Stiff Clutch - Suzuki GS 650 GZ Katana

[craik]

The clutch on my bike has become very stiff and difficult to use, making changing gear difficult and riding the bike a less than pleasant experience. Took the bike for an MOT recently and the stiff clutch was marked as an advisory to get fixed, with the tester telling me to get a new cable and all would be well.
I put on a new cheap pattern Hylex clutch cable, however, it didn't really make much difference.
Assuming this cheap pattern clutch was OK quality and not faulty, is there any other part on the clutch mechanism to grease up to get things back to normal?
Would a genuine Suzuki cable, at 4x the price of the pattern one, make any difference?
Thanks in advance for any advice/info.

[fossie]

The genuine cable is far better quality than the pattern and last longer, but as for the clutch getting stiffer, has the bike been in use or laid up?

Has the clutch been out? It is possible to replace the actuator arm slightly off so the cable is tight so the mechanism is on almost reducing the leverage.

As for just going stiff there isn't anything to grease or lube. Only dryness in the plates if laid up.

[craik]

Thanks Fossie.
The bike is used almost daily, apart from a short period a few months ago when it sat in a bike shop for 3+ weeks awaiting repairs. If the plates have gone 'dry' (they are presumably as old as the bike ie 27+years), is replacing them the only solution?
Since I've owned the bike, (18 years), the clutch has never failed or been worked on.
The actuator arm is something I hadn't thought of and will look into.
I will try a genuine new Suzuki cable first to see if that improves things.

[callyboy]

the routing ok ?

Pete

[KeKat]

Try to get the actuator arm at right angle to the cable, also try slackening the adjuster at the handlebar to see if that helps.

[craik]

Well, in the end, turns out it was the cheap Hi-Lex clutch cable from Ebay. Even though it was only a month old, on removal and examination it was revealed the casing had split in several places, snagging the inner metal cable.
A new genuine Suzuki cable (3x the cost!) seems to have returned things to normal.