Feathering the clutch

[Dash McCullar]

I know a little bit about clutch feathering and stuff like that. But not fully like what does it mean and when do you do ?

[Borthwick203]

i hear this a lot and not sure what it means also, maybe it has to do with having the clutch not fully engaged or disengaged, having the lever at a point where the bike still accelerates but the motor would rev much more freely because since the lever is pulled in the clutch isn’t fully engaged 

[dclass_destroyer]

Half-pulled in, and moving it in and out a bit. It comes naturally. I didn't even know that I was doing it, I just was.

Edited January 28, 2021 by lil_squid

[Dash McCullar]

3 minutes ago, lil_squid said:

Half-pulled in, and moving it in and out a bit. It comes naturally. I didn't even know that I was doing it, I just was.

Like verly have it pulled in just enough to where it will engage it or pull it in and out and in and out like that ?

[motrock93b]

1 hour ago, Dash McCullar said:

Like verly have it pulled in just enough to where it will engage it or pull it in and out and in and out like that ?

It’s very subtle. Think of it as a”feed.” You’re “feeding” the power very briefly. Far less than a second, usually. 

Edited January 28, 2021 by motrock93b

[highmarker]

put your front tire against a wall or tree, now try to push it over slipping the clutch without stalling the motor.  Better yet find something heavy that will move and push it around the yard using clutch/throttle.  Don't blast up hills, go up them as slow as you can using the throttle and clutch.

[motrock93b]

2 hours ago, Dash McCullar said:

Like verly have it pulled in just enough to where it will engage it or pull it in and out and in and out like that ?

Some refer to it as the friction zone. It’s where you nearly have it fully released, but can still modulate power delivery. 

[Behind Bars]

Slipping your clutch allows you to control your engine speed with the throttle and the wheel speed with the clutch. You can stay in the rpm range that keeps producing max hp while keeping from spinning. It allows you to come out of a corner in a higher gear for greater acceleration, or allows you to hill climb without bogging, or allows you to make technical moves over rocks and roots. Don't worry about abusing your clutch--they are wet clutches that are designed for slipping, not like your average manual transmission car. You can beat on it like a rented mule. 

[Longleaf]

On 1/27/2021 at 10:49 PM, Dash McCullar said:

Like verly have it pulled in just enough to where it will engage it or pull it in and out and in and out like that ?

In general, feathering the clutch means pulling the lever roughly to the engagement point and making tiny, smooth adjustments (think 1-2mm) in and out from there.  You modulate/feather it with fine adjustments.   

Remember, slipping the clutch (in this context) does two main things:  1. Frees up the engine to rev independently of your wheel speed.  2. Increases/decreases how much power is being put to your wheel.  Now, the reason you don't just pull it to the engagement point and hold it there is that accomplishing either of the previous goals while traversing varying terrain requires making constant small adjustments to the clutch engagement.  

Here are a few examples of this:

-Slow speed technical terrain when you are moving slower than the speed at which the bike can idle in first gear.  If you don't use the clutch, the bike will stall.  But you still want to be moving, so you slip the clutch.  As you can imagine, your speed will be changing from moment to moment when you're trying to navigate over a rock garden or other rough terrain, and you'll need to "feather" the clutch to accommodate the speed changes.  So one second you might need to come to a near standstill so you'd pull the clutch in a little farther, but then the next second you need to push the front wheel over a rock so you'll feed the clutch a fraction out and give the bike a little gas.   This constant adjusting is simply "feathering" the clutch. 

-Under high engine loads that will stall the bike.  Going up a steep hill, for instance.  As the hill gets steeper and the load on the engine increases, the engine rpm is going to start dropping.  Pull the clutch in until it slips enough to allow the engine to rev up but still keeps putting power to the wheels.  Again, you won't be pulling the clutch to one exact point and holding it there.  You'll need to feather the lever to put more or less power to the wheels depending on your engine speed and your traction as you go up the hill.  

A good way to practice this is by riding a straight line as slowly as you possibly can without putting your foot down.  You'll be feathering the clutch constantly, one moment pulling it in a hair to lose some speed, the next moment feeding it out a hair to gain some speed so you don't fall over.  This is hard to put into words and probably none of this will do as good a job of explaining the concept as the slow speed drill will.  

I hope this helped a bit!  

 

[hedonist222]

opposite but complementary to feathering is shifting down for engine breaking

you're going down a slippery, rocky, rut-filled hill and using front or rear break is tough because wheels are lockiung and you're sliding - you would down shift a gear or two and use engine breaking to reduce speed

speed-maneuvering tactics