hydraulic clutch V Conventional

[mr.z]

To anyone whos used both..

Is it much better? smoother? lighter?*

Say if you could retrofit it fairly easyly would it make a big improvement.. appart from the not worrying about the cable pinging off what are the advantages?

Also while its up... are stiffer clutch springs worth it? would a hydraulic clutch make any difference in the force needed to pull the lever?

Thanks for reading

*Can't see it would be but hey might well be...
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[Visitor Q]

bear in mind anything fails you lose your clutch, almost as suddenly as with cable.

I find mine pretty vague and a sod to set up anyway (on the smod though), also apparently they are harder to slip.... i dunno, i can still clutch up the cbr happily, but like i say, it feels quite binary if you know what i mean.

I far prefer the cables i have to admit.
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[ZRX61]

Hydraulic is WAY better, haven't done a thing to my clutch in 73,300 miles...

[AcIdBuRnZ]

But hydraulic is just something else to leak

Least a cable can be mended at roadside
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Past: Honda NSR125R >> Kawasaki ER-5a2 >> Kawasaki ZZR-600e1 >> Suzuki GSXR-750Y >> Honda VTR 1000 Firestorm
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[mr.z]

Hmm intereting... ignoreing the difference in clutches, how does hydraulic operation help? or do you just mean its not needed the cable adjusting?

There is the fact you can carry a spare clutch cable, but if i was doing something like this i'd get the lot propperly pressure tested (and can't imagine it would be be put under nearly the same huuuge pressure +heat that brakes are)

bonny_ricardo-How do you mean set it up? bleeding it?

(thanks for the replys all)
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[Kickstart]

Hi

With ZRX61 totally. Far prefer hydraulic clutches. Far less likely to strand you in the middle of nowhere and far smoother. Also far lighter than a cable clutch which is more than a few months old (possibly a slight exageration, but cable clutches do rapidly get heavier).

For those who trust their clutch to a cable, how many would trust their brakes to a cable?

All the best

Keith
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[ZRX61]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Suppose I should add something to support their life expectancy.

The FZ750 is now 20 years old with ~65000 miles on the clocks. The clutch line, clutch slave cylinder and clutch master cylinder are all original and on on their original seals. All that has been required is bleeding the system very occasionally (and a new lever, as the original clutch lever had worn out at the pivot and become loose and flappy).

Bandit clutch has done 54000 miles in 9 years and again is on the original lines with all original seals.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[mr.z]

So, if i'm thinking right.. a hydraulic clutch has no extra movment like the cable, so your just pushing dirctly onto it, instead of haveing to take up the cable slack, stretch it, then it operateing it... ?

Been looking at clutch conversion kits, looks like the lever pulls instead of pushes the fluid (like a brake would)*.. the other end connects where the cable is adjusted next to the clutch, with an arm being pulled into what looks very much like the piston affair thats operated by the rear brake pedal on disc braked bikes..

This is a pic of the arm that operates the clutch normally, and the thing thats normally on the rear brake (dont know the propper term), the red arrow is the normal direction of travel and the blue bit is where i was thinking they would attach..

Would that work?

(apologies for length)- Edited just for you zrx61


*If normal HClutches Push a little piston inside the clutch then the arm at the clutch end could be fliped arround to push instead of pull...
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[ZRX61]

[mr.z]

[McJamweasel]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Looking at that setup it IS pulling. Think what is happening is that the fluid is pushed in at the end where the thin rod comes out and pushes a piston (connected to that rod) forwards.

Not sure of any other source for such a hydraulic unit. Suspect that it might also have some issues with how long it lasts. Firstly there are extra seals required (2 moving surfaces which need to be sealed), but also the angle that rod goes into the cylinder will change with the position of the lever on the clutch cover (it will go through an arc) which is likely to shorten the life of that seal by quite a bit.

All the best

Keith
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[bish777]

My FJ1200 hit 90,000 miles on its original clutch seals. Never needed any attention in the 30,000 miles i did on the thing.
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GSXR1100J

[instigator]

Prefer cable myself in my experience, the hydraulic clutch can be a bit grabby at times, especially on the yzf750 I found. Which was quite annoying when you trying and make a quick get away and you're hardly going anywhere. Had me out of the seat too on the second day I had it.

[mr.z]

https://www.americandirtbike.com/Hymec3.gif

Thanks for that, just found this pic, your spot on it think, the fluid is pushing the piston away..

As for the angle, if it was pulling it could come down dead stright (would only need to fip it arround if it was pushing), would probably modify the bracket holding it on so that it was lined up.. but then operateing it the rod will not be 100% stright as its puled and pushed...

Hmm a shame, thought it might be done the thrifty way.. the only other thing is to have something within the cluch caseing, will have to pilfer it from an existing hydraulic clutch.. seeing as like mcjamweasel pointed out brakes are hammered back into place by the disc so it wouldn't return...
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[Kickstart]

[AcIdBuRnZ]

[mchaggis]