Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Hi, how's everyone doing., I'm new to the motorcycle community. I bought a 1980 Honda cb400t Hawk and it has been running wonderfully until about a week ago, when i over turned it going fairily slow and it landed on the the handle to the clutch cable. The tension on the cable slackened quite a bit and i could not get the clutch to engage in low gear, so i thought the cable was shot. I it got home and checked the bike out and the cable seemed to have regained the proper tightness, except now that i had it in first it was acting lk neutral; i could push the bike and it would not engage again. So i pulled the cable off and drained the oil and pulled the clutch cover off and low and behold the clutch engaged, but there was a smell lk a rancid bbq, so i was fearing the worst (burnt clutch) but didn't think too much as the clutch did engage. so put on the cover filled it with oil and put on the new cable and adjusted it and it would not engage. though the lights on the dash say it is in gear, i can push it in first, and the wheel creeps when it's on it's stand.
wondering why it will engage with the cable disconnected and will not when everything is connected.

Have you tried replacing the clutch cable?

yes, the cable has been replaced with a new one