Angus

The clutch in my 850R behaved similar to yours. In addition, the force required to operate the clutch was high. The root of the problem was the thrust/throwout bearing being dry and on the way out. The heavy clutch was caused by the increase in friction bewtwene the face of the bearing and the fingers of the pressure plate - apparently the face wears (grooves) and the fingers tend to hold-up. The clutch also shuddered. I put up with it for about a year till I got sick of the heavy throw-out and the embarassing noise. The squeaking (and occasional graunching) noise slowly got worse. The clutch was not slipping. By all acounts it is pretty common behaviour.

When I had the clutch replaced (at about 100k miles), the plate friction material was worn, but not worn out. Had a new pressure plate, clutch plate, and bearing fitted. Had the flywheel surfaced and a new rear main seal fitted too. Fixed everything except the shudder, which still appears to varying degrees but is manageable.

As the clutch transmits raw torque from the crankshaft, it is working hardest when (1) engine is generating max torque with the clutch engaged and (2) the clutch is trying to match the revs between the crankshaft and the gearbox input shaft. So if you want to see how well it is performing you could consider testing both of these.

Wolfgang