Keeping the Clutch Disengaged / Bike in 1st at a Stoplight

[Kane]

This may be overthinking it on my part, but will leaving the clutch disengaged (clutch lever in, bike in 1st gear) while waiting at a stoplight overheat or damage the Guzzi dry clutch or clutch bearing? This is how I’ve always done it on previous bikes, with my left foot down and right foot on the rear brake, and I know it’s common practice, but those bikes had wet clutches. I am wondering if overheating the Guzzi’s dry clutch is a concern with this practice.

Anyone had a problem with this? 

Thanks

[Lucky Phil]

1 hour ago, Kane said:

This may be overthinking it on my part, but will leaving the clutch disengaged (clutch lever in, bike in 1st gear) while waiting at a stoplight overheat or damage the Guzzi dry clutch or clutch bearing? This is how I’ve always done it on previous bikes, with my left foot down and right foot on the rear brake, and I know it’s common practice, but those bikes had wet clutches. I am wondering if overheating the Guzzi’s dry clutch is a concern with this practice.

Anyone had a problem with this? 

Thanks

You shouldn't be doing this with any clutch, wet,dry, car or motorcycle. It's a bad habit you should rid yourself of. Unnecessarily wears the throw out bearing, the engine thrust bearing, the pilot bearing( automotive) the clutch friction plate and flywheel faces/steel plates.

Not good under any circumstances.

Ciao 

[Tomchri]

5 hours ago, Lucky Phil said:

You shouldn't be doing this with any clutch, wet,dry, car or motorcycle. It's a bad habit you should rid yourself of. Unnecessarily wears the throw out bearing, the engine thrust bearing, the pilot bearing( automotive) the clutch friction plate and flywheel faces/steel plates.

Not good under any circumstances.

Ciao 

I ALWAYS have the bikes in N before a stoplight, or parking. Even the auto trans in the cages too   

Cheers tom.

[Chuck]

8 hours ago, Lucky Phil said:

You shouldn't be doing this with any clutch, wet,dry, car or motorcycle. It's a bad habit you should rid yourself of. Unnecessarily wears the throw out bearing, the engine thrust bearing, the pilot bearing( automotive) the clutch friction plate and flywheel faces/steel plates.

Not good under any circumstances.

Ciao 

I'm going to pile on here. The worse thing it does is wear the input hub and clutch splines. Because of the uneven firing order, when the plates are free, they rattle back and forth. Doing that is a guaranteed clutch replacement before it's time.

[docc]

+1: be kind to your input hub and slip into N at stops with the clutch released. Learned this the hard way . . .

 

[Kane]

Thanks for telling me why. I got used to leaving the bike in gear as I thought this is standard practice (left foot down, clutch lever in) and is what the MSF recommends. I never thought twice about it with a silent wet clutch (on bike or car). It’s the continuous  insistent rattle of the Guzzi dry clutch that got me to wonder about this.

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, Kane said:

Thanks for telling me why. I got used to leaving the bike in gear as I thought this is standard practice (left foot down, clutch lever in) and is what the MSF recommends. I never thought twice about it with a silent wet clutch (on bike or car). It’s the continuous  insistent rattle of the Guzzi dry clutch that got me to wonder about this.

I agree that it's 'safest' to leave it in gear at stops. I watch my mirrors like a hawk and make sure no brain dead cager is coming up too fast before bumping it into neutral. That rattle is what causes the damage.

[bbolesaz]

Unless you're a Scura rider.

[Chuck]

The Mighty Scura has a twin plate clutch. Pete had it changed out because of "dangly bits" close to the single plate clutch..

[Kiwi_Roy]

The riding schools teach you to sit with first gear engaged ready to drop the clutch

Lately I have been stopping the engine with the kill switch then turning it back on, a quick jab on the starter button and I'm away.

[Lucky Phil]

7 hours ago, Kiwi_Roy said:

The riding schools teach you to sit with first gear engaged ready to drop the clutch

Lately I have been stopping the engine with the kill switch then turning it back on, a quick jab on the starter button and I'm away.

Riding schools,sheez. I've heard of this technique they pedal and wondered. So they want you to stop at the traffic lights/intersection in gear looking in your mirrors and if it looks like you're going to get rear ended then accelerate through the red light or stop sign into the middle of a busy intersection to avoid getting rear ended. Sounds totally illogical to me and relies on you being the first vehicle at the lights/intersection of course. 

Cant say I'm a fan of the stop and re start the engine technique either. Engines like to stay running unless its going to be idling for an extended period of time in a traffic jam.    

Ciao

[Tomchri]

If it is that dangerous riding, stay home.  Stay invisible in traffic, when I see a fellow rider with a green safety vest, no thank you. The day the government says green safety vest,,, it's over for me.

And I would never buy a cage without a switch to shut off the auto start-stop stupiditynes. 5$ savings in fuel , but 3000$ in repairs, new starter, out with tranny and new flex plate .

That said, stay safe, enjoy riding everybody.       Oops it's friday, IPA time.

 Cheers tom.

[LowRyter]

All this about being run over at a stop light makes me think that we'd be better off to lane split and get between cars.  

So far as checking mirrors and losing an extra nanosecond's difference to get away by shifting from neutral, well.........huh

[Kevin_T]

So Kane, just how many miles do you have on your bike? I don't think having a clutch that drags is a normal condition.  I mean it didn't do that when the bike was new did it?

I just bought this Lemans so I don't have a lot of miles on it, but the condition you describe was a signal to replace the transmission input hub on my Elderado. In  the 100k plus miles I put on that bike I think I replaced 3 of them. The Elderado didn't have a cush drive so 35k was about all they were good for. If you have less then 50k you might want to make sure the cush drive in the rear hub is lubed and well serviced.

[Pressureangle]

I've been riding on public roads since 1979.

Although I have a couple friends who've been seriously injured by rear ending at lights, not once has it happened to me; I'll chalk that up to good fortune. I have, a couple times, been threatened by squealing tires as someone slid up behind me. Very bad feeling. One friend says he always kept his bike in gear, so we'll assume it didn't do him any good.

Most significantly here, is that *NONE* of those times would I have had any time to think about where I'd go if I dumped the clutch. I may have jumped out into a far worse situation, and for no reason at all since none of these events ended in contact. 

I pop neutral and roll to the stop at low speed.