Today I snapped my clutch cable about a 1/2hr from home. But it appears it is more like a defect in the cable than something that was caused by operator error or by the bike. I pulled into a gas station and pulled in my clutch and heard/felt all of the strands break at the ball on the end of the cable at the clutch lever. I only bought the cable last year when I put my apes on. I ended up making it home by rolling down a hill and starting it in 1st. I did power shift a few times(shifted without the clutch) because I had to, which Im not real excited about but I had to get it home. Is there any damage I could have done by doing that? It didnt feel like it slammed into gear that hard or anything. Also it is a Barnett cable. Has anyone had any problems with them before? I feel like even though it has been a year, this should be replaced by the company I bought it from because of the way it broke.

Raider:

Most everything I get is from Barnett and quality looks to be pretty good. No issues here.

Like anything else, sometimes defects slip in there, though.

Glad you were able to make it home.


Rich

This is the very reason I always carry a pair of vice grips in my tool bag, more than once I have had cables come apart exactly like you described, I get the end together as much as I can and set the vice grip on it and use it as a handle to even partially disengage the clutch during shifting on the way to home or repair facility.
I have had the cable do this very thing on 3 different bikes I've owned, the only thing I have found that helps is greasing the ends and lubing the cable weekly.
Glad you did not get stranded.

Doubt you hurt anything. if it slipped in relatively easy should be good. Not likely you will get warranty on cable though. Most suppliers would concider it a consumable.
Definitley need to lube them though

Some carry these for such occasions....Coug
Kit

i had the same problem in the winter... as tusler said you have to keep the cable lubed in the lever...otherwise the ferule will bind up and put a whole heap of stress on the cable right behind the ferule and it will snap, lubing the cables is definitely important but i think lubing the ferule with some real good grease is way more important

i use grease for my garage door guides for the ferule and bike aid dri slide for the cables its the best stuff in my opinion and i picked it up at harley for not that much

Lots of good info here. I also visually check mine often as stranded cable, in almost all cases, will not break all at once. and you can see the broken strands before it lets go completely.....