My solo ride to Dharamshala ended 200 km in, with a snapped clutch cable

Hey guys! So a few months back I decided to ride my Pulsar 150 solo from Delhi to Dharamshala, roughly 500 km. Guess what? I didn’t even make it halfway. :P

Two months after that I went on another solo trip and it went just fine. What changed between the two rides? Preparation. Zero the first time, quite a lot the second. So here’s the story of both, while I still remember the details.

The plan, such as it was

I’m 21. At this age you feel INVINCIBLE, and I’m young and reckless enough to actually believe it. My entire plan was: pack my stuff, tell a couple of friends where I’m going, and ride.

That’s it. No spares, no idea how the bike worked beyond riding it, and no plan for what I’d do if something broke in the middle of nowhere. Honestly, it didn’t even occur to me that something could break.

4 am, somewhere around 200 km in

About 200 km into the ride, at around 4 in the morning, the clutch wire snapped. I was near some village and the lever under my left hand just stopped doing anything. Great!

If this has never happened to you, here’s the deal: on most bikes the clutch lever pulls a steel cable, and springs keep the clutch engaged the rest of the time. Pulling the lever through that cable is what disconnects the engine from the rear wheel, so you can shift smoothly or stop without stalling. When the cable goes, the lever goes limp. The bike still runs, but you can’t ride it normally anymore.

So I pulled the bike along by hand for around 10 km until I found a gurudwara. Somewhere in those 10 km, all my josh for this trip went for a toss. :(

A makeshift fix and a U-turn

Next day we towed the bike to the nearest garage. They didn’t have a clutch wire for my bike (obviously). They did a makeshift job on it and told me to ride back about 30 km to the nearest town and get the actual part there.

That’s where I called it. I cancelled the trip and came back home, knowing I was severely underprepared for this. Cables wear out, and a snapped clutch cable is about as ordinary as motorcycle failures get. What turned it into a cancelled trip was simple: I had no spare and no clue what to do about it.

Back to school, on my own bike

I’m curious by nature and I love learning how things work, so I spent the next few weeks treating the bike like anything else I didn’t understand:

1. I read the manual. (Yes, people actually do that!)
2. I learnt how the bike actually works, instead of just riding it.
3. I paid my mechanic to spend a couple of hours with me, explaining the internals and the basic operations I should be able to handle myself.
4. I read up on the common problems and how to fix them.

Two months later

Two months after the clutch cable gave up on me, I went solo again, this time to Bir Billing. I packed a spare clutch wire, a spare accelerator wire and extra fuel, and I had a much better idea of what was going on underneath me.

And man, it turned out to be one of the life-changing experiences for me. :D

Tips for anyone planning their first solo ride

• Carry a spare clutch cable AND a spare accelerator cable. Either one can leave you stranded.
• Carry some extra fuel.
• Read your bike’s manual and learn the basic fixes before you leave.
• Tell people where you’re going. I did this even the first time, and it’s the only part I got right. ;)

At 21 I’m fearless, but fearless isn’t the same as prepared. With a spare in the bag, a snapped cable at 4 am is a roadside fix. Without one, it’s 10 km of walking a motorcycle to the nearest gurudwara. Lesson learnt!