back story: Towards the end of last season, my clutch started acting funny around the friction zone... Full release it felt okay, and engaged it was tight (no slipping), but as i came across the friction zone, it would shudder and engage unevenly... somewhat unnerving... so i just assumed 50,000 miles on the clutch, and me not being very gentle with it, it was just worn unevenly and shuddering as the thicker sides of the friction plates tried to pass through narrower sections.. reasonable theory i guess... As I was replacing my clutch tonight, I got all the steel plates and friction plates off, inspected, and didn't find any signs of damage or uneven wear... Pulled the clutch bar out, slave side is very dirty, thought okay, maybe this was causing my problems last year...couldn't figure out why though... Out of curiosity I checked the bearing in the outer clutch plate...It appears to be binding pretty badly... AHA! this makes sense... Even when it was binding it didn't bind enough to affect the bike at full clutch, but as the clutch plates got more friction and the bike started to roll, that binding gave it that uneven torque to make it shudder... Make sense? or am I chasing a shadow? I ordered a new bearing anyway... also does anyone know offhand if that has to be pressed in? or if it's just a tight fit and will pop in/out with some gentle persuasion? bearing 17 in this microfische http://www.motosport.com/motorcycle/oem-parts/HONDA/2001/BLACKBIRD-_-CBR1100XX/CLUTCH-99_03