Clutch operation has changed
 

When I first went out for a ride today, The clutch lever operation was normal then after a couple of miles it became much stiffer and wouldn't go all the way back to the bar when slowing and down shifting for say a roundabout at fairly low speeds. When releasing the lever it sometimes felt like the clutch itself wasn't releasing properly. It didn't do this all the time about 75%. Downshifting required more pressure on the lever than normal like the clutch was dragging but when stopped it didn't appear to be dragging.

When stopped and pumping the lever it often became stiff and wouldn't go all the way back to the bar.

The clutch plates were replaced as were the springs and the release bearing in the pressure plate. It has done about 1000 miles. It has an Oberon slave cylinder fitted.

It was all fine last time I rode it which was about 4 months ago. It has new brake fluid and is definitely correctly bled.

Any ideas what could be causing this 'stiffening'??

The only thing I can remember when I rebuilt the clutch was that I couldn't pull the clutch rod out from the slave cylinder side but it came out with the pressure plate as far as I can remember. I took this to be the O rings holding it in place and stopping me pulling it out. Should it be easy to pull out from the slave side? Could this be the/a problem?

Cheers
Simon

When the two o-rings harden it can cause the rod to stick, I would look at replacing them

Ok ta i'll give that a go. If the rod is a problem, is it likely to cause the symptoms i'm getting?

Cheers
Simon

Check the bearing of the pressure plate. If this is failing the rod will rotate, causing heat and expanding the clutch fluid.

Ok i'll check that, thanks. I did replace it when I did the clutch but you never know...
Cheers
Simon

Ok so I found the issue.

As I have a large span I fitted Pazzo levers so that the clutch and brake operation would feel more comfortable with the extra span that I could set on them.

However, this extra span, combined with the Oberon slave cylinder caused the end clutch plate to get pushed off the end of the basket. It's worn a groove in the basket but it doesn't appear to be causing an issue at the moment so Ill replace it over the winter.

I have now reduced the span on the lever to stop it happening again.

Cheers
Simon