Well, here's my entry to the Broken Clutch Lever Hall of Fame.



A few weeks ago, I was warming up my bike and turned away for a few seconds to grab my helmet.  When I turned back around, I experienced the slow motion drop on the driveway.  Main result = broken clutch lever.

Obviously, it was easy to remove the large part of the broken lever, but the tiny piece held in place by the bolt took me a while to get out.  I thought it'd just be a matter of pulling it out, but it wasn't.  I kept on yanking on and turning the piece around with some pliers, but it just would not be freed.  So I thought that maybe there was something holding it in.  I came back to the forum and... D'OH!  Clutch lever switch!  I unscrewed the two screws holding the switch in place, pulled out the piece that was holding the lever in place and felt relieved as the small leftover piece of clutch lever slid out.

Thanks to the information I gathered from this forum, I now have a brand, spankin' new clutch lever.  Now, about those LED gauges...

Welcome to the board!  Sorry to hear about the drop, it happens.  It doesn't sound like you damaged anything else, which is good!  Be careful where you warm up, the bike will vibrate off the sidestand if you're pointed downhill.  A little check is to sit on the bike when you start it and check that the wheel is all the way to the left while you try to push the bike back slightly on the sidestand.  This will ensure that the sidestand is on its stop.

Nice break!  Normally they break off and leave a little stub just long enough you can work it with 2 fingers.  That's impressive, right into the meat of the casting!  They're made out of pot metal for a reason:  Better to snap off the lever than snap off the lever mount.   

Re:  LED gauges.  If you just want to change colors you can get colored bulbs at NAPA and Autozone.  Saves a lot of extra effort just to chage to a color better for your night vision.  See here:  http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=22712.0 

Thanks!  I've actually been lurking around since 2000, which is when I took the MSF course and bought my 92.  I'm just getting back into riding more frequently and my bike was indeed pointed slightly downhill on the driveway.  Last time I'll do that... hopefully.

Question... is there something that fits over the end of the sidestand, like a piece of rubber to provide some traction?  Mine is just all metal so when I roll the bike back while on the sidestand, it grinds against the ground.

Thanks again for the tips!

Ahh.  It takes some time to get back into the 2-wheeled habits.

Neither stand has a rubber foot.  One thing to keep in mind is that the sidestand will sink into hot asphalt.  I suggest you keep an octagon box cover under the seat or in your tankbag.  Put it under the sidestand to distribute the load. 

You can find them in any hardware store in the electrical section for $0.50.  They look like this:



Where in IL are you?  I'm near of Centralia.

Yeah, I had a clutch lever break like that that after a low-speed lowside.  Made for an interesting ride home since I didn't have a spare....  The upside is that I learned to power shift. 


I assume the bend on the end was intentional?

Quote from: Egaeus on July 17, 2006, 08:15:08 AM
Yeah, I had a clutch lever break like that that after a low-speed lowside.  Made for an interesting ride home since I didn't have a spare....  The upside is that I learned to power shift. 


I assume the bend on the end was intentional?

Actually, no.  The bend was a result of my zero-speed lowside.   

Quote from: GeeP on July 16, 2006, 10:05:04 PM
Ahh.  It takes some time to get back into the 2-wheeled habits.

Neither stand has a rubber foot.  One thing to keep in mind is that the sidestand will sink into hot asphalt.  I suggest you keep an octagon box cover under the seat or in your tankbag.  Put it under the sidestand to distribute the load. 

You can find them in any hardware store in the electrical section for $0.50.  They look like this:



Where in IL are you?  I'm near of Centralia.

Thanks for the tip.  I've often read that you should have something to place under the sidestand, and that box cover looks perfect.

I'm in the SW suburbs of Chicago, quite a bit away from Centralia.

to Gee & Crispy - my dealer gave me a kickstand pad when I bt my bike.  It's awesome.