There have been a few members who have broken the clutch release cam, and it can be horribly inconvenient when it happens.  When it happens you no longer have the ability to operate the clutch.....the bike remains in motion!  It happened to me on Wednesday night just as I was pulling into a parking spot at the Quaker Steak and Lube bike night...and it was not incredibly graceful.  I just began to slow down to put my bike in the lineup of bikes, and suddenly the clutch lever went to the handlebar and the bike kept going.  I applied the brakes hard and reached for the kill switch.....there was a bit of lurching and tire slide as we came to a jerky stop.

Once I had landed I looked to see if the clutch cable had broken - but it was fine and the clutch actuating lever on the right side engine case was moving fine as I worked the clutch lever on the handlebar....I knew it was the release cam.  Last year I had done the DragBikeMike DR650 clutch conversion - and I used the stock release cam as that was all that was available at the time.  The clutch had been working fine with the exception of an annoying chatter that would sometimes occur if you let the clutch out too quickly (more on that later).  I had bought one of the "new and improved" release cams that TheSneeze had manufactured by a machine shop - but I had not gotten around to installing it yet.

Getting the bike hauled home was going to be a bit inconvenient, as I would either have to call a friend and have them spend 2 hours making it happen - or giving me a ride home so I could spend 2 hours hauling the bike home.  The bike show was about 25 miles from home, and about 20 miles of the ride was on I-275 that has ON/OFF ramps and no intersections.....I had about 6 traffic lights to negotiate.  I waited until traffic had died down and started the bike, and it sounded fine with no weird noises.  I started the bike and coasted down the driveway ramp and clicked it into first gear and started down the road.  JOG claims you can shift the Savage without a clutch - but my bike is really difficult to shift smoothly without using the clutch....while I cam make 4th/5th/4th gear changes pretty smoothly - the bike jerks hard when shifting the lower gears.....I guess there is so much momentum built up in that heavy rotating mass of engine.  I made it through the first traffic light fine - but the second one got me and there was just too much traffic to try and get through without stopping.  I had to stop and then get the bike going again in first gear by pushing and using the starter simultaneously.  The next 20 miles went just fine and the bike was cruising like normal.  The next few traffic lights I was able to get through green by adjusting my speed and anticipating when I could get green.  About 4 miles from home I had some weird scraping/grinding sounds that lasted less than a second each....there where 3 events pretty close together.  I made it home successfully.

On Thursday I took the bike apart to see what happened.  Sure enough, the release cam had broken.

In addition the DR650 clutch basket had some gouges in the friction surface, the outermost steel and fiber plates were damaged.  The inside of the right side clutch cover was banged up a bit but it was not damaged functionally.

Below are all the pieces that had to be replaced.

That is crazy! Now I am paranoid - what is the correct order of operation if this happens on a highway?

Dave - sorry to see you let it get to failure before installing the stronger cam.  DBM use a piece of feeler gage as a shim when he installed the stronger cam.  There is some small play on the shaft with my part.

I still have these stronger parts available, btw.  Not many left, but I do have some.

Really just grateful you are doing well, Dave.  This is one of those nightmare incidents, I hope to never encounter!  Carry on Brother!

That sucks but at least you made it home safe.

Could you imagine the humiliation if you had piled into that line of custom bikes?  Very glad you didn't suffer that, but also sorry to hear about the damage on your super-fine cafe.  Glad you got it back on line.

Can you tell us what clutch springs you were running prior to the failure, and what the preload height was?

What springs are you running now?  BTW, installing the wave-washer increases the preload by about 0.5mm.  The special fiber plate is thicker.

I am currently running the wave-washer in an attempt to eliminate squealing and grabbiness.  I can't explain why it develops the squeal and gets grabby.  Seems to be some sort of uneven engagement issue.  Every time it acts up I find the clutch nut loose and the thrust washers worn.  So far, after about 2000 miles, no squeal, no grabby.  I will update the clutch post in a week or so.

I wasn't the one riding when mine broke, so I don't know exactly what happened or how it was ridden,because the thingy riding it was my first ex SIL,who I eventually had prosecuted and imprisoned for stealing thirteen Pounds of PreSammich coins from me.
It yanked the cam chain guide and broke it. I really miss that POS . Sarc...
The sintered part is not radiused where it would be if the part was designed by someone who gave it a moment's thought and had half of a care. I understand Why they built it that way. Machining it would be a lot more costly. But I would have gladly paid another twenty dollars for the bike.