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Having found the dished one I then checked all of the others with a straight edge before fitting them. All looked good.

I'm guessing that the dished plate works with the reduced thickness friction plate. I currently have that friction plate at the back of the stack - first in, and the dished plain plate last in; so could try re-sequencing them. I'm going to talk to NLM this week to see what the options are for maybe swapping some plates out.

So I pulled the clutch again yesterday – it is the work of moments since I sorted the stuck nuts. I swapped out the dished plain plate and half thickness friction plate for std items. Once back together that had the clutch pack too fat, with a lot more slack introduced at the lever. So I took out a full thickness friction plate and stuck the half thick one back in. That got the overall pack size about right again. Pushing the bike around the drive in gear with the clutch pulled seemed easy enough, so maybe it will be better now – I couldn’t quite be bothered to ride out so it will still need to be road tested. The pull on the lever seems harder now, I don’t know why that should be … except I suppose, thinking about it now, the dished plate was previously assisting. Anyway, I’ll see how this works in due course.

A short road test revealed no improvement at all. You cannot engage neutral at a stand still from either 1st or 2nd with the engine running. Weird.

Recently had similar clutch problems with my 501, had it to bits more times than I care to remember,plain plates seemed flat when checked with a steel rule but in desperation, I ordered a new set from NLM, they were not expensive. I put them in and for the first time neutral is there from a standstill, job done. The plates must have been slightly warped and it was enough to cause the problem.

pedro wrote:Recently had similar clutch problems with my 501, had it to bits more times than I care to remember,plain plates seemed flat when checked with a steel rule but in desperation, I ordered a new set from NLM, they were not expensive. I put them in and for the first time neutral is there from a standstill, job done. The plates must have been slightly warped and it was enough to cause the problem.

ITYS

EVguru wrote:

pedro wrote:Recently had similar clutch problems with my 501, had it to bits more times than I care to remember,plain plates seemed flat when checked with a steel rule but in desperation, I ordered a new set from NLM, they were not expensive. I put them in and for the first time neutral is there from a standstill, job done. The plates must have been slightly warped and it was enough to cause the problem.

ITYS

ITYS ?? TANO...

OKPT.

My plain plates look fine - to the extent that I can't imagine a new set being better. But that is next on my shopping list then.

Butch wrote:My plain plates look fine - to the extent that I can't imagine a new set being better. But that is next on my shopping list then.

Stack up all your plates in order on a flat surface, but minus the conical plate.

Press down on top of the stack. There should be no movement, no spring, however slight.

The other test is to stack all the steel plates (minus conical again) and pinch them between finger and thumb on one side. The oposite side of the stack shouldn't spread.

Warped plates usually warp more when hot and eat up the clutch travel.

To get maximum travel in the first place, set the clutch arm out as far as possible with only a small gap to the case (it will move closer with wear) and check the point that bears against the pushrod for wear. I build wear up with stainless filler rod to restore a more favorable leverage ratio.

I replaced the old plain plates with new and reinstated the dished plate last weekend. Unfortunately, upon investigating what appeared to be a loose silencer (high level 2:1) I found the header loose in the rear pot. Work required there now before I can road test. In gear and with the rear wheel off the ground it didn’t feel too draggy, but I’ve been there before.

So, a brief road test just taking the bike down for MOT this afternoon. You still cannot engage neutral when in gear at a stand still. Is is as bad as when I first started. I guess that I must conclude at this point that there are other forces at work. I'd have to say that this is a bit of a MF. Not impressed.

If the only problem is that neutral gear does not enter while standing still, that wouldn´t bother me at all, if the clutch works fine. It´s not that hard to get used to enter neutral on the last two meters before stopping. And if you missed that, normaly while pushing the bike a few cm neutral will enter.

Yeah – I’m kind of used to doing that on various other old beaters I clunk around on. Even that does not seem to work quite so well on this one. The fact that I want to use this off road – where I’m not always going to be afforded such luxury, and that I really don’t get on so well with the left foot kicker makes it a more serious issue. Having been through it and found and fixed several real and possible imaginary issues I’m quite disappointed of course that it is now no better than before I spent the time and money.

It's an issue not that uncommon on Morinis. I always knock mine in to neutral while still rolling on the approach to the start line at a hill climb.

In fact, I used to usually to do that on the YZ450F and the KTM350SXF and even the YZ250. A rock backwards and forwards also helps but that's not possible once the start line marshals have chocked up the back wheel. Perhaps the long travel rear suspension and swing arm angles on dirt based bikes effect chain tension such as to inhibit neutral selection. Though to be fair, the YZs and KTM had been lowered and stiffened up and a 2C is far from a dirt bike, but still behaves in a similar way, particularly when hot.

What sort of revs is the bike doing at tickover? I think if high this may affect the ease of finding neutral.I can get neutral at a standstill at least most of the time but it is not exactly obvious to me when I have been successful until i release the clutch and the revs don't drop. No satisfying click into neutral though. i suspect all the wear in the lever/rose joints doesn't help.My clutch has had all the burrs removed from the basket,it had a new set of plates (but this was in 2008)it has been shimmed and my tickover is not unduly high so I think it is the best I can get.Look on the bright side, at least you don't have to pull a gearbox and shaft drive every time you want to do the clutch.
John