tendonitis in clutch hand

[JGoody]

I have been having some tendonitis in my left hand which riding in traffic irritates - so am looking to see if there's a way to lighten the clutch action. Do the levers by pazzo or wunderlich do this? I can't understand how they would as the clutch lever already has the dog leg bend to put the part of the lever near the front (pointer finger) as close as possible to the bars -- so how do they improve things -- is it a different cam action like a G2 Throttle tamer or what? Is it just a sharper bend? If it just moves the lever in more than stock can the clutch disengage completely? I just adjusted the lever as much as possible to reduce the reach and removed the beemer buddy foam on the left grip for the same reason, as well as rotated the clutch lever up a bit, so I'll try that this weekend. Any ideas would be welcome to help with my situation. I guess I should be glad that I don't have a dry clutch like my son's Ducati Monster -- that's a stiff clutch!! BTW The freeplay is set about 3mm or so per the manual.

[14TLC]

You can consider hydraulic clutch retrofit http://www.powersports.magura.com/en...ec-street.html

[JGoody]

Originally Posted by 14TLC

You can consider hydraulic clutch retrofit http://www.powersports.magura.com/en...ec-street.html

Thanks -- I read the links here about it and several people claimed that it caused the clutch to fail prematurely. Would love to hear from anyone who has one. Does it cause premature failure? How much lighter is the pull?

[dem]

I've had the twalcom kit for ~10,000 miles now (19K on the bike.)

It's probably 30% lighter than the stock clutch. I can now ride for several days without my tendonitis getting so bad I can't bend my fingers when I wake up in the morning. It is also a lot less "grabby" when navigating low speed and modulating the clutch in 1st, which I find less fatiguing. You do need big hands, as the 'sweep' is as long or longer than the stock clutch, and you need all of it due to the reduced piston throw.

And yes, it is not an approved fitment. After 10K, I still have free play available, so I am just keeping an eye on it. Obviously all clutch/transmission related components are no longer covered by the BMW warranty. There was rumor of a touratech hydraulic clutch, but it seems to have disappeared into the ether.

Best of luck, as of right now, there is no good answer.

[JGoody]

Originally Posted by dem

I've had the twalcom kit for ~10,000 miles now (19K on the bike.)

It's probably 30% lighter than the stock clutch. I can now ride for several days without my tendonitis getting so bad I can't bend my fingers when I wake up in the morning. It is also a lot less "grabby" when navigating low speed and modulating the clutch in 1st, which I find less fatiguing. You do need big hands, as the 'sweep' is as long or longer than the stock clutch, and you need all of it due to the reduced piston throw.

And yes, it is not an approved fitment. After 10K, I still have free play available, so I am just keeping an eye on it. Obviously all clutch/transmission related components are no longer covered by the BMW warranty. There was rumor of a touratech hydraulic clutch, but it seems to have disappeared into the ether.

Best of luck, as of right now, there is no good answer.

If I understand the physics correctly the twalcom hydraulic clutch basically lessens the effort by spreading the travel over a longer range and possibly eliminating some cable friction. It sounds like the "profile" (not sure what word to use here) is a little better in terms of clutch modulation -- so I'm assuming it's less effort when the plates are just separating or engaging, so to speak. Do I have this right? How much of a job was the install?

[dem]

Since the instructions are only in Italian, I had to fumble through with Google translate. Magura will not help, since it is a kit assembled by Twalcom. After staring at all the bits for a while, it was pretty obvious. The most critical part is the little washer/spacer that goes on the slave cylinder mount. This puts the clutch pull baaaaaarely in the correct place to function. I imagine if you left that out, you would burn up your clutch promptly.

You also need to route the tubing slightly differently, since the slave cylinder will not fit down the exact path of the cable clutch. There has been no rubbing of note in the past 10K, but I threw some non-shrinking PVC sleeving over the area it passes by the frame, just in case.

Good luck.

[MotoMind]

Moose Racing Easy-Pull Clutch System
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...ch-System.aspx

[JGoody]

Originally Posted by MotoMind

Moose Racing Easy-Pull Clutch System
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...ch-System.aspx

Anyone have it? Does it give full engagement / release of the clutch?

[MotoMind]

Originally Posted by JGoody

Anyone have it? Does it give full engagement / release of the clutch?

I own one. It simply trades cable travel for leverage, with 3 possible settings. If your friction zone currently occupies 30% of your total clutch lever travel, using this device will cause it to occupy a greater percentage. I don't know that exact percentage, but I have never owned a bike where the friction zone already used a large amount of total travel.

The primary issue I ran into with it is that it can result in some unsightly cable bending if your cable takes a sharp dive through the triple clamps. It never caused a problem, but it wasn't desirable.

FYI, I've found that my bike shifts perfectly fine with no clutch or partial clutch action, though I imagine your primary problem is at stoplights and such.

[Indy Unlimited]

the stock clutch pull is very light.
I would try to learn to shift without the clutch.
I have been doing clutch less shifting for years and only use the clutch for high rpm down shifts, stops and when you need to slip the clutch off road.

[JGoody]

Originally Posted by Indy Unlimited

the stock clutch pull is very light.
I would try to learn to shift without the clutch.
I have been doing clutch less shifting for years and only use the clutch for high rpm down shifts, stops and when you need to slip the clutch off road.

Where I get into trouble is in our Los Angeles stop and go traffic jams. Unfortunately these can pop up anywhere here.

[Indy Unlimited]

Wait for Rekluse to make the auto clutch for the F800 within the next year.

[Midnullarbor]

Rekluse for $800 sounds good for the slow traffic ~ but it seems like they haven't yet an exact fit for the 800.
Perhaps some expert advice on modification?

How high can you rotate the clutch lever upwards? Within limits, the more your wrist is angled upwards ["backwards"] the easier it is for the forearm muscles.

And good luck with the "tendonitis". It is often a vague & fluffy region for diagnosis, and more so for treatment.

[Medic]

Originally Posted by JGoody

I have been having some tendonitis in my left hand which riding in traffic irritates - so am looking to see if there's a way to lighten the clutch action. Do the levers by pazzo or wunderlich do this? I can't understand how they would as the clutch lever already has the dog leg bend to put the part of the lever near the front (pointer finger) as close as possible to the bars -- so how do they improve things -- is it a different cam action like a G2 Throttle tamer or what? Is it just a sharper bend? If it just moves the lever in more than stock can the clutch disengage completely? I just adjusted the lever as much as possible to reduce the reach and removed the beemer buddy foam on the left grip for the same reason, as well as rotated the clutch lever up a bit, so I'll try that this weekend. Any ideas would be welcome to help with my situation. I guess I should be glad that I don't have a dry clutch like my son's Ducati Monster -- that's a stiff clutch!! BTW The freeplay is set about 3mm or so per the manual.

or, you could have a carpal tunnel release, and it's fixed.

[JGoody]

Originally Posted by Medic

or, you could have a carpal tunnel release, and it's fixed.

What's that?