Slipper Comparison

First off let me say that I have given Fred at Yoyodyne more than ample opportunity to remedy my slipper issues. He is refusing to even acknowledge my attempts at communication at this point :down: , so I feel I have to voice my opinions to warn other prospective buyers.

Purchased my Yoyodyne slipper clutch for my SV in the summer of 07. Ran it for the remaining 3 rounds of racing, 3 practice sessions and 3 races per round. Over the winter I noticed unusual wear on the pressure plate and purchased a new one. Also had a full sb build done by a noted builder. At the 3rd round of 08 I had a big-end rod bearing failure in my 1st practice session. Sent it back to the builder and was informed that the pressure plate was wearing through the anodizing again. The oil analysis showed an excessive amount of aluminum in the oil, which is from the clutch and a probable cause of the bearing failure. Next round I crashed with a stock clutch ( not the cause ) and had my season end with an injury.

I was in contact with Fred over the winter to see if we could solve the problem of excessive wear. His solution was to machine the clutch and attatch, with small screws, steel plates to the hub and pressure plate. Received the clutch back in time for my second round of racing in May of this year. I noticed right away that this solution was not going to work , as the screws were starting to back out and utterly destroy my frictions. Sent it back to Yoyo again to see if he could come up with another solution.

All through this entire ordeal, I have asked for advice from Fred and followed through with anything he recommended. I have replaced numerous sets of clutch packs, springs and gallons of oil. I have inspected and adjusted the clutch more than a MotoGP team would, all to no avail.

I have insisted from the beginning that the particular clutch I received was a lemon and asked him to replace it. He stated he has never seen this before and it MUST be me or my bike that is the problem. Hence, he refuses to stand behind his product and replace it.

I recently purchased a Sigma slipper clutch. It was shipped from England and I had it in a week :up:. I have set it up according to specs and run it for the last 2 rounds of racing. Not too surprising, I have had NO issues with it and it is working flawlessly. It cost about $50 more than the Yoyodyne, but I figure that is a small price to pay for a quality item.

I have emailed Fred and given him the opportunity to supply me with a replacement clutch to compare to the Sigma. I figured he would want to prove that the clutch he supplies is at least as good as he says it is and as good as the Sigma. He has not reponded ( go figure!). I feel that the money I spent on the Yoyodyne clutch was a complete waste, and I would have been better of burning the cash. I would have at least been warmed by the flames.

I highly recommend Sigma for their quick delivery of a QUALITY product. If anyone is looking for a slipper and Sigma makes one, I would suggest to buy it from them.

 

I read your post on the SV site. Obviously you're not happy with the outcome of your situation. I've never heard anyone complain about Yoyo before. Hopefully Fred willl jump on here soon...

 

Quite a few guys *cough* are running Yoyo slipper clutches. If you want one to compare yours to, just walk into any WERA paddock and ask nicely (and behind closed doors).

 

you mean in superbike only right???????....

 

First off,Ed Who was right in the good advice he gave you when you turned into a Keyboard Cowboy back in June (BTW what are the dirtbike plates?). By your accounts you fried the shit out of your clutch, rode/raced it and ruined it. End of story. When you find a supplier that guarantees racing parts in a racing engine let me know.
Second,YTD we have sold and/or installed 29 YoYo slippers for the SV and hundreds for other models, of which NONE were returned or faulty.

7/26/09. You are trying to get a free clutch by bashing Fred.

"I was hoping Fred would stand up and try to rectify this. Seems that he is only interested in the initial sale, not repeat customers. I tried working with him but it has only cost me more money with no fix. A new clutch would confirm whether it is my bike or not, and either vilify him or condemn his product. You would think he would be interested in trying to repair his reputation."

8/1/09. 5 days later you had a clutch shipped from the UK @ 1 week and have put 2 race weekends on it???????????? Really man. Any results posted?

"I recently purchased a Sigma slipper clutch. It was shipped from England and I had it in a week . I have set it up according to specs and run it for the last 2 rounds of racing. Not too surprising, I have had NO issues with it and it is working flawlessly. It cost about $50 more than the Yoyodyne, but I figure that is a small price to pay for a quality item."

You don't need a racebike you have a time machine.

