Greetings from a newbloke,
I recently aquired a '49 ES2 in working condition. Everything on the bike more or less does what it should but the gearchange/clutch is in need of attention. Presently it requires setting so there is no slack at cables ends to free but drags when trying to select a gear and is really difficult when neutral is asked for.
Had a quick look to see what this website has on the subject, but drew no conclusions from anything found.
A strip down reveals the usual suspects in good order, with meat still on the friction plates and flat un-blued driven plates, the centre too has reasonably straight un-notched slots.
But at the moment the clutch has only 4 Surflex type friction plates installed instead of the [cork faced?] 5 as originally fitted, with the surplus steel plate mounted at the end making it two steel plates together at the spring end.
I believe that this one plate less arrangement is acceptable, although a '55 ES2 that I used to run a dozen years ago had, as I recall at clutch re-build time, all the plates in it's [very well behaved] clutch as shown on that years parts list, and it seems an identical unit?
I have yet to re-assemble the unit and hope that cleaning and correctly setting setting up will produce a smooth unit. How many friction plates should I fit?
Robyn.
