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Rekluse Auto Clutch questions

9.8K views 55 replies 16 participants last post by  andy198712  
#1 ·
I have always said I'll never buy a Rekluse automatic clutch. But I admit that I often think about getting one now that my finger joint arthritis gets worse.

To use @TQKTM 's words me duffer is in good company here, so it may well be possible that one or more of you can tell me a few things about the auto clutch.
I know how it technically works but I don't know how to use it.

My main concern is how to lift the front wheel when riding over puddles and small logs? Do I have to use the clutch lever? (that is what I do now depending on how high I want the front wheel). Can I still start in second or third gear without ruining something? What do I do if I am in a too high gear and need to lift the front?
 
#2 ·
Ride it exactly as you did before and it will pretty much react as it did without a recluse. Depending on the model you will have some feel or in the case of the older ones you'll have no feel at all for what the clutch is doing through the lever.
I jump between half a dozen bikes here that do and don't have a recluse and change nothing about my riding style.
 
#3 ·
I have always said I'll never buy a Rekluse automatic clutch. But I admit that I often think about getting one now that my finger joint arthritis gets worse.

To use @TQKTM 's words me duffer is in good company here, so it may well be possible that one or more of you can tell me a few things about the auto clutch.
I know how it technically works but I don't know how to use it.

My main concern is how to lift the front wheel when riding over puddles and small logs? Do I have to use the clutch lever? (that is what I do now depending on how high I want the front wheel). Can I still start in second or third gear without ruining something? What do I do if I am in a too high gear and need to lift the front?
You will need these as well ;) Universal Kids Bikes Cycle Training Wheels Stabilisers Wheels 12-20 inch Pink | eBay
 
#4 ·
Like yourself I wanted to try a recluse before I retired from trail riding. (60) I fitted it to my EXC450 in a bid to stop flame outs which it did. It is great to ride with, with the added bonus of not having to fish around for neutral if you come to a branch across the track that you can break off sitting on the bike. You can take off again in forth if you like. You will never do as smooth take offs with a manual clutch when traction is lacking. If the revs get too low descending steep hills it will disengage, but a small blip of the throttle will hook it up again. What I found to be the achilles heel of the thing is if I fail to make it to the top of a hill climb or have to stop for some reason. You can't use the stalled engine in gear to stop the bike sliding backwards down the hill, if your right foot isn't free to apply the rear brake. It's funny for your mates when it happens, but not at all for you. When I am riding in steep country, I now dissable the recluse, by adjusting the clutch free play, so that I have to pull the manual clutch to stop. When taking off I hold the clutch in and bring the revs up and the auto takes up like normal.
 
#10 ·
I have always said I'll never buy a Rekluse automatic clutch. But I admit that I often think about getting one now that my finger joint arthritis gets worse.

To use @TQKTM 's words me duffer is in good company here, so it may well be possible that one or more of you can tell me a few things about the auto clutch.
I know how it technically works but I don't know how to use it.

My main concern is how to lift the front wheel when riding over puddles and small logs? Do I have to use the clutch lever? (that is what I do now depending on how high I want the front wheel). Can I still start in second or third gear without ruining something? What do I do if I am in a too high gear and need to lift the front?
stevo....dont do it man...fight the old duffer in you :D
 
#11 ·
I had one on the 500 when I bought it. You get lazy with your left hand, and then one day you roll on a ton of gas inadvertently when you're tired and slide back along the seat and then you smash your bollocks against a tree.

It then goes in the bin and you wonder why you didn't do that a long time ago.
 
#13 ·
Just be aware that the clutch won't hold you on a hill with the engine idling or turned off.

I was at Wern ddu with a lad who had a rekluse (i think he'd gone trans or something) , going up a hill, hit a rock which stopped him, (i think the engine stalled ) his right foot came off the peg ......then he just went backwards at what looked like warp speed.... luckily he didn't damage the bike but hurt himself too much to carry on riding.

He went back to a normal clutch after that

Don't think you can leave the bike in 3rd or 4th all the time.... it doesn't work like that
 
#15 ·
Thank you all!

Ride it exactly as you did before and it will pretty much react as it did without a recluse. Depending on the model you will have some feel or in the case of the older ones you'll have no feel at all for what the clutch is doing through the lever.
I jump between half a dozen bikes here that do and don't have a recluse and change nothing about my riding style.
Well, only thing that bothered me so far was that I have no clue if I can lift the front with the clutch lever in case I am in a higher gear. Like when getting the front wheel over a big puddle. My 300 then needs a little help with the clutch.

