hi
This morning i started my bike on its center stand but when i pushed it off to step over it conked out. No problem i thought swung my leg over pulled in the clutch and pressed the starter only to have me lurch forward as if starting in gear. Put bike back on the center stand,started up bike ok but wheel spinning with no effect from the clutch. My first instinct was the the cable was eather broken or out of adjustment but on checking everything was ok. I crashed up and down through the gears and i eventually found neutral but no neutral light showing. Pulled in clutch selected first let clutch out wheel span pulled clutch in stopped wheel with my boot all ok. Clicked up into neutral still no light but did disengage. Clutch now doing all it should.
Any ideas what caused the clutch to stop working and to why neutral light has stopped.
Cheers
Wet clutches have drag, even when completely disengaged, due to the viscous engine oil between the plates. This drag is obvious when the oil is cold and at it's thickest. Some wheel spin with the rear off the ground is normal.
Your neutral light bulb is probably burned out.
Bulb was indeed burnt out temp swap with high beam bulb until i get a new one.
As i stated before i had clutch depressed and was sitting on the bike when i started it and the bike shot forward.
I have just adjust the clutch linkage under the cover,it looked like someone had the over of as there were red marks on the screws. I suspect someone is being mischievous
All seems fine now touch wood.
Ahh, I missed that part. Lurching forward is certainly not clutch drag! A mal-adjusted clutch linkage can cause that problem, as you discovered.
However, if the problem just recently showed up and you don't think it is due to tampering, the clutch cable may be preparing to snap. This is especially true if your bike is more than 6 years old and on it's original cable. As the cable strands rupture, the entire cable gets slightly longer due to the helical geometry and yielding of individual strands.
Clutch cables are under $10. It might be worth a new one if yours is getting sticky, or you have any doubts. It's not fun getting stuck away from home with a broken clutch cable! :D
Cable lube is $3 if you want to just pop the cable off, lube it, re-install and then adjust from there. :)