Vintage Albion clutch.

[33d6]

Seeing that many manufacturers went to great pains to keep their clutches dry and other ran them in oil anyway I suspect it really doesn’t matter whether oily or not. Excessive slipping is a no-no. The cork chars and burns. Doesn’t take overheating at all well.
Albion ran a bronze ring on the clutch centre until the mid 20’s when they finally changed to balls. As long as there are no badly corroded areas that can tear the Teflon ring there’s no reason why it can’t outlast the old bronze ring style. I’ll be interested to see how it goes. It’s a modern take on a vintage practice.
Cheers,

[cardan]

Don't forget that the only time the bearing does any work is when the engine is running and the gearbox mainshaft is not rotating e.g. stopped, in gear, with the clutch lever pulled in. Avoid these situations - slip it into neutral before you stop, paddle off a bit before you drop it into gear - and the teflon will probably last "forever".

Leon

[Mark M]

Albion actually returned to the bronze ring bearing for Royal Enfield in the sixties. About 1963 they revised the clutch centres for the 250/350 Crusader range and also the 750 Interceptors fitting the bronze (not sure exactly what material,) ring to a new and slightly larger clutch centre. Bullets of the semi- or pre-unit variety had ceased production by then so never got this modification.
REgards, Mark