Like yourself I wanted to try a recluse before I retired from trail riding. (60) I fitted it to my EXC450 in a bid to stop flame outs which it did. It is great to ride with, with the added bonus of not having to fish around for neutral if you come to a branch across the track that you can break off sitting on the bike. You can take off again in forth if you like. You will never do as smooth take offs with a manual clutch when traction is lacking. If the revs get too low descending steep hills it will disengage, but a small blip of the throttle will hook it up again. What I found to be the achilles heel of the thing is if I fail to make it to the top of a hill climb or have to stop for some reason. You can't use the stalled engine in gear to stop the bike sliding backwards down the hill, if your right foot isn't free to apply the rear brake. It's funny for your mates when it happens, but not at all for you. When I am riding in steep country, I now dissable the recluse, by adjusting the clutch free play, so that I have to pull the manual clutch to stop. When taking off I hold the clutch in and bring the revs up and the auto takes up like normal.
Man thanks for taking the time to write a longer answer! So the auto clutch disengages when I stop and does the same -of course- when stopping on a steep climb. That is a point I had not thought of. That means if I have my right foot off the peg I will roll back, except if I have a left hand rear brake. Crap! Mh... not nice. I don't want to have a second lever on my handle bars.


Just be aware that the clutch won't hold you on a hill with the engine idling or turned off.
Yes, got it stu! That is indeed the biggest negative point I have found so far. I called a mate this afternoon who is running an auto clutch on his 450 and he confirmed what you guys say. He said since he has the auto clutch the other guys asked him to ride at the back of the pack. He also said it doesn't happen too often that he rolls back but it happens from time to time and it sometimes does hurt.

stevo....dont do it man...fight the old duffer in you :D
Anne, considering what the old beggars here said it seems I'll ride my bike with the standard clutch. At least as long as I can pull the clutch lever in w/o too much pain.

Again, thank you all.

@leeexc : I asked my dealer about the training wheels, but he had no knobbly ones... :p
 
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#16 ·
Stevo - l thought having another lever on the bars would be a problem for my ingrained brain, but ypu quickly get used to it ..... before long l found that l could use both at the same time, just one finger on each. I had the clutch at 3-4 oclock and the brake at 5-6 oclock. Plenty room even within wrapround guards. I remember that @RudulfHucker was looking at fitting one from a kit he was putting together - might be worth asking him what the parts list was ..........
 
#18 ·
#23 ·
I know stu. Believe it or not Clake is just one block away from my grand cousin's company in Melbourne. I once talked to Owen (inventor of the "one light clutch") and told him about a small design flaw in his light clutch system but instead of being thankful he was pretty angry. Dont ask I can't remember what it was. Something minor. That was long time ago when the first one light clutches appeared in Europe. So now that I think he is a c*nt I don't want him to earn a single Penny from me.

The trick with different size clutch master cylinders has a downside, but you sure know that. My current bike has a belleville spring instead of the usual 5 or 6 clutch springs so I could adjust it to make the pull a bit lighter. But the intention of the three spring positions is to compensate for different stack heights and not to make the pull lighter.

I can probably learn to use the clutch with two fingers in the future...
 
#19 ·
Stevo - l thought having another lever on the bars would be a problem for my ingrained brain, but ypu quickly get used to it ..... before long l found that l could use both at the same time, just one finger on each. I had the clutch at 3-4 oclock and the brake at 5-6 oclock. Plenty room even within wrapround guards. I remember that @RudulfHucker was looking at fitting one from a kit he was putting together - might be worth asking him what the parts list was ..........
Yes Andrew, I know Smokn in the UK sells a slim left hand rear brake system. I've seen one a while ago and it fit pretty well. However, I am not a fan of having two levers so I will save the money and postpone the auto clutch install for an indefinite period.

Watching WSB some have the clutch lever way up in the air there is no way they could do a decent racing start with it there, I assume they must somehow use it for the start then swing it up out of the way so it is not in the way of the LHRB ?
Seen it on J. Reas Kawasaki and it looked really weird.
 
