I broke my clutch cable yesterday going down the road. I got it home and can't seem to get the clutch to engage. I will be getting the cable today. Should I be worried about something or will it go back on and work fine. I don't know how much it takes to engage the clutch but I was pulling on the lever and it wouldn't engage. Is that normal?

 

not sure exactly what you mean by "can't get the clutch to engage"

If the cable is broken, your clutch is permanently "engaged."

replace the cable (do it yourself if you'r enot already planning to. it's so easy, and will save you $80 in labor) and see if it's still a problem. I would bet that solves everything.

You will have to do some fiddling with the cable adjustments to get everythign set up right, but take the time to fiddle. It's worth it.

what you DON'T want is for the cable to be too tight. you need enough free play to be sure the clutch is fully engaging - otherwise you're perpetually 'slipping' your clutch, which leads to really fast wear, and loss of power.

but at the same time, you have to have the cable tight enough that it's fully DISengaging when the lever is completely pulled in.

take the time to adjust it right - might be one of the more frustrating hours of your life, but it shouldn't be much more than an hour - and remember, you can adjust the cable at the lever AND down near the clutch housing. the lever is for fine-tuning only.

GOOD LUCK

 

rk97 said a ton of good things. Do all the major adjusting near the clutch housing, and a small amount at the handlebar, so you can do emergency tuning if necessary w/out tools. Same goes with what he said about the play.
The other thing that is important is make sure the cable is lubed beforehand using a luber tool. I just put a new one on myself last weekend, and the install is cake.