Riding With A Broken Clutch Cable

[RobinV]

Hello all. I seem to have achieved a good running state for the T140. (I'm knocking on wood so as to not jinx myself.) Running errands several miles from home, my clutch cable broke. Did not have my spare. Darn. I was surprised at how easy the machine was to shift. To me this indicates good transmission design. It was a must, to time the traffic lights. However I was able to find neutral, and get moving fast enough to engage first a couple times. At my final left turn across a busy highway, I went from 5th to 1st rather easily, and as luck (and timing) would have it, I got home. Patted the bike and said thanks. The JRC flatslide carbs had their first glitch when the float stuck yesterday. Fairly easy to remove and repair. Went from the N5 to N3 equivalent in NGK and the machine appears to like them.
So far, the project gets better daily and is better with the 45 tooth rear sprocket. Robin.

 

[Bloodknot]

Back in the day it was not unusual to see a spare clutch cable tied alongside the functioning one. My 1962 Tbird has a Slickshift gearbox which has a cam on the gear lever shaft which partially disengages the clutch when the gear lever is moved up or down. On my way home from Brands one day the cable broke and I still had 60 miles to do. Traffic lights were the main problem but if you got it into first as you rolled up to the lights you could sit there with the gear lever depressed and hold it on the front brake. When the lights changed the move away was rather rapid as you had to ensure you had a fair amount of revs on board to prevent stalling it. Happy days.

 

[JerryP]

My first Triumph was a 1966 T-100C "Jack Pine" and I was due to attend a holiday party at a girlfriends house. Clutch cable broke off at the lever and I used a small Vice Grip pliers to make it to the party. .. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!