On Sun, 11 Jan 1998 13:00:41 -0800 Bill Feiereisen (wfeiereisen "at" mail.arc.nasa.gov) writes:
>I remember reading somewhere about someone who found it necessary to
>pull the clutch cover on a '96 Section and adjust a small amount of play
>out of the actuating mechanism. This was apparently because the clutch was
>not fully disengaging and making shifting hard. This is happening to me.
>Shifting at slow speeds requires very firm toe pressure and gives me
>the impression that my clutch is not completely disengaged. Does anyone
>remember a post (or web site page) describing this and how it was
>done?.....Bill

You may be refering to a mix of my comments over the months.

The clutch cover thing has to do with the `97 Section. Some came set up with insufficient slack, so out of the crate the clutch would slip under load. A quater-turn back off on the screw on the pressure plate did the trick. As for the `96 Section, some of them were notchy shifting for as much as a year after new. It took mine a long time to break in. I don't think the clutch has a problem being too tight or loose on the slack adjust screw, like the `97 did, but that's not to say your does not have a problem there.

The `96 has what I think is the worst transmission action of all the Fantics. I'm not sure why, but I have ridden many Fantics, and the `96 is the only model year with nasty shifting that I know of. It is not necessarily a clutch-related problem though it may feel like it. Brehm's `97 and the others I have set up are not so notchy. My absolute favorite was my `93 Key-Roo clutch and tranny. The clutch had the slave cylinder inside the clutch basket. Super easy pull and great feel. I wish they still used this type of clutch actuation mechanism. The tranny was butter smooth as well.

If you are riding in cold weather things may feel a little stickier due to higher oil viscocity. I control viscocity with respect to riding season (temperature) by proportioning motor oil to gear oil. In hot weather, I use a 50:50 mix of 85W140 gear lube and 10W40 motor oil. Below freezing I use only 10W40 motor oil, with the inbetween stuff proportioned as needed. Now that my tranny is finally broken in and much smoother, I can live with 1/3rd gear lube all season.

Hope this helps clear things up.

Chris (CJ) Johnson
Director of Engineering,
College Park Industries, Inc.
(810) 294-7950 (at CPI), (616) 664-4173 (home office)
papazit "at" juno.com