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Went riding in alphabet soup land with my Sweetheart riding pillion...

Clutch starting feeling spongy.. (approx 100) miles clutch was just to the point where it was only activating when it was about 1/4 of an inch from the handlebar.

We went to the Stub and had lunch.. I came out and pulled the cover off the fluid resivoir, it was all muddy looking. Since I figured I had limited clutch usage, we headed to the super slab... four shifts and we were down the road in 5th.. cruising along... then time to make an intersection... NO CLUTCH... completely gone . Two more intersections then onto the slab.. making a long story shorter.. we did actually get her back into the barn... but by some very careful clutchless shifting.. .

So.. wondering if this is the dreaded slave cylinder that I should have replaced last winter?..

I just changed out the clutch fluid three weeks ago. When I had spongyness issues then and the fluid was muddy also. So.. I bled the system, cleaned out the resivoir.. everything was good.. I just figured I waited too long to change the fluid.. but now, with just some office commutes and another longish ride.. I've got slave cylinder seal issues?

So do I have to overhaul the master cylinder as well with replacement of the slave cylinder? Am I just assuming it's a slave cylinder seal problem?
Either way, I guess I'm out for a while until I can get it fixed.
Anybody with any ideas?.. confirmation??? steer me right?

Thanks everyone.

Nice work, to make it home...

Now the bad news...

Slave is likely shot. I think they run about 150 dollars (not a quote). The master cylinder is usually pretty good (very few people have issues with the master). But the leaky slave has most likely coated the friction surfaces in the clutch with brake fluid (more money). That means replacing pretty much the whole clutch. But, its hard to know what needs replacing until the bike is opened up.

Last time I looked, Beemer Boneyard had new oem brand slaves around $100

macx wrote:Last time I looked, Beemer Boneyard had new oem brand slaves around $100

yup, that's where i got mine.
http://www.beemerboneyard.com/21522335061n.html
from what i read they fail because of not enough grease when built. i forced more grease into mine using the clutch rod to push it in.

Thanks Everybody,
I'm ordering the new slave today from Beemerboneyard. I'll keep you posted on the update... I was originally going to do the replacement this last winter, but held off.. I guess I know better now. ...