Stiff clutch lever

The clutch lever needs an abnormal effort, tires your left hand in traffic, returns poorly or catches. A clutch should stay light: when it stiffens, it's usually the control rather than the clutch itself. On cable bikes, the cable seizes in its sheath for want of greasing, frays or is badly routed; the free play may also be mis-set. On bikes with a hydraulic clutch (rather the bigger machines and recent models), air or aged fluid in the circuit, or a tired master cylinder, make the control spongy and stiff. More rarely, a notched clutch basket makes the mechanism catch. Most of these points are easily treated — greasing or replacing the cable, adjustment, bleeding the hydraulic circuit — and restore a nice light lever.