Did my clutch cable give out?

So I was riding around and about to park, I backed it in while in 1st and clutch held in, I went to kick it up into N, and it stalled. I didn't think much of it and did what I had to do. Came back and started it up fine, pulled clutch in, it had good tension like nothing was wrong and kicked it down into first and BAM, stalled. I figured maybe I didn't hold the clutch all the way down, since I'm a noob still (only 1 month of riding). Did it again and same results. I can shift from N to 1st or 2nd  without the clutch being held in now but obviously it stalls out.  I tired reving it up and kicking it down into first and it seems like I can get it to move a bit, but I had a LONG way home and I didn't want to try since I'm still a noob.

Did my clutch cable give out? Something else wrong? I always thought when your clutch cable goes out you have no tension in the lever. Like in a car people say "my pedal hit the floor" How easy is this fix? I cant see the routing of the cable due to the fairings being on, it doesn't look all too crazy, 8mm socket on the part that connects to my engine. How often do these go out?
I just cleaned and lube up the chain for the first time, not sure if that helped in making things worst.

2004 sukuki gs500 with 10k miles on it.

Hmm...make sure when your kickstand is up that it presses the little switch mounted on the frame. The bike will automatically cut out if you drop into gear and it's not engaged.

If that's fine, what I would do before you tore anything apart is try adjusting your clutch in all three places:

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=20468.0

Maybe the adjustment is out of whack so it won't disengage within the lever's range of motion.

pretty sure kick stand was up... But i'll go back and check again later. I think i've moved it before with the kickstand still down as well. I gotta pull out of the garage and go back in and close it everytime, so once in a while i leave the kickstand down but not anymore since i saw the article about the guy got messed up due to the kickstand.

What year did they start putting in a kickstand kill switch?

You say you think you've moved it with the kickstand still down...

Well, to me that sounds like the kickstand killswitch is gunked up with something, and isn't always sliding in/out when it's supposed to. For it to run with the stand out, the switch must have been stuck in a depressed position... maybe now it's come loose enough for the spring in it to extend it but now the gunk is preventing it from retracting properly.

Find the switch (not hard, kickstand pushes it in when up so just look where the stand touches) and give it a good cleaning. WD40 couldn't hurt.

haha yeah had that happen to me right after purchasing my bike and going to pull away. (stalled and wouldnt start because of the kick stand button)

Freaked me out quite a bit.

after that, noticed I didnt put the kickstand Fully up and against the button.

Wow was I relieved! hahaha

thanks will check this out in the morning.

Quote from: ryott52 on June 02, 2011, 04:28:58 PM
What year did they start putting in a kickstand kill switch?

All years.My 89 even has one.

Wow, I don't think mine's ever worked. It's either dirty or the PO must've disconnected it. Guess what I'm going to look at this weekend?

The sidestand relay has a pair of orange wires, an orange/blue wire and a green wire. If you connect the orange wires to the orange/blue wire, you will by-pass the sidestand and clutch safety switches. If you do this and the bike works then your problem is likely the sidestand switch.
You can use the bike with these wires connected but you have to remember not to start it in gear with the clutch out. A lot of people managed to do that for a lot of years before those switches were invented.
Just one more PITA thing to go wrong IMHO.

connect.... how do you connect, i gotta splice? or paper clip.

I was thinking of doing a paperclip at the harness side of the sensor rather then the relay. Its the same purpose but i dont bypass my N switch. I just want to get this back home so i can order up the proper stuff.


I really do hope its this.

yep, it was the kickstand switch. thanks everyone

I had to jump it with a paperclip/tape and got it home. Now off to find me a switch

You probably don't need a new one... just take that one out and give it a good cleaning, check the contact points, etc, solder anything that's come loose. It's a switch, it's not a high tech part - to actually need replacing it'd have to be seriously f%&ked.

i cleaned it, really good when it was on the bike. It was all gunked up and sticky. WD40 and like 3 paper towels, it was bling bling. Nice and clean and almost like new. still didn't work.

least now that its home i might just take it off and scrub some more.

Easy test... Put the bike in 1st, kickstand up, clutch in. Press the starter button. If it feels like your starter motor is desperately trying to push the bike forward, than your clutch (cable?) is buggered. (A slight feeling that the starter motor is trying to push the bike forward is normal especially on a cold bike, due to a bit of stiction between the clutch plates, and fluid dynamics in your transmission.)

For what it's worth... It's possible to ride a bike home without the clutch using clutchless upshifts and downshifts. But I wouldn't recommend it to a novice rider - it can be dangerous, and it's easy to bend a shift-fork if you don't know what you're doing.