know he loved me doing it.
Memories, memories.
Rob.
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Dry clutch was must for road racing use , when they still had to
push-start
their engines. They could get engines started much faster by the faster
, off/on
grip by the dry clutch
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With a wet clutch, some car oils can cause problems, and it's best to
use an oil made for bikes.
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The dry clutch in the Bridgestone 350 GTR worked ok, but squawked on
engagement and rattled all the time. I prefer the oil-bath type.
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