Clutch Bleed Made Shifting Much Smoother

[roggiedog]

Just did a clutch bleed on my 06 A. The fluid looked pretty dark and had some floating debris in the master cylinder. I was having a pretty hard CLUNK when putting the bike into first gear from neutral. I did a clutch soak last year and that seemed to help out for awhile but the issue seemed to come back. After the bleed the shift into first gear is way quieter and doesn't move the bike forward at all like it used to. The shifting is a bunch smoother as well between all the gears. I'd like to thank the folks on the forum here for all the info on how to do the bleed. It was pretty easy to do.

 

[JamesK]

As with brake fluid you really need to flush it at least once a year and the clutch fluid as you noticed somehow also builds up a tone of crap, we've all found this even after a short time.

In your case, and based on the shifting improvements you've seen I'd say the biggest reason for the improved performance and "clean" shifting is that you had air in that system and the fluid flush purged it.

 

[Donal]

If you haven't already done so, I would suggest you do a series of ABS tests (using the test plug or a home-made harness) to get the old contaminated fluid out of your ABS block. Have a look here for the latest info on making a test coupler and performing the test (just in case the link thingy isn't working here it is in longhand: https://www.fjrforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=136000).

 

[K Rider]

In your case, and based on the shifting improvements you've seen I'd say the biggest reason for the improved performance and "clean" shifting is that you had air in that system and the fluid flush purged it.

I agree, the first time changing my clutch fluid, it had a lot of air in it. Shifting was better after change.