Should the clutch release with the bike shut off and in gear?

I've been having some trouble with the the clutch engagement point on my 01. Sometimes it takes full compression of the lever to disengage.

I have an upgraded Barnett clutch and stick master.

I noticed with the bike not running, the clutch will not release and I can not roll the bike.

Is this normal?

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The clutch fibre and steel discs are coated in oil, and when the clutch is cold the plates will stick together. If you put the bike in gear, pull in the clutch and push, the sticky plates will stop the clutch slipping and releasing. You often have to rock the bike back and forth to break the suction between the plates and allow the clutch to slip. This is why first gear often drops in with a bit of a bang when you first start the bike.

If it takes full compression of the clutch lever to disengage the clutch, then most likely you need to bleed air out of the line. If that doesn't help then I'd move next to a new master cylinder piston kit, then the slave cylinder.

 

You should be able to push the bike while it's off and in gear with the clutch pulled in (disengaged). Has the bike been down for awhile? My ZX7R can be hard to push while in gear with the the clutch disengaged. I hold the clutch and front brake and start it in gear. This usually frees everything up.

Could also need to bleed the clutch.

 

Thanks Cadbury, that's a really great explaination. I'll check it warm to see if there is any difference.

I've tried bleeding twice. I also pulled apart the master and cleaned it. I'm waiting on rebuild parts. I pulled off the slave and cleaned the push rod.

So the only thing left to try is rebuild.

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MM sounds like you are on the right track here by going through the master and slave. yea them plates can stick, but ........

 

Yep, break the friction between the plates and it rolls.

Thanks for explaining for me.

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I replaced the friction material and springs on my 99 and it she's this too. I'll check what you've done and see if that makes a difference on my bike.

 

Had some similar problems on my 86 VF500 last summer. Couldn't figure out why the clutch was dragging.

It was basically impossible to shift the bike unless it was up to 6-7k rpm and it was reluctant to start because even with the clutch pulled in it was dragging slightly so the engine was effectively being stalled If I didn't start it while already rolling.

I bled the system, took the clutch apart, bought new friction disks, made sure the springs were in spec and made sure the steels were in spec. At the end of the day, I was using the wrong oil. Your bike is more modern and this may not be applicable at all but my bike really didn't like the fancy synthetic motor oil I put in. Ended up putting in Shell Rotella T 15W40 diesel oil after some reccomendations on this forum and it worked like a charm. Not saying diesel oil is the solution to your problem but if you recently changed your oil that might be an issue.