what am I doing wrong?

[stamen]

06 xb12ss with drag bars and Ebay Chinese Shorty levers 11xxx miles.

some background info.

I have snapped two clutch cables in the past two months. the first one I believe was the original one and snapped on 9xxx miles, but that was a couple months after I switched to drag bars and the sorry levers. Then I bought one from a guy on Ebay who sells cables for buells (somebody from the forum recommended him). that one snapped a month later in the exact same way at the lever.

with the drag bars, the cable housing looks a little bent but the cable still moves smoothly inside. The other thought i had was if the little cylinder at the end of the cable that goes into the lever was getting stuck and not rotating freely therefore causing the cable to bend and the tension force to not be in line

any ideas?

[heagachongoose]

Cable housing looks bent? Got any pictures?

[stamen]

yes I'll upload some later tonight when I get home.

[davidwick]

With the drag bars a lever perch angle or cable routing issue are my thoughts hows the lever pull, was it a hard pull ? has me puzzled.

[wrnglrx]

When I had drag bars on my lightning I had to mod the front windscreen bracket to relieve the binding on the cable. I never snapped a cable but I saw the bind and noticed a little drag on the cable with the drag bars installed. I just took the windscreen off drilled a hole on the side of the black bracket that the windscreen bolts to. Ran the clutch cable through the hole and that relieved all of my binding issues. Sorry I don't have the bike anymore so I can't load any pics of it.

[stamen]

Thanks for the advice so far..

The lever doesn't feel hard to pull and I feel as the cable is moving smoothly inside the housing.
What concerns me more is whether or not the little cylinder attached to the end of the cable needs to rotate inside the lever notch and whether or not mine was rotating instead of getting stuck. Thus, creating a bending moment and a non-linear force on the cable. (Wondering if this issue could be caused by the cheap levers I bought)

[raven]

could be the lever is causing the cable to rub against the housing or clutch perch, look for fraying or a flat spot on the cable.You could go back to your stock lever untill you are sure it is not the aftermarket one causing the problem.

[stamen]

I think the rubbing on the clutch perch sounds more reasonable than rubbing against the cable housing. And I think it is because of the angle of my cable due to the lower drag bars. Does anyone think using 1" bar risers would help?

Thanks

[wolfo68]

if the cylinder isnt letting the cable move it's probably bending the cable every time you pull and weakening it.