Hey guys I recently purchased a CBR F4. Had it inspected at a shop with pretty good reviews and they said engine was good and clutch seems to be shifting smoothly. Anyway on the way home with my bike I had my friend ride it for me he adjusted the clutch to his satisfaction but he still stalled out as couple times. Strange but it's a new bike and he's not used to it so brushed it off. I rode it around all last weekend and seemed to be working fine except I stalled out a couple times, figured I havent rode since the MSF course a month ago so its fine, but I did notice the friction zone seemed quite small and not as powerful as the rebel I rode in the course. Long story short we adjusted the clutch cable on the handle bars and then everything went downhill. Suddenly the clutch wouldn't fully disengage so in first with the clutch pulled all the way down it would still keep trying to roll. Adjusted some more with no luck, left it alone for the night then the next morning I started her up adjusted the lever a bit and rode the 5 min back to my house with no problems. That afternoon I went back down and tried to go for another ride, seemed fine but after riding for a little while and having the bike warm up it started to not fully disengage again. Decided to do the lower adjustment this time. Right now I have the adjusting nuts as close to the lifter as possible and the lever adjuster is as far out as possible and it's still not fully disengaging. Does this seem like a tearing clutch cable, that's what I'm hoping for right now or could it be the lifter pin or lifter arm? Any ideas would be helpful. Can put pics or a video up later when I get home if it helps

 

Also I just went to look at it seems the oil is over full. It's a nice amber color but when i stand the bike upright all i see in the window is oil, though im not sure how over full it is since I have to tilt the bike and look by myself and im still not used to that lol

 

on the bottom adjustment, looking at the bike, turn the adjuster nuts as far as they can go left towards the rear of the bike. at the clutch lever, loosen the locknut and get a tape measure. hold the tape measure to the handle, like you are measuring the distance between the grip and the lever. then use a permanent marker to make a little line or dot at the very end of the lever , the little round end. then hold the tape measure flat on the grip with one hand. with the other hand line up the mark on the lever with the one inch line on the tape. slightly move the lever towards the grip until you have 3/8- 13/16 of slack, thats when it will start to pull the clutch plates apart. thats the amount of play you can have in the lever. it seems to be too much slack, its not. its in the manual. ive been doing it that way for 50,000 miles. im still on the original factory clutch and still pulls strong.

again, and in other words what i did is from the one inch line on the tape measure i made a pen mark at the 3/8 line and the 13/16 line. so what i do is line up the dot on the lever with the 1 inch line on the tape, slightly move the lever towards the grip and make the slack stop some where in between the 3/8 -13/16 line on the tape. i hope thats clear, you can get a visual in the manual, pg 3-23.

one thing to check is make sure when you turn the handle bar right and left that the cable is not binding, you want one long smooth curve down to the clutch cover, not an "s" shape curve in the line at all. it can make it hard to adjust and cause stretch and wear on the cable. after you do that if you still have problems, you need a new clutch cable. i have replaced mine twice. both times mine was doing the same thing you just described.

one other thing after you check all that and if ya still have problems. check the clutch lever (not the one at the handle bar) to make sure its not broken. it can make the clutch not operate correctly and feel funny if its broken. its the piece that goes into the clutch cover that pulls the clutch lifter pin out. ask me how i know. mine broke all the way at the bottom where it pulls out on the clutch lifter pin. i didnt know til i let it go too far counter clockwise and it would not turn back to let me hook the cable back up. i had to remove the clutch cover to see exactly what it was doing and it was sooo much fun.



my procedure on the oil level check, if i dont have my stand around i use a mini level, put it on the gas tank. put some thing under the kick stand that will hold it straight up until you see its exactly level, then on the right side tuck a mag light tightly under the swingarm near the rear axle nut. and get the it exactly level. let it run until the engine warms up. i like to wait til the cooling fan cuts on, or temp gauge is about one third of the way to the red, real good and warm. even give it a couple good revs. should be at least five minutes. use a watch. then cut it off, wait 5 min. use a watch. look at the oil level window. my rule is, if its literally 1/16, (i dont measure that i just visualize it) over or under the oil fill line, its ok. if its more than 1/16 over or under then i get it right on the line as close as possible. i have noticed that when i check it after the five minute period of time its good. then say if i were to go back out in fifteen or twenty minutes, more oil seeps down and it looks over full. its not, just check it with-in the five to ten min range. and you can look up the procedure in the manual on pg 3-11. its not as exact as i am, i do what works best for me. thats how i am with oil level. stick around, learn your bike, with practice this kinda stuff will get easier and you will save a ton of money. btw, nice bike.

 

Might just be the position of where you guys readjusted your clutch cable. I had an issue with mine too with the clutch not fully disengaging (where I adjusted the cable/lever to the top) and I literally let the clutch go and I couldn't throttle it properly. I readjusted it back and everything seems to be working fine.

Maybe this might help, hopefully you get it solved soon, good luck!

 

Thanks for all the help and info guys. Right now I have the lower adjuster as close to the rear of the bike as possible:


And the upper adjuster as far out as it will go:


If I moved the upper any closer it instantly stalled when I tried to go into gear. It seems like everytime I adjusted it the other day it did nothing but after letting it sit over night it was ok. Well ok till I rode for about 5 min and it stalled with clutch in once I hit a light. Haven't tested it yet today because I had to leave for school pretty early but I'll check when I get home. Does this sound more like a stretching clutch cable or a damaged lifter assembly? Will also double check oil when I get home as well. Thanks for all the help so far guys!

 

Also took a quick vid yesterday because I found it odd how close the lifter arm is to the cable bracket not to mention how it wouldn't bounce back much when I released the clutch
http://s215.photobucket.com/albums/c...F04DC5BE27.mp4

 

If in doubt change the cable. Cheap first step.

 

henrym is right, first try a new cable. while your changing the cable to check the clutch lever that lifts the clutch lifter pin, unhook it from the cable and turn it counter clock wise as far as it will go, gently. if its broken or cracked at the bottom where it pulls on the clutch lifter pin, you will feel it, and probably will not be able to turn it back clock wise to hook it back up. then you will have to take the clutch cover off and replace the pin before it functions properly again.

~if you ever have to remove the clutch cover make sure you turn that clutch lever pin lifter all the way counter clockwise before you pull the cover off or before putting it back on. if not damage may occur~

i had to replace my clutch lever pin lifter, i have no idea how that steel pin broke at the bottom other than previous owner over tightening the clutch cable and pulling it really ,really hard all the time and it finally cracked. i mean really, hardened steel? i figured the cable would snap first. i havnt yet to figure that one out.

anyway, on the f4 it will not hurt a thing to turn that clutch lever all the way counter clockwise, if its not broken it will move back and forth smoothly from counter clockwise to clockwise to hook it back to the clutch cable. just be gentle and dont force any thing.

 

So I unhooked the cable and turned the pin just to see if maybe it was loose. Then as soon as i did it got all weird and wouldn't go back to the way it was in there so i just said **** it, made sure it would slide up and down then took the clutch cover off and found this:




I'm hoping that it was broken and that was the problem rather then the other possibility that i broke it trying to spin it, though if that was the case it was probably about to break soon anyway considering all I did was spin it counter clockwise then all of a sudden it just spun freely and wouldn't really grab anywhere. New ones one the way though so hopefully I'll be able to ride again soon.

 

If I twisted it loose before even unbolting the cover and it already spun freely does that sound more like it having already been broken? I didn't really force it at all. Part wont be at my store till Friday so I'm just brainstorming just in case.