Having already taken a hard look at the oem stuff on my bike, and it's age, an incident at Road Atlanta I heard about this weekend has me thinking once again (dangerous territory, I know). Is there a preferred replacement part for these things? Digging through the digital parts box of ebay, clutch side perches and levers seem easy to come by. It's the right side that's a bit more of a puzzler; apparently more modern bikes have a little cup up there and don't seem like they'll play well with cables. So whaddya do if Soichiro's oem stuff goes south? Buy more of the same and hope it's less crappy? Or....(it's the or I'm most interested in)..... Thanks, Rob
Hey Rob, I still use an OEM stock LH / clutch set up.....Same one for years....Might get replaced soon, but hey, it works fine. My brake perch is a Magura. I got it from Bore-Tech when I bought my throttle at the beginning of this season. Prior to that purchase (mostly due to swap to Mikuni's)....you guessed it....OEM Perch for the brake side as well. I havent had a problem with the stock stuff, but that doesnt mean some of them are not crap.
Stock is probably best actually: I've had problems with cables not fitting well [both the end fitting and braided cable itself] in aftermarket adjusters for example, although Honda has some beautiful alloy adjusters on some dirt bikes.....I had to go through a number of levers to get short ones that would fit inside my fairing--ended up with Sunline dirtbike clutch assemblies used on both sides with OEM adjusters.
my next ones will be titanium actually, my incident turned out not to be a failed perch/lever, but something else entirely. i will go back with something a little better than those monkey-metal after market jobs tho', for the front brake at least
you can get great replacements for these levers with better ratio's and design in general. Any dennis kirk catalog will have them, tucker rocky etc. I used to buy them buy the bucketload and probably still have several.
charly, thanks. Put clutch lever on the other side, now why didn't i think of that. Need a "beats head against wall icon". James, wasn't clear to me it was aftermarket. Thanks. Which ones do I not want to get? The one set I got now appears OK. They do seem heavy, and look their age a bit. I will eventually need a second set for the "long term" project bike and was just trying to get a direction. Ah Buff, I see you've slipped in while I was typing. Yes, I keep forgetting to check new catalogs for this sort of thing. Thanks. Rob
ive had after market levers fail on me in the past...luckily, tho, never in a race situation. ive never had or seen a perch fail before this past Sat. but i'll probably just go with one of the setups that Charlie recommended. after further inspection on mine, i figured out that my problem was actually the bolt that holds the retaining strap to the brake backing plate that came out. i guess from years of use the internal threads were worn so much that it just decided to let go. it was safety wired...but it was wired to the strap itself, so there was nothing to keep it from pulling out of the backing plate. when i did a quick launch on pit road right before the race, i grabbed a handful of brake and the threads let go. the backing plate and pads, of course, seized to the hub and with nothing preventing the backing plate from not turning, it spooled up the brake cable (eventually locking the front wheel) and snatched a good portion of the perch off as well as the number plate bracket. i crapped my pants, cursed, and several minutes later thanked the man upstairs that the front brake didn't let go in my race (or to Charlie who had just climbed off of it in the V1 race). i know it was a freak thing (and nowhere even related to any of the problems we had worked on all day)...and i havent pulled the front hub apart yet, but if there is room inside i even thought of thru-bolting the hub somehow and the hole up top on the fork leg to the strap. i know its probably overkill, but it kinda scared the crap outta me. FWIW, i think i'm gonna request a name change, to uh...maybe something like "Calamity James"
Hey Darth, Did you buy clutch cables by the bucket,..........where's mine.............you darkside so and so. Sorry about butting in on the thread. wayne
i heard he was gonna deliver it to ya on the track next time he sees ya..."Mad Max-Beyond-Thunder-Dome-style"
Wow James, I remember Charlie telling me about the cable wrapping up. Between the noise and getting a little overcooked in the sun, I wasn't tracking too well by the time I found everyone. Good notes on stuff to check on the brakes though. And hey, you're still finishing ahead of me:up: Good to meet you Saturday and put a face to a name. At Barber things weren't going so hot for you and I didn't think it was a good time for small talk. Damn, now that I think about it, your problems seem to be matching my attendance. Guess I'm not going to get hired as a good luck charm at this rate. Rob
I know this thread is old but my question is pertinent so rather than start a new thread I figure it's best to ask it here. What size cable adjusters do I need for my CB350K3? I'm looking to get some Magura levers and I have two choices: 6.2mm and 8.3mm. My bike is 50 miles away right now so I can't check for myself. Thanks for any help!
The 8.3 for stock or Motion Pro cables....BUT there may be an issue with some Magura perch/lever assemblies "over/center traveling" the CB350 clutch mechanism unless you can rig a way to limit lever travel
Thanks for the quick response! I never thought about that aspect. In fact, I may have already experienced it without knowing exactly what was happening. Went for a ride on Sunday. Everything was going well until about 20 miles into my ride when I pulled in the clutch, hear a "tink" sound, and notice the cable went slack and the lever was stuck in the pulled in position. I had to push the lever forward with my fingers to get the clutch to disengage. I knew it had something to do with the clutch adjustment since before I only had to pull the clutch in a tiny bit to get it to engage when it should be in the middle of the lever's travel. I adjusted the clutch at the lever and limped the bike home being cautious not to pull in the lever too far. Once back at the garage I adjusted the clutch again going through all three steps and everything seemed fine but I think the clutch still needs some adjustment because on my next ride I noticed it changes when the bike gets hot and it seemed as though it started slipping a little again. This was all on stock levers. The desire to change levers has more to do with cleaning up the handlebars.
MSR Pro Raptor - 3 places to hook up the cable so you can adjust leverage. Or ASV makes a cable brake lever and perch. It's intended for a minibike (xr50) but could be adapted to other bikes. The ASVs are guaranteed not to break for 3 years because they fold back rather than snap off.
The thing about all the moto-x levers I've found is that the front brake levers are designed to work with a hydraulic master cylinder or the OEM moto-x perch in the case of older moto-x bikes with drum brake. The Maguras are nice for two reasons: low cost and they offer complete lever+perch assemblies for both clutch and front brake. For people who have gone the moto-x lever route, did you use two clutch lever assemblies?
D'oh, my reading comprehension is poor today. Several of you guys already mentioned using clutch lever+perch assemblies for both clutch and brake.
