that white part should be inside the chrome piece.

 

What brand of cable is this? From looking at the photo, that looks like the result of a defective crimp at the end cap allowing the inner shield to slide through and not an actual WTF and coast to the shoulder mechanical cable failure.

It seems that as long as the cable itself is not otherwise compromised, this happening should not leave you on the side of the road like a real cable failure would...also, it seems to me that what I see on this photo is more likely to happen if the cable was not thoroughly lubricated before it was installed...not saying that you didn't, but it seems more likely to happen if it isn't.

On the topic, I put in the SE heavy duty clutch spring when I put this Ultra Annie together and put 2000 miles on the original clutch cable with the heavy duty spring without any problems before changing handlebars and installing a Diamondblack cable. It takes noticeably more effort to disengage and It can be tiring for the wrist, hand, and forearm muscles in heavy traffic.

 

Having not had a clutch cable off a bike I didn't know that. I was expecting to see a broken inner.

So pulling the clutch caused the sleeve to slide out and the inner cable and outer that does the actual work has not broken.

So how come a stronger spring is causing the sleeve to slide out?

 

First let me say that I was running the heaviest SE spring available. Yes there's more than 1 but I don't remember the part number on it. These newer high efficiency clutch cables do not require lube, yes the lube helps but it's not required. Over time with the SE spring, the cable started digging into the Teflon sleeve until it eventually grabbed and pulled it out with it. The first cable that did it was a Drag Specialties and the 2nd one was a Goodridge. Even though they don't require lubing, if your gonna run a SE spring, I'd advise in getting you a good silicone based cable lube.

Added: both times when these cables were changed, the plastic clutch cable pin in the perch was mangled all to hell as well.

 

I'd suspect another issue. My last bike had over 20k on it with the SE spring and factory cable before I went to taller bars and a longer cable. I put likely another 15k without any trouble.

I will only use Magnum cables from here on. I used a Drag cable at first with my taller bars and it was absolute trash.

 

Nothing else to suspect. When I took it out and installed the AIM VPC it stopped happening. Like I mentioned before, there's more than one SE spring. Hopefully the OP won't have this issue.

 

I will keep an eye on the plastic part. I saw that HD says that you do not need to lube the cables but then the service manual says to lube the cables...Catch-22 for warranty work I suppose. As a trained and experienced avionics professional, I learned to use manufacturer's parts that are designed for the application when available. There are always better and worse choices with associated compromises, but I lack the years of hands-on experience to truly know the best choice for my need and relying on other's opinions without understanding consequences and knowing work-arounds can lead to frustration and blame. The MoCo part may be a compromise and are usually not the cheapest part, but they always work. (for me)

 

Anyone break a Magnum cable?

 

I don't think you're going to break a cable, no matter what brand it is. My posts was only meant as an eye opener to what can happen using the SE spring. If you start noticing the least bit of drag when pulling in the clutch, get some lube in it as soon as possible.

 

If you were using the stock 96 spring , it is only about 280 lbs. The SE spring is 380 so you should see 30% more holding. If it don't work for you you might need to replace the plates. If they get overheated, they loose holding. A good intermediate spring is the stock early TC spring which is 330 lbs.

As far as the sleeve coming out I'd check for real tight bends and lube the cable with some teflon type lubricant like Break Free. I've had good luck with stock, barnett and motion pro clutch cables.