On a lighter note…….. clutches

[Bruce CurtisMember]

I’ve recently become a fan of the Shane Watts style of “using the clutch to dial in the drive, which is a more controlled version of “feathering” to get drive out of nasty corners in MX, or in our case, dail in the drive for vertical creek banks and the like when there is no runup. Now having spent a great deal of time getting the young blokes’ controls right for him, and spending some time helping a mate who has forearm issues getting his right, I thought “what about me< i put shorty levers on and leave it at that" so last week i got a suzuki shorty from MCS and butchered it to be a two finger clutch, now having learnt a valuable lesson many moons ago when i skewered my right hand with a brake lever, I got tricky and tapered down the new end and ran a die over it to fit a mini "8 ball" valve cap. Now yes i am reasonably happy with the outcome on a short test ride today, between this and my new "two-finger stoppies" front brake set-up (cudos and applause to TB for the components) I should be happy, but alas i was watching avideo of some road based stunt blokes and paused at the "clutch" bits, no this is a lot of the way they ride, so this evening I ordered an FTP clutch setup, just to try.
I have one more addition after this to make and that is reposition & raise my bars so I am not riding like a hunchback with extra quasimodoness thrown in, to this end a new adjustable top triple is on it’s way to me right now.
My question is what else have you blokes ever done to make your clutches more “flickable”, removing or replacing spring with lighter ones, lengthening the actuation armr (not an easy opton for mine, arm in crankcase) or used one of those U-beaut teflon lined super cables?

[Craig HattonMember]

Hi Bruce
I just had a mate buy a thumpster hydraulic clutch complete $80- and fitted it to his husky 2 banger with good results

cheers hatto

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Ta Hatto, by any chance you wouldn’t be able to get a couple of photos would you?, I’d love to do this on the young blokes bikes (and maybe his old mans as well ) I would be very chuffed if it could be done, just need to see an existing setup to go on
I had thought of something like this but was unsure of which bits to buy>

BC

[Craig HattonMember]

Will see what I can do

I’m thinking of doing it to my youngens bike as well

cheers Hatto

[Bruce CurtisMember]

This I like

Looks too easy to do and only around $50 landed

[PaulMember]

Mr Blue wrote:

Quote:

This I like

Looks too easy to do and only around $50 landed

I like this too Mr Blue, can you post a link or something please?
Are you sure it’s $50 and not $500?

The BMWs clutch was a shocker – almost no transition. So I bought a pivot assist lever & perch kit from Ballards which helped but I lost a lot of the adjustment range.
I think my clutch is wearing out now because it seems very on/off again and there’s a bit of clunking going on during gear changes (possible worn basket & bearing faces), so I’m pretty sure it’s time for a clutch rebuild which probably should have been done some time ago when I had it apart :blush:

[Bruce CurtisMember]

I’m going to buy one for the young Blokes KX once I measure a few things up tonite.

From here

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Silver-HYDRAULIC-CLUTCH-LEVER-MASTER-CYLINDER-PIT-BIKE-/150475142032

[PaulMember]

Beware, “Item location: ===, ===, China”

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Kids have bought heaps of things out of china, had no problems at all, which is more than I can say about domestic and the USA sellers not honoring their terms.

[Craig HattonMember]

Mr Blue wrote:

Quote:

Kids have bought heaps of things out of china, had no problems at all, which is more than I can say about domestic and the USA sellers not honoring their terms.

Found this bruce, same thing but in aus

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-RED-ANODIZED-HYDRAULIC-CLUTCH-ASSEMBLY-THUMPSTER-/110572402759?pt=AU_Motorcycle_Parts_Accessories

[Craig HattonMember]

Mr Blue wrote:

Quote:

Ta Hatto, by any chance you wouldn’t be able to get a couple of photos would you?, I’d love to do this on the young blokes bikes (and maybe his old mans as well ) I would be very chuffed if it could be done, just need to see an existing setup to go on
I had thought of something like this but was unsure of which bits to buy>

BC

Update:
Have done this mod to my young blokes klx125 and it works a treat, he loves it, it now suits his hand size, very cheep and successful mod. Only thing I had to do was make a little adaptor for the end at the clutch engine end and all good-took about 25 mins go to whoa
cheers Hatto

[ChrisMember]

So do all the experienced guys out there think this worth the $$ for the modification to a hydraulic clutch?

[scott bockingMember]

If you buy a bike that has a hydro clutch standard it is a nice touch but I would not go to the trouble of fitting one to a cable bike. I ride a 250f which means I spend a lot more time on the clutch than you would on the DRZ. Just keep the cables well lubed or try one of the levers from Ballards that give an added leverage which lighten the pull.

STM

[Craig HattonMember]

Krusty wrote:

Quote:

So do all the experienced guys out there think this worth the $$ for the modification to a hydraulic clutch?

Hi Krusty
The one I put on my young fellas is a cheap chinese thing like in the photos above-they are not great quality but they do work-cheap.
The mate that put it onto his husky 2 banger has had no issues so far-he does abuse the clutch, but it is a 2banger. The way I look at it- it cost me $40 aussie to get it to my door, my son can now reach his clutch(which he couldn’t before) and can now start to learn the art of clutch usage(fan etc)It is easier for him to pull etc, so a win win situation.
If it breaks or he drops and breaks it, I would invest in another in a heart beat.
I had no issues with the chinese company I bought it from, promt and is what they said it was.

cheers Hatto

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