Clutch spat dummy

[the duke]

Well the day started so well.

Went for a long ride out for the day to the lakes and back about 400 miles or so, weather was great roads were great and getting a good scoot along to. Then out the back of hartside pass the clutch just went, it wouldn't disengage at all. So i took the clutch cover off at the roadside to have a peek in and see if anything was amiss, OH YES, BITS OF SCRAP METAL. It turns out the the clutch release bearing had cried enough and shat itself. Well at least i have breakdown cover i said to our mate, CRAP no mobile signal and no phone boxes as far as the eye could see.

So I made the decision to fish out the debris, slap it back together, bump it off in gear on the starter and chug to the next nearest civilisation, Middleton in Teesdale.

What a great idea, while waiting for the breakdown truck first found a nice tea and cake shop and then the pub for a pint and, after chilling for a couple of hours the man in a van came and took me straight home. And as a positive it saved me the fuel bill home .

Anyway. After all that rambling have any of you lot had any trouble with these bearings. I can't recall ever hearing of anything the same from forum posts in the past.

Should be an easy fix. See you back on the roads in a week or so.

Ben

[Nooj]

Unlucky, hope it's easliy sorted.

[the duke]

Well i've looked into it and i have to say i've found a weakness with the Aprilia Rotax engine

The clutch release bearing is a standard single row radial ball bearing, the weakness, engineering wise is that these sort of bearings are primarily designed to take a radial load rather than an axial load that it is used for. They can be used for carrying axial loads but there are better optoins design wise for the job. After looking into uprated replacements though, a better taper roller or axial load ball bearing isn't available in the same width, 8mm. So my only conclusion is that rotax used the bearing to try to cut down on engine width (only by 4mm though). As for replacing the bearing i'm gonna have a look through some more bearing catalogues to see if i can find a better replacement and if i still draw a blank i'll fit the original replacement (the old one did last 30,000 miles)

I'd also be interested to know if this is a one off or if anyone else has had the same problem.

Ben

[Thumper]

Hi Duke that is a little dis-concerning to read my bike is overdue for a new bearing as it's clocked 40k, what mileage did yours fail at?

You may find this link helpful; http://www.eabs.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_25

PS
Just to warn you as you may not now this, heat the spring plate to around 80-100C before removing the bearing with a drift and leave the new bearing in the fridge overnight before you fit it this helps as it is a tight fit I'm told.

[the duke]

Well mine failed at 30K miles so yours could well be overdue, although i don't know whether it does have a service life or not. Maybe mine was just a bad one. Although i've found that a few have gone on the AF1 site.

Didn't realise it at the time but for a short time before the bearing went, when i had the bite on the clutch ( so about half on half off ) i could feel a rough grumbly vibration through the clutch lever. It turns out now that it must have been the bearing on it's way out. So unless you change it as a precaution thats the best bet for feeling when it's on it's way out.

The old shell came out of the spring plate dead easy but i need to tidy some brouses up on it first before fitting the new one.

Got my new bearing from simply bearings. A good quality replacement SKF bearing. Ordered it on monday and it arrived the day after, hows that for quick.

Ben

[Torn]

Hi mine gave up the ghost at about 10k miles, left me stranded at a set of lights on the embankment, had filtered through to front and it went, i tell ya people have no compassion it was obvious i had a problem but all people did was beep horns and shout, miserable beggers!! southern cross fixed it for just the price of the bearing £6-7 cheers don and andy

[Thumper]

Must be all my clutch less gear changes the.