Aluminum Clutch Plates STAY AWAY

[Lel]

So its 2 weeks before the first MRA Race and I have to do a rebuild because of these POS plates.

I was trying out aluminum clutch plates, the drive or aka driven plates, the flat ones. They claim to reduce weight in the clutch by up to 65% and cool quicker. WELLLLL even though they are made 'for race purposes' they cant handle it.

I put in the barnett (also made by hyperplates) drive plates. I rode on them for a full day at CDR, that saturday at the free practice from 2-5 and then at pueblo last friday... so three good practice days. So the plates were working fine, this wasnt the first time out on them. Well this saturday at CDR I went down to the lower pits and was going to work on starts while the school was going on... well after about the 6th-ish start my oil light came on and my clutch started acting wierd, so I head back ot the pits. I am wondering whats going on, but everything seemed fine. I shut off the bike and let it sit in the pits for a bit.... went back to it and turned it back on (no problem starting and the light was off) so I get geared up and get ready for the practice.... head out and try to do one lap and couldnt get ANY drive and the clutch was slipping (w/o the clutch pulled in)

Well I thought I cooked the plates doing starts, already thinking that the plates are crap and that I will never use them again, I was upset I was going to loose out on practice on such a nice day... WELLLLLL thanks to Mike Applehans (THANKS!!!! Mike) he had a full clutch set I could use. I go to switch out the clutch and find out, not only are the plates total CRAP, I completely snapped one of the plates in 3 pieces... and about a 3rd of the plate was chewed up and ground up into a nice little aluminum shavings/dust and was distributed ALLLLL over the internals. So now my engine is out and I have to start the rebuild.

So take this as you will, but the plates cant handle hard starts. I will NEVER use aluminum plates again.

[Bueller]

That just plain sucks! I guess I won't be concidering that route when I need to do a clutch. :down:

[Anonymous]

Suzuki's work very well with OEM clutches!

[Anonymous]

You did 6 launches back to back? :shock: How long (and by what manner) did you let the clutch cool down in between each start?

[v413nc3]

Good thing I decided to go with the steel plates and the CF clutch. I've always liked barnett clutches but I think I'd be a little worried about aluminum taking that kind of heat. It does kind of make sense though, I mean the aluminum is technically only used for a race or two and then changed out. And with the CF friction plates the damage is understandable because the CF has to heat up more than organic to get a nice grip, although it will take tons more abuse. (I run CF in one of my bikes and in my car). Although I think that they should point out that they're not really up for the kind of abuse you'd think they'd take. Sorry to hear about the engine damage :(

[Lel]

You did 6 launches back to back? :shock: How long (and by what manner) did you let the clutch cool down in between each start?

I did one launch from the end of the lower pits up to second, then turned around (down hill) and rolled back to the lower end, then did one one way then one back the other went back down to the low end and stopped for a minute while I adjusted the cluch cable and did one more, (which is when it felt wierd), thought it was the adjustment that made the difference, tried one more and thats when the oil light came on... i went back up to the pits at this point and I think I shut off the bike let it sit for a second, turned it back on (on the entry road) and tried one more and it still felt wierd and the oil light flickered on and off (thought maybe I was a hair low).

Oh well so far I have the engine torn apart and the bearings dont look to bad (though I will replace them) and the cylinder doesnt look like it took any damage... but I am willing to bet the rings are toast. So time to 2nd air parts in :) haha

lel

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear about that! :(

I just remember Mark Schellinger telling me that starts are incredibly hard on the clutch (thank god he did, because I was totally clueless up until that point :oops: ), which is why he made us do a full lap after attempting a launch (in the private school I took).