Clutch best practices

The original 2-stroke Genuine scooter and its 4-stroke manual and automatic offspring

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johnk
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Clutch best practices

Post by johnk »

As a relatively new rider who has already decommissioned one Stella clutch, I'm interested to hear everyone's opinions about how to treat them. Here are three questions that seem worth discussing. (I've seen some discussion of questions like these in the past, but little consensus.) If you'd like to detail your Stella clutch history (problems, longevity, etc.), or any other lessons/opinions/questions, please feel free.

1. When riding at a higher speed in 4th gear and coming to a normal stop, do you shift down through 3rd and 2nd gear (clutch in, downshift, clutch out for each) before coming to a stop? Or do you just go straight down into 1st from 4th?

2. When decelerating for any reason (slowing down or coming to a normal stop), do you pull the clutch lever in as soon as you're done accelerating (coasting for a while with the clutch lever in), or do you wait and leave the bike in gear while you're slowing down until you're ready to downshift/stop?

3. If you perform a sudden stop from 3rd or 4th gear and you don't have a chance to downshift, how do you approach getting the bike back into 1st gear?
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Stanza
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Post by Stanza »

What I generally do, and this has served well on both the 2t and 4t shifter Stellas, is to use the clutch when I will be coasting to a stop, and gradually bring it down through the gears once I'm at 15mph or lower. You'll get a feel for how yours likes to shift, and will find a sweet spot in terms of how quickly you can turn the shifter vs what speed you are going.

As for the situations where you have to panic stop, just focus on stopping first. Your Shifting all four at a dead stop will have a little more resistance, and you might need to roll it forward a couple inches to help it slot into first gear.

As for coasting on the road, I find it exhausting to constantly be engaging/disengaging the clutch for coasting purposes. I just let it be, and use the throttle to regulate. It's a little herky/jerky in all gears except 4th though.
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Point37
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Post by Point37 »

not sure about scooters but riding motorcycles...

1 & 2
i typically put the bike in the gear most appropriate for the speed i'm traveling just in case i had the need to get moving again...so if i'm slowing down i would back off the throttle and let the engine do the braking and downshift into each gear and blip the throttle for each...i never really pulled the clutch and just coasted into a stop and then downshifted when stopped cause now if the light turns green in the process of slowing down and the car behind you comes in hot, you're in the wrong gear to get get moving again and may end up as a hood ornament...also not sure if that's detrimental for a stella or not

3
i can't help you with cause i've never ridden a stella
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JMLacroix
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Location: Ontario, Canada.

Post by JMLacroix »

I did ride a Yamaha Maxim XS400 for almost 3 years before getting my Stella 4T. I've only had it for a month now and I'm just starting to get use to it. I usually slow down and downshift when coming to a stop. I find sometimes though when shifting it makes a little clunk or big clunk noise. I'm not sure if the big clunk noise is a bad thing. I switch over to neutral when I'm at a red light but sometimes getting in or out of neutral can be a little tricky. I've had times when I switched to 1st then try to go to second, only to be in neutral instead haha.

The odd time I use to accidentally shift the bike into first or second when stopped at a red light if I'm resting my hands on the handle bars. So now I rest my hands on my lap and make sure my foot is on the foot brake. I have a habit of holding handle bars tightly. That's one problem with having a shifter on the handle bar. You would never rest your foot on the gear lever on a motorcycle or your stick in a car.
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