Well it happened to me today. I didnt let the bike warm up enough even though it was 60 this morning. Just for giggles im going to pull the clutch plates off and inspect them for wear. Only 5500 on the Odo.

Cegodsey (remember him?!) once advised us engage/squeeze the clutch lever a few times before taking off. I've done it ever since ~ 2 or 3 quick squeezes and I'm off ~ smoothly/quietly. (My odometer also reads 5500.)

I doubt you'll see any concernable wear.
The grinder noise isn't anything to worry about, but I for one would be curious to hear what ya find.

Cegodsey (remember him?!) once advised us engage the clutch lever a few times before taking off. I've done it ever since ~ 2 or 3 quick squeezes and I'm off ~ smoothly/quietly. (My odometer also reads 5500.)

I do the same thing. No problems.

I bought my Vulcan at 5100 miles, and had the noise on cold mornings. But worse the clutch was also engaging with a jerk, no matter how slowly I tried to work the lever. Nothing obvious in the linkages, so I replaced the factory plates and springs with EBCs, the standard non-kevlar ones. The result (on 40 degree mornings) is no noise and perfectly smooth operation.

The removed clutch plates looked fine - no uneven wear. The job was easy - I spent more time reading over the online instructions and the manual than actually doing the job (50 minutes).

RB,
Where did you get the EBC's ? I have had little luck in squeezing the clutch
to stop the coffee grinder noise.

I got mine at accwhse.com, but they had to special order them, so there was no returning them. I had Knifemaker install them for me at the "clutch clinic" at The Gathering in 2005. I've had the old coffee grinder noise a couple of times since then, but certainly less than before.

Mine came from the local Kaw dealer... they were about the same price as mail order and I needed to go there for the gasket. Buy local if you can. The plates and springs are two separate items in the regular material, but the kevlar kit includes the springs. A lot of posts here report good results with the kevlar.

I also went for a mid-grade Craftsman 3/8 torque wrench (they have one in today's sale flyer for $60). I'm paranoid about stripping a screw in the aluminum castings, and the manual calls for some low torques in reassembly. You also need some removable threadlocker. The instructions posted in the forum are right on, and the install was easy.

It remains to be seen how long this is good for - 5k for a clutch isn't reasonable. But for now, it's riding great.

My bike does the coffee grinder with lurch thing too without 5-10 pulls of the clutch lever with the engine running - often while backing out of my carport.

Sometimes I deal with it - sometimes I slip the clutch a bit going through the neighborhood before I get to the main road.

Eventually I'll replace the whole shebang with the kevlar since there seems to be the teenyest bit of clutch slip anyways. 15k on the bike, but she sat for a lot of her life so might have gummed up or the like...

Inspected the clutch plates this weekend. I didnt notice any odd wear on them. I re-installed the plates and cover. I will just have to let it warm up a bit longer is all.

Well the Clutch grinding is happening again. I let the bike warm up for 5 min and exercised the clutch over 10 times. Clutch would just grab all at once. Cable is adjusted correctly. I am going to pull the clutch basket and have my machinist friend drill holes for better oil flow. Its the same fix that Kawasaki had posted. If that doesn't work, I will be getting rid of the bike. With 5k miles there should be no issue with the clutch.

It's only a noise. There is no damage, no wear, and no reason to dump the bike. One thing I have noticed is that the lower RPM you use to get the bike moving, the less the coffee grinder noise occurs. With the oil nice and cold it is very sticky and the clutch plates vibrate as they are partially stuck together.
All bikes have some characteristic or other that can be annoying but are not detrimental to the bikes overall performance and handling. All things considered, for the price of this bike, the coffee grinder noise is minor. At least we don't have the chronic "pinging" some of the injected bikes seem to suffer from.

I'm with Skyrider on this one.

If you were coping with the coffee grinder noise all the time, I could understand your idea of getting rid of the bike.

But it only occurs when the tranny is cold; once it warms up (if yours is like mine), the noise goes away.

In any case, good luck finding another bike that offers what ours does--especially for the money (with age and mileage being roughly equal).

I'm still amazed at how overlooked and underrated our bike is....by the rest of the riding community.

Not only does it make the noise, but the clutch will fully engage all at once. Not a good thing no matter what bike you have.

What oil are you running in the bike? My coffee grinder is nearly gone completely since I went to Mobil One 15w50. I had it with the rotella syn so I thought I'd try the mobil one and it's basically gone, although I can barely hear it-not feel it, on the first engage of the clutch when the engine is cold. Just curious.

Im running Amsoil 5 30.