csc TT250 clutch
 

So over the years I have owned motorcycles with horrible clutch's mostly Bultaco's and recently a Royal Enfield 350 that took incredible effort to make work correctly. My CSC TT250 clutch has always made noise and become grabby after warming up. After quizzing CSC directly:

"The clutches do make some noise especially under initial load

20/50w oil helps but won't totally eliminate
Just part of the operation noise of that engine

Thanks


CSC motorcycles
Service manager
Gerry Edwards

OK I will try 20/50. Manual says 10/40
Thanks for responding.
Dave"

Is this true or do I need to fix this myself? The assembly looks great from the pictures seen on the tutorial but mine has always behaved shitty and I don't think its normal. This is my number 1 complaint from day one of owning my CSC TT250. I have about 1200 miles on mine with some heavy trail riding and a couple of long road rides thrown in. I switched to 15/40 diesel oil and that worked better then 10/40 motorcycle oil, that had the clutch working in an "on or off" clutch. I am an expert trials rider and a working clutch is a must for me. Dave.:hmm:

Mine is pretty good, it has a little chatter at low rpm, but nothing I can't live with, but I don't do much trail riding.

In terms of noise I get a little chirp from it when the engine's particularly cold, but it goes away once the engine is up to operating temp.

All of my CG motors have made a little chatter on occasion when they're cold, or when I'm really working them like dragging a heavy cart with my Rhino. It's not constant though. Other than that, they're mostly ok. I run the 15/40 with good results. They do have an action like a Honda with a very short friction zone when letting out the lever. Like I said, all of my CG's have acted this way, but it's not like it ever caused any adverse issues.

Thank you for sharing this. My clutch does the same on my Hawk. I'm guessing thicker oil would work much better since the oil is thicker when cool and I don't have the grabby clutch when cool, I'll try the 20/50.

Funny thing is too is that I'm a big fan of synthetic oil....but in everything but my China Bikes. They chatter even more on the synth than the cheap stuff. Fine with me!

I never like the feel of my TT250 clutch from day one. Going to Rotella did help some. Thing is, it feels like it would accept no abuse. Any slipping results in chatter. Simply not a robust feeling clutch.

I had a similar experience with my clutch at the end of last summer, after heating up in some low speed technical stuff, it was grabbing so hard that I couldn't get going in first without it stalling until I let it cool down. I planned on switching to 20w50 this spring to see how it worked.

When I was young (in the late 1950's) I tried trials a few times on my Ariel 350 Red Hunter, as a novice, and what little success I achieved was due to that Burman clutch the Ariel people were smart enough to put on their bikes. I have never ridden another bike with as good a clutch as that Ariel had. It was not really a wet clutch. It ran in an oil mist enviornment. The Ariel people claimed it was so good because it used cork linings. I think the real reason is that it was a superb design from the throw out mechanism all the way through. I suspect most of the clutch problems on the 229 cc Chinese engines is because it is a blown up 125. The original 125 cc clutch has been beefed up to handle each enlargement of the engine, with out re-engineering the clutch. Putting in stiffer clutch springs and bullet proof linings (to handle the increase in torque) is a patch job, not a re-engineering.

That explains my concern with the initial load chatter.Have to love this community

I'm hoping you are responding to what I wrote about this clutch needing to be re-engineered. If I was involved at the manufacturering end, I would make the clutch basket larger in diameter, add to the transmission input shaft enough to add two extra plates to the clutch, and re-do the clutch release mechanism to get more lift, and use either a long lever-to-clutch-release shaft or use more anti-friction bearings in the screw type release they are already using, AND reduce the clutch springs strength to get a softer clutch engagement. More, larger clutch plates means a smoother clutch, and allows less clutch spring pressure.