Ironhead Oil Cooler installation on an early Ironhead

[11B40]

If I'm not mistaken all of the successful Sportster fuel drag bikes used the stock dry clutch with an extra plate installed. My 77" used the '66 stock dry clutch with a mix of XR750 and Triumph springs. Never slipped. Nobody we rode with used a wet clutch. I consider a wet clutch to be a lazy way out of an easy problem: keeping the thing dry inside.

[Ferrous Head]

Originally Posted by brucstoudt

and coming out of slow tight corners.i remember hearing them do that.

That was the krappy skinny tires they ran back then, spinning up as the power hit.

[ryder rick]

Originally Posted by Jeff

Us old Ducati kids wear tee shirts that say "loud clutches save lives". That distinctive dry clutch rattle used to be the hallmark of the make. Now, with increasing power, they've gone wet.

It is very likely the European version of the EPA has had a chat with Ducati regarding their "noise pollution"....

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by Ferrous Head

And do they have hydraulic clutches or do you have to have arms like Popeye The Sailor Man ?

I believe they abandoned the clutch cable along with the bevel drive. My '93 has a hydraulic clutch. It is, literally, a "two finger" clutch. For me anyway, but I've ridden my Ironhead for 42 years, so my left forearm is about the size of my right thigh...

Originally Posted by ryder rick

It is very likely the European version of the EPA has had a chat with Ducati regarding their "noise pollution"....

Yeah, I bet you're right. Like Harley's decision to go to the "quiet chain" on the Twinkie so they could reassign their allotted db's to the exhaust. It sucks when greenies make engineering decisions for you...

I do love the puzzled looks I get at stoplights, and the occasional "is something wrong with that thing?"...

[mikethebike61]

Originally Posted by Ferrous Head

And do they have hydraulic clutches or do you have to have arms like Popeye The Sailor Man ?

I think the Sportster is the only street bike left using a cable...

I could be wrong

i'll ask the wife

She ALWAYS knows when I'm wrong

[mikethebike61]

Originally Posted by Jeff

I believe they abandoned the clutch cable along with the bevel drive. My '93 has a hydraulic clutch. It is, literally, a "two finger" clutch. For me anyway, but I've ridden my Ironhead for 42 years, so my left forearm is about the size of my right thigh...



Yeah, I bet you're right. Like Harley's decision to go to the "quiet chain" on the Twinkie so they could reassign their allotted db's to the exhaust. It sucks when greenies make engineering decisions for you...

I do love the puzzled looks I get at stoplights, and the occasional "is something wrong with that thing?"...

Remember the FORD fiasco about automatics coming our of park.....
Kid in a truck
Parked on a hil by a lake
Left there alone
Engine running
Parking brake not set

Truck finds reverse, goes into lake and kid dies

Somehow it's FORD's fault

But prior to around 1963 all autos read P N D L R

Then the safety NAZI's decided you should put R next to P to prevent the kid in the front seat from dropping the shift lever in R as you drove 65 mph down interstate and crash your car

Never mind all the engineers demonstrated that could not happen...good old BIG BROTHER in DC did it anyway....

[mikethebike61]

Originally Posted by 11B40

If I'm not mistaken all of the successful Sportster fuel drag bikes used the stock dry clutch with an extra plate installed. My 77" used the '66 stock dry clutch with a mix of XR750 and Triumph springs. Never slipped. Nobody we rode with used a wet clutch. I consider a wet clutch to be a lazy way out of an easy problem: keeping the thing dry inside.

Key word DRAGBIKE

Race bike/cars are not the same as street bikes/cars

I never had to R&R a wet clutch because a seal leaked

Call your local BMW shop and ask what it cost to R&R the clutch on one of their single dry plate units when a $7 rear main seal fails.

R-1100/1150
K-1200

It's north of $3000.00

They no longer use dry units....not even on their 200+ mph RR-1000.....if that beast does not need a dry unit....a Sporty damn sure doesn't

[Ferrous Head]

They no longer use dry units....not even on their 200+ mph RR-1000.....if that beast does not need a dry unit....a Sporty damn sure doesn't

Now, I could be wrong on this, but, doesn't the BMW have a single plate clutch ? A diaphragm clutch I'm thinking. But maybe springs.
And a hydraulic actuator ?

So, if Harley added a clutch from GM to fit a 350 Chevy with a hydraulic actuator problem solved. ?

(Oh, they may need to find room in the cases for a 14 inch plate. Maybe turn the engine sideways 90 degrees ? run a shaft drive ?)

[Ferrous Head]

I'm not afraid of "complicated" things. Spent 40 years working on computers. Big ones.

So, sensors feeding engine management units and software determining ride handling and braking don' scare me.

Except they do.

We have computers on all of our modern vehicles and for the most part they work fine.

But experienced qualified mechanics are no longer working on them. We teach 20 year olds how to plug a diagnostic tool into them and then replace whichever module reports a problem.

I CANNOT begin to work on my own car anymore.

It's not economical in any case. But that whole thing about learning how things really work ? We no longer teach kids that.

They get new bikes with a games package that lights up like a Christmas Tree when you turn the key. (Or just get near them now ?)

It was a lot easier for me to survive the first few years of my life on bikes that put out less than 40 hp. I saw how many kids got maimed and killed when the first Honda 4's came out. And we sold them to 18 year old kids.

[Steve9]

The yam RD's were the kid-killers when I was teens. Ported, chambers, damn little rockets

And our old Dodge had the push-button trans-a-mission