Rekluse Clutch for The Super Tenere

[mercurydog47]

Rekluse has a test clutch in a Super Tenere currently out on the road. Earliest time that a sale ready clutch will be out is six months to a year. This is an estimate from Rekluse. Might be worth waiting for. Meanwhile EFM is the only provider that I know about.

 

[mercurydog47]

On Friday, the 15th of January I sent my clutch off to EFM by UPS 3 day service to get the work done for a new EFM clutch. According to Garry the owner he works on metric clutches on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Harley clutches on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week. The clutch cover plate is not just a round piece but a rather complex piece of bodywork so I wonder how he is going to make a spacer for that. We will see.

I will probably get the clutch back the week after next so I will get it installed and give the board a report on the outcome. I don't do my own work because I have a really good mechanic who knows his way around a motorcycle. About all I can do is ride, fuel up, and keep the air pressure up in the tires.

 

[mercurydog47]

I got my clutch from EFM on February 8th for my 2015 Super Tenere and it is going to be installed on the 9th. I figure that with cross-continent shipping each way and the machining time at EFM that a full month out of service is a reasonable estimate for the time. EFM makes the clutch pretty quickly but some extra time was needed to create the spacer which may or may not be needed depending on what we find out during installation. Wish me luck.

 

[Maxified]

::017::

 

[mercurydog47]

No luck so far with the EFM clutch. After a day of adjusting and shimming and phone calls the standard clutch is going back in the bike.

 

[mercurydog47]

Unfortunately I am going to have to call it quits with the EFM clutch. I couldn't get the shifting to be effortless, in fact it was extremely picky about everything and I even got stuck in 1st gear despite my multiple attempts to get it to shift upward--throttle blipping, preloading the shifter, etc. Same way going down. Sorry to say it all ended badly. What was supposed to be easier turned out to be a lot more effort keeping track of all the nuances. Plus the bike would lunge forward when slowing down and it would have been no time at all before I would have hit something in front of me. Manual clutch is already back in the bike. I am not about to blame the technology, rather it was probably just not ready for this bike or this biker.

 

[Dogdaze]

That's a real shame, I was rather looking forward to some good ride reports.

 

[Maxified]

Sorry to hear that it did not work out as you would have liked. While I did not think this mod would have been for me, I appreciate you giving it a try and providing the write-up.

 

[mercurydog47]

The part that makes it hard for me is that each adjustment costs about $100 in shop time and the EFM instructions for riding and shifting are less than clear. I might have made it work but I didn't know about the technique until after I abandoned the project. I have just run out of Benjamins to keep throwing at this. So now I have a clutch and a spacer to dispose of.

 

[elizilla]

I'm not a frequent poster these days but basically my Super10 has gotten a whole series of disability adaptations and this is the next one I am looking for. I just did a search this morning and found this thread.

Based on mercurydog47's experience, maybe I should ask EFM if I can bring the whole bike in and get them to set it up/adjust it for me. They're in Ohio somewhere, can't be more than a couple hours away from me.

Or if mercurydog47 wants to sell what he already has, I'd be willing to try it next. I used to do all the work on my bikes, but my physical limitations have me less able to do this stuff. Fortunately I have someone who is willing to lend me his hands, and brags about marrying into a larger tool collection than his own. So it won't be a hundred bucks per round. It's just time spent. And I am happy to sit in the garage, watch him work, and mentally work through the problems together.

 

[mercurydog47]

I sent the clutch and the screws and the modified clutch boss back to EFM this morning so Garry will have those parts by the end of the week. He may be willing to sell them to you. I wish you the best of luck. It turns out that I didn't really need the 3/8" spacer but there was some shimming to do to keep the things from touching. If you want I will send you the spacer all you have to do is pay the postage. It is very light and could easily fit into a padded mailer. You will need a gasket. Let me know if you are interested.

 

[elizilla]

Garry at EFM says if I bring it to him and leave for a couple day, he will install it. He's about three hours away; this is doable.

Mercurydog47 sent me his spacer, and I have ordered two clutch cover gaskets which should get here any day. Watching for a dry day when I can get the trailer out from under the back deck.

I'll post a report when I have had a chance to try it out.

 

[elizilla]

Garry installed the clutch for me a couple weeks ago. It worked as expected, but one of the things to expect is that you need to shift clutchless in the higher gears. And since I depend on a pushbutton shifter made by Kliktronic, I need to add yet another farkle, an ignition interrupt. I have gotten it but installing it turns out to be a bear. I started another thread about that.

I'll post a review of the EFM clutch once the rest of the stuff is in place.

 

[vwboomer]

Garry installed the clutch for me a couple weeks ago. It worked as expected, but one of the things to expect is that you need to shift clutchless in the higher gears. And since I depend on a pushbutton shifter made by Kliktronic, I need to add yet another farkle, an ignition interrupt. I have gotten it but installing it turns out to be a bear. I started another thread about that.

I'll post a review of the EFM clutch once the rest of the stuff is in place.

Why is that?

 

[elizilla]

The way the EFM clutch works, is that they take out the clutch springs and install an apparatus that has ball bearings in sloping tracks that radiate out from the center. At low RPMs the bearing balls move towards the center and the clutch freewheels, but as you increase the revs, the balls move to the outside and lock the clutch plates together. You're basically trading the ability to apply the clutch with the lever, for a clutch that applies itself whenever the revs drop.

So at speed, the revs never drop enough for the clutch to freewheel. Which means all shifts in higher gears, have to be done clutchless.

 

[vwboomer]

The way the EFM clutch works, is that they take out the clutch springs and install an apparatus that has ball bearings in sloping tracks that radiate out from the center. At low RPMs the bearing balls move towards the center and the clutch freewheels, but as you increase the revs, the balls move to the outside and lock the clutch plates together. You're basically trading the ability to apply the clutch with the lever, for a clutch that applies itself whenever the revs drop.

So at speed, the revs never drop enough for the clutch to freewheel. Which means all shifts in higher gears, have to be done clutchless.

Ah. I'm only familiar with the Rekluse, and before that, Revloc. Both retained the clutch lever so it could be used as normal if desired.

 

[doc187]

recluse adventure clutch

Recluse is making an autoclutch for adventure bikes. I emailed them asking about one for the s10 and was told they'd put my note through to the RD department. If more people ask for one they just might make it. The recluse on my husqvarnas are awesome.

.

 

[elizilla]

Re: recluse adventure clutch

Recluse is making an autoclutch for adventure bikes. I emailed them asking about one for the s10 and was told they'd put my note through to the RD department. If more people ask for one they just might make it. The recluse on my husqvarnas are awesome.

.

Well, I contacted them several weeks ago and they just said "Nope" and referred me to EFM. Perhaps they're getting more interested as more of us reach out to them.

 

[mercurydog47]

I have a question or two. Did the Rekluse clutch make it possible to shift by just rolling off the throttle? Were you able to shift both up and down without pulling the clutch in?

 

[vwboomer]

you can do that anyway.

The Rekluse clutches just disengage the clutch at a certain RPM so you can stop without pulling in the lever