How to replace Royal Enfield clutch cable and get greasy

May as well admit it. My 1999 Royal Enfield left me with greasy hands one day recently and I couldn't be happier.

The occasion was the result of the broken clutch cable I wrote about earlier this year. At the time I simply removed the broken cable and installed the spare cable I carry on the motorcycle. All I needed to clean up from that experience was to wipe my hands with the clean rag I also carry.

But then, checking my supply of spare clutch cables, I realized I was getting low on extras, and decided something must be done.

This is where I was to get really slathered in grease and it took many more than one rag to clean up. The task left me with a big smile, because, I believe, motorcyclists secretly enjoy getting their hands dirty, no matter how many twists and turns it takes to solve a problem.

My first twist came when I thought I'd found the correct replacement clutch cable, advertised from India on eBay. I have never ordered a part from India that actually did fit. Nor have I learned anything, so I went ahead and spent my money. The cable that eventually arrived from India probably fits some Royal Enfield of the past, but not mine, not nearly.

My next plan was to have my broken cable repaired.

This looked easy, since the cable itself was fine. The problem is that the little nipple at one end, the gearbox end, had popped off the cable, the result of holding the clutch through thousands of gear shifts in Florida traffic. If the escaped nipple was replaced, or a matching one attached in its place, the cable would be fine.

I removed the outer gearbox cover of my four-speed Bullet and retrieved the lost nub. I was not surprised to find two loose lost nubs inside the cover. In 40,000 miles, clutch cable nipples on my motorcycle have failed this way repeatedly, at both the gearbox and the lever end.

The local Brit-bike mechanic said he could fix the cable. Come by anytime. So I brought the broken cable and its escaped nub over to his shop. He was out to lunch so I just dropped the package off with his daughter, who was minding the shop, and rode off.

My phone rang as I removed my riding gear at home. He'd never seen a clutch cable like mine, he said. The parts book didn't show it, he said. No way these little nubs could work, he said. It had to be wrong, he said. Bring in the bike so he could see what it should be like, he said.

I tried assuring him that my bike is just like it was when I bought it but quickly realized I should save my breath. He didn't believe me. So I put the helmet back on and went over.

There was much consternation as he insisted that the whole thing was totally wrong. Of course anything made the way my cable was would fail, he said, as the handlebar lever or gearbox clutch arm twisted off the cable ends.

But the motorcycle is exactly like it is and no amount of head scratching would convince steel to change its mind. Given this lever and this gearbox arm, the only cable that could connect them would be the one I had.

So he went ahead and soldered a new nub onto my cable, as I had hoped he might. I helped route the repaired cable into place on my motorcycle, a job that quickly descended into absurdity.

The mechanic lubricated the cable before handing it to me, so it shed super slippery goo as my motions caused the inner cable to saw back and forth in its outer cable. The adjuster at the midpoint of the cable was a virtual Exxon Valdez of oozing slime. The slipperier things got the more I had to push and pull to get the cable through the nest of wires behind the nacelle and into place behind the horn to the gearbox.

Thus my greasy hands, and pants.

The repair works fine, for now. But how long will it hold on before the next failure? That question arose in comments from readers. This came from John Donlon of Illinois:

"I don't like performing any service work on anything until I find out why the repair is needed to start with. If I discover I was the cause then I suck it up and deal with it, which means get out the wallet and my head out of my ass.

"In the case of the clutch cable, here is what I would do:

"No. 1, buy a Barnett clutch cable. They are the industry standard, not some crap from eBay  (with dubious claims of  being factory authorized) or something that 'looks about right'  from someone you not only don't know but carries merchandise of underdetermined origin... KNOW what you are buying.  Your life could and will depend on its performance. Yes, it is that important.

"No. 2, lube the new cable while it is still in the plastic bag. I use Marvel Mystery Oil and I ensure the actual cable in its jacketing sleeve is moving virtually friction-free. Do it before you install it. You can always wipe it off before routing it.

"No. 3, install and route the cable exactly as the factory workshop manual describes. Just because you found the defective cable routed a certain way does not mean it was routed the correct way; and it usually wasn't (seriously).

"No. 4, make your throw-out cable adjustments as the factory workshop manual instructs. 

"No. 5, lubricate the cable periodically as directed by the factory workshop service manual and make adjustments as needed. If it was installed correctly, you probably will never have to adjust.

"Now get to work and sin no more."

Something similar came from Maynard Hershon of Colorado:

"Today's cables are everlasting, I'd say. They are nylon-lined and stainless steel. The ends are swadged on and never come off. Some bikes with 100,000 miles on them are still on original cables. If you have been buying OE cables, get them elsewhere, like Barnett ones or those good ones from the UK. Whatever cables you've been getting are not good enough. And make sure you are not pulling the clutch lever so far that you are stretching the cable itself, not pulling against the clutch springs. I'm not explaining that well, but I hope you see what I mean. 

"And because I came up on old British motorcycles, I NEVER sit at traffic lights in gear with the clutch pulled in. If you did that in the old days, you only had a clutch once or twice. After that, you coasted up to lights because you could not stop. The clutch would not disengage. Your bike was never designed to sit for two or three minutes with the clutch lever pulled to the bar. No one in the old days would have done that."

And then there was this, from Chennai Wrencher:

"If a guy takes a file and rounds the shoulder of the lower nubbie a bit before using it, it can then swing somewhat in the actuator arm, reducing the bending forces on it which cause the fatigue failures. A bit of grease on the nubbie there, and a bit more at the lever end socket cut down on quite a bit of friction. I like the Hitchcocks heavy duty cables, but you do need to pre-fit them to make sure they aren't too tight in the fittings. The better 'feel' alone is worth the cost to me. Cheers!"

That mirrors something Allan Hitchcock of Hitchcocks Motorcycles mentioned in his email to me, where he tipped me off to the replacement cable I need:

"I have attached a photo of the end of our cable. There is the top hat outer cable ferrule which locates in the case of the gearbox (the originals had a crude domed ferrule). This looks to have a bigger diameter shoulder to the ones in your photo, which will prevent it pulling through.

The Hitchcocks Motorcycles clutch cable looks right.

"The nipple can be a plain barrel or have the extra nib, but should have a radiused end to locate in the lever at the gearbox lever as on our photo.

"However, one discrepancy we have found between the gearbox levers is the diameter where the extra nib would locate; some will fit straight in where other levers would need opening out."

Sounds as though I will be getting my hands messy again soon.