[brainskill]

I had a Spec "stage2+" clutch + SMF flywheel installed by a shop about 600 miles ago. From the beginning it's been very hard to engage from a stop. I also get some banging when shifting under way, particularly under load, but the shift effort is pretty low (comparatively anyway). It's a bit grabby coming out of gear but takes relatively little effort.

If I mat the pedal and rev in gear the car creeps forward very slowly, which seems to confirm that the clutch is dragging.

How should I approach diagnosing this? From what I gather there are a few possibilities:

1. hydraulics need bleeding - pedal feels firm and does not sink, is it still worth bleeding ?
2. master/slave cylinder failure - not sure how to diagnose this, brakes are fine and see no visual issues with master
3. something that requires disassembly - bad hardware, incorrect installation (fork, bearing, clutch, etc) - i guess ideally I rule out (1) or (2) first.