#20 ·
It's a shame not having a lhrb when running a rekluse. It takes away the negatives mentioned above. Loads more control of rear brake. Clutch override too for when you need to ping it.
I used to say to people that took my bike out to be careful as it was lively they way I had gearing and carb was spot on very easy to overdo it in low gears. However most people that rode my bike ended up saying it wasn't that quick, very easy to ride - cos they were in forth or above! Bike will just pull in any gear. Ride in correct gear then just blip and pull to clear puddles etc.

Image
 
#24 ·
It's a shame not having a lhrb when running a rekluse. It takes away the negatives mentioned above. Loads more control of rear brake. Clutch override too for when you need to ping it.
I used to say to people that took my bike out to be careful as it was lively they way I had gearing and carb was spot on very easy to overdo it in low gears. However most people that rode my bike ended up saying it wasn't that quick, very easy to ride - cos they were in forth or above! Bike will just pull in any gear. Ride in correct gear then just blip and pull to clear puddles etc.
Many thanks! Looks a bit strange with the two levers but I am convinced it works. Didn't know that Smokn copied your system. I know a few others, like Clake and Ox that offer lhrb-systems. Guess they all do the same, it isn't rocket science.

Well, our enduro season over here is over anyway so plenty of time to think about it now that all my questions have been answered. Thanks again!
 
#22 ·
Although they went for small one to break whereas I went small for override. They made a small machined part for connecting and I opted for proper Goodrich stuff.
 
#27 ·
After experiencing the hurtling backwards down the hill scenario for the first time, I bought the left hand rear brake recommended by Clake for use with the Recluse. It is a single lever that engages the clutch first and then the rear brake. I have four different EXCs, an adventured bike and two road bikes (He with the most toys wins right?) I couldn't get my head around swapping from the Clake to the normal set up and back. Sooner or later I was going to crash my brains out when I forgot which bike I was on. If you only had one bike you could probably reprogram your brain to do the right thing without thinking about it. I found the single lever Clake to be overly complicated and had problems with it. I'd recommend the twin lever or rocker Clake set up rather than the one I bought, which has been relegated to the "Expensive stuff that didn't live up to expectations pile."
 
#28 ·
I spoke to the guy at Smokn recently and he no longer makes the LHRB kits as Hayes stopped making the master cylinder unit he was using.
He does still have some parts left over but was pretty vague about what and how much.

I have just bought a full set of Hayes bicycle brakes with the relevant M/Cs very cheap on FleaBay and have fettled them up to work really well.

I have been looking at options and the rear brake M/C adapters are available from Clake UK for about 45 quid and hoses for around 70. Smokn used a Venhill hose but I have yet to work out how to connect a motorcycle gauge hose to the tiny hose connector on the Hayes M/C. I assume that Smokn must have had a threaded adapter peice made.

@redbikejohn , I'd be grateful for any hints and tips on the hose connector, please.

One other thing Smokn did was to increase the fluid capacity by adding a 3mm spacer between the M/C reservoir body and lid. Not sure if that's crucial as I want the ability to work the rear brake by hand rather than lock it up on the move as I'll be keeping the foot pedal.
 
#32 ·
Ha Ha remember these! APICO UNIVERSAL EASY CLUTCH 3 WAY FOR MOTORCYCLE CLUTCH CABLES ROAD MX ENDURO | eBay all it did was lower the ratio same thing as putting a smaller piston master cylinder but with all the extra moving parts and it messing up your clutch cable length the clutch was no easier to pull in just made it drag, Just shows these MX parts brand names will sell any poorly engineered crap.

redbikejon I feel your pain on coming up with a good idea then someone copying it putting there marketing spin/bs on it add a bit of bling and plenty will pay daft money for it, I design and build things to get around problems daily but put off doing it for motorsport because I can not and will not bring myself to do the bullshit marketing/sales part
 
#33 ·
List of parts from goodridge to connect small bore mtb master cylinder to full size clutch or brake banjo, includes lengths of each size pipe.

Image
 
#34 ·
I'm about 99% towards finishing my LHRB setup. I've been making a 3mm thick aluminium spacer for the Hayes master cylinder today and need some form of seal for the metal to metal join. There's a fluid weep otherwise. Adding the spacer certainly makes a big difference to the effectiveness of the brake.

Anyone know if the Smokn or early Rekluse lhrbs use a gasket or sealant and what type is resistant to brake fluid? I have some Loctite 5910 that I use on power valve and exhaust flanges but their spec sheets don't mention brake fluid.