Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 03:06:01 -0500 (EST) From: Chris BeHanna <behanna@zbzoom.net> To: Nate Williams <nate@yogotech.com> Cc: Chad David <davidc@acns.ab.ca>, "M. Warner Losh" <imp@village.org>, <chat@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Transmissions :) Was: Firewall config non-intuitiveness Message-ID: <20020129025244.M42962-100000@topperwein.dyndns.org> In-Reply-To: <15445.48220.670641.705228@caddis.yogotech.com>
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I don't subscribe to -chat, but it's funny that this particular
message made it into my inbox anyway, what with me unintentionally
becoming very, very familiar with the transmissions of three different
motorcycles ('82 Roadster, '91 ZX-11, and '75 Honda CB360T. My '77
BMW is due for an infamous spline lube...hmm).
On Mon, 28 Jan 2002, Nate Williams wrote:
> [...good reasons for a clutch...easier to clutchless-shift a vehicle
> that has no synchros, such a big truck or a motorcycle...]
A good (sadly, departed) friend of mine broke the clutch cable on
his '78 BMW R100/7 a short way out of Cape May, NJ. I shall never
forget his ritual of stalling the bike at stoplights, dropping it into
first (rocking back and forth to get it to engage), then thumbing the
starter with the bike in gear when the light turned green, until the
engine caught and the bike suddenly lurched forward.
(He rode all the way to Cranford that way, some 90-100 miles.)
I was unable to repeat this feat on the '77 BMW R100/7 that I
purchased from his widow, when the clutch cable popped in
Burgettstown, PA (the starter on this bike is nowhere near as stout as
the one on the '78). Fortunately, a very helpful fellow drove me up
to an independent Harley shop a few miles up the road, where the
proprietor worked his butt off to fabricate a clutch cable for me and
only charged me $25 for the effort.
I popped the clutch cable on my '75 Honda CB360T one fine day on
my way to work. I rode it home at the end of the day, shifting
clutchless the entire 40 miles. Starting on a hill was interesting:
find neutral as you coast to a stop at a red light, dismount (letting
the bike idle), and, when the light turns green, run as fast as you
can, leap aboard, <CRUNCH> into 1st, and gas it hard so it doesn't
stall. It helps that the bike weighs significantly under 400 pounds.
My last two main rides ('91 ZX-11, 2001 Suzuki Hayabusa) have had
hydraulic clutches. No worries there, 'cept that the fluid on the
'busa gets contaminated very quickly (for some odd reason, Suzuki
neglected to use a dust boot on the slave cylinder. One of the more
popular practical mods for this bike is to fabricate a dust boot from
an old piece of inner tube and some rubber cement.).
On another occasion--for grins--I clutchless shifted a '91 S-10
pickup just to see if I could do it. That pickup sported a crummy
Borg-Warner T5 (with synchros) and, as Nate observed about
synchronized transmissions, it was a real chore to shift that beast
clutchless. I only did it a few times on one occasion. Bikes are
*much* easier.
Go figure: lots of geek talk on the MC lists I'm on, so I find MC
talk on a geek list! :-)
--
Chris BeHanna
Software Engineer (Remove "bogus" before responding.)
behanna@bogus.zbzoom.net
I was raised by a pack of wild corn dogs.
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