Cork Clutch

[Charles.]

I've just had some clutch plates recorked, but I now find that I can only fit 2 of the 3 plates comfortably into the clutch housing. Would I be right in thinking I can run the bike on 2 plates until these are bedded in, and then exchange 1 of these for the remaining plate, and in this way bed them all in until I can refit all 3? In other words, will I be able to run the bike temporarily on just 2/3 plates?

[Charles.]

I guess worst case scenario would be one of serious slipping. Would this help bed in the plastes? Has anyone tried only 2 plates since I have the same problem, only with a 5-plate clutch that will only take 4?

[Charles.]

If you can't fit them all in, it will probably soon start slipping, as the extra cork seems to compress easily. Once the cork slips it glazes over, so doesn't bed in anyway.

What the books say is that the plates need to be set in a lathe, and the extra thickness trimmed/machined off so they are back to the standard thickness. I found this to be quite true, and the only cure...

hopethishelps, Rohan.

[Charles.]

Hi Mark, The cork will compress a little but not enough to get the third plate in. Whoever recorked it was just a little too cautious in thinnning them down, thats all. Its dead easy on early bikes to thin the corks, simplest way is a glass plate, medium sandpaper on the glass and then plonk the plate on and start sanding. Simple but not good for the fingertips. If you have access to a belt sander with a disc attachment on the side it is the work of moments to sand a trace off each side of each plate to achieve the same objective. I've been doing it this way for many years, for some reason replacing clutch corks seems to be viewed as an exotic skill. In my home town it was done by the newest apprentice at the local BSA agent. If a 14 year old can do it so can you. Best of luck, Bob