WHAT THE TECH: SLIPPER CLUTCHES

Few people know more about slipper clutches than MotoGP tech guru Neil Spalding. We quizzed him on the wonder weapons.

- BIG MAC

Once upon a time, when all this was fields as far as the eye could see, the action and operation of how a clutch felt on a motorbike was part of the list of things I would notice... and therefore note as part of its character and operation. These days, once you let the clutch out and pull away on a bike, that’s usually the last time you have any interaction with it until you want to stop. Being of a certain age, I well remember how it was back in the late 1990s and early 2000s in particular, when bikes didn’t have fancy engine braking electronic management, or even slipper clutches. Backshifting, especially at higher revs to set up for a corner on track, or even on a brisk road ride, was a delicate process compared to that of today’s bikes, on which you can just pull the brake lever and go down as many gears as you want without any regard for rear end stability.