Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hey guys,
my zzr250 is having a bit of clutch trouble. when I start it up, i give it some throttle, and ease the clutch out, the tacho will show that it drops from the 4k revs that I have it at and it will stall unless I pull the clutch back in.

I have to repeat this 4/5 times before it will finally engage and pull away. I'm not so mechanically minded, but I think my clutch will need replacing... any ideas of what this will cost fix? I estimate my bikes worth about $1000 so if it's a fair bit of money, I'm just going to save up for something newer and shinier.

Ummm...it will be worth a lot less with a fudged clutch...

Dunno how mechanically able you are, but I don't think clutches are the hardest thing you'll ever do...if you feel so inclined.

You've checked and adjusted the clutch cable free play?

changing clutch plates is easy, just make sure you put the thing back together the right way, else it's an exercise in frustration (this is experience talking here)

id say a mate with nouse could have them changed in a hour and a bit max.

On this topic, how do I know that my clutch plates are fucked?
How much do they cost ?

sorry to hijack your thread sash.

*double post*

Depedning on problem, iniitally you will wind on the power and the clutch will "slip", engine revs will rise but there will be no drive.
This is assuming just plates worn. This gets worse to the point where the bike will not move at all.
But there can be problems like a notched basket where the plates "hang up" on the notches caused by the plates being continually slammed into it.
The luck of it is that it is visual to the naked eye and there is no great complications in replacing parts.

Another prob (not visual to begin with) is if some wanker puts friction modified car oil in your bike, lack of friction sort of defeating the purpose of a clutch

The last time I did the clutch on my trailie, they cost less than the brakepads. you shouldn't be up for much, just take it to a kwacka dealer and get it quoted.

sash wrote:Hey guys,
my zzr250 is having a bit of clutch trouble. when I start it up, i give it some throttle, and ease the clutch out, the tacho will show that it drops from the 4k revs that I have it at and it will stall unless I pull the clutch back in.

Not sure I follow what's going on here...

Is this happening in neutral, or in gear?

The way you describe it, it seems like you're having to hold the clutch in with the gearbox in neutral when you first start the bike from cold. If that's true, then you're getting clutch drag when the oil is cold, and the problem isn't your clutch, but your oil.

I've seen this exact problem in an EL250 (same EX250 motor as the ZZ-R/GPX). Dumped the oil, put fresh oil in and it came good.

Changing a clutch is a piece of piss, and the parts aren't too costly, but I dare suggest you don't have to do that just yet.

For future reference, when you're describing probs for this sort of remote diagnosis, include as much discrete information as possible...

Does the problem occur when the engine is hot, cold or both?
Does the problem occur in gear, in neutral, or both?
Etc, etc, etc...

I think he means I K, that when he lets the clutch out the bike acts like it's trying to go, but just stalls without going anywhere, as in the rev's drop, but there's no drive power.

Sounds to me like the clutch may be slipping, but it's a tad hard to figure out without actually seeing/hearing it. I'd actually do what I K suggested, and change the oil. If the problem still persists, see a doctor

Benno wrote:I think he means I K, that when he lets the clutch out the bike acts like it's trying to go, but just stalls without going anywhere, as in the rev's drop, but there's no drive power.

Sounds to me like the clutch may be slipping, but it's a tad hard to figure out without actually seeing/hearing it. I'd actually do what I K suggested, and change the oil. If the problem still persists, see a doctor

thanks for the replies guys, this is pretty close to what happens. It doesn't even act like it wants to go though, it just doesn't go

It happens warm/cold. After the clutch eventually bites and goes, the problem won't happen again. As soon as I stop the engine, and start it back up, then I will have the same trouble again.

I think I'll just save up some dollars and take it to a mechanic.