 

Speedworks perhaps he purchased the Sigma before the 26th of July and was running it because he had to have something that worked. In the meantime he was trying to work with Yoyo and ended up posting the 26th post.

Things don't always happen in a serial fashion.

 

His post on the SV rider forum has a lot of people freaking out over the quality of Yoyo slipper clutches for the SV. Speedwerks is a well known and reliable SV builder/ tuning business and I am sure they would not back up a product unless it was a quality piece.

 

Hope this answers all your questions.

 

SE...no offense but i still call BULLSHXT! I have used/sold/installed OVER 50 Yoyodyne slippers...now im not saying ive had 100% perfect..the first few little things like the spring studs were not loctited (i should have checked) but we have NEVER EVER seen one wear the anodizing off! I have an R1 super bike motor that has one in it, this was our personal "project for fun" build that YOU EVEN KNOW of locally as the "Big Stick" We have used this clutch in OVER 5 engines...since we kept destroying them (basically we pushed the limits as far as you can and at one point was running the R1 OVER 1,200cc!! Sullivan set track record at PR on only his 2nd lap ever on it...of course lap 3 she split the stroker crank in half..but we kept using the SAME Yoyo slipper in all the engines after wards.

Last rebuild, we built it back to stock cases, bore, stroke, etc...but still OVER 180rwhp...and Tony & Christine Porter (NW racer) have been racing it ALL SEASON and doing ENDURANCE RACING WITH IT!

This is just ONE Yoyo slipper with now over 4 seasons of HARD use in engines OVER 180rwhp and ZERO problems.

I have more than 1 GSXR1000 superbikes with them in their cases and over 190rwhp! ZERO ISSUES. I have over 5 SV's running the Yoyo slippers..ZERO ISSUES...one SV you know the guy, He is your Dunlop and Suspension guy, Barry Wressel!! His 01 SV650SB made OVER 100rwhp and he won a TON of wmrra races, NEVER had an issue, and now 5 years later he is getting back into racing, i just now finished him a new SV650 (2mm) superbike engine that will be @95rwhp and guess what??? its getting a Yoyo slipper!

My own personal street bike, MV Agusta Brutale 910 has a Yoyo slipper and i can get free/cheap/whatever slipper i want, but i chose Yoyo cause 1. they WORK 2. i have seen ZERO issues in the last few years and 3. Fred is by far one of the best vendors/manf/dist/etc out there...PERIOD!

If you cant get along with Fred at Yoyodyne, you are in need of a leather couch, some paxil and a lot of cuddling.

Seriously S.E. even i tried to offer up some tips to you that have worked for us and i KNOW fred bent over backwards trying to help you but bottom line is its a RACE ONLY part in a RACE engine that YOU seem to be the only one i know of that has had this issue.

I hope other reading this take it as one guy upset that he fried his clutch/slipper and wants it fixed for free while NO ONE else i know of has had this issue.

Sorry for rant, just fires me up when someone bad mouths a GREAT product and an even better company to work with!

Keep making em Fred...ill keep buying, selling, and USING them!

 

Ed Who and Speedwerks are both attesting to the product's quality, which I don't think SteadyEddie is contesting. One of the first things he said was that the particular item he got seemed to be a fluke. It's the customer service he appears ticked about, and if I were him I'd be ticked about the customer service, too.

Re: the bunch of people over on the SVRider forums worried about Yoyo quality now.. that's the power of word of mouth, that's why it's important not to tick people off.. never know who might have an influence.

I know somebody's gonna jump in now and say that SteadyEddie was probably incorrigible and got ticked off immediately, so I'll nip that in the bud: Shawn is a superbike SV racer who's got just about every trick part you can think of on his bike, and takes equipment failures very much in stride. He's broken carbon fiber wheels, popped motors, broken little niggly shit that you wouldn't think of but you can't race without.. Shawn lemme know what I've forgotten/not seen. He has also, however, had equipment fail on him due to design or production errors (such as some mag wheels the tire vendors refused to work on due to ripping the bead during unmounting), and he's worked (patiently, I might add) with the manufacturer to replace it.

 

Tophyr, i know Shawn and like/get along fine. I know he's had issues with it and even i have attempted to help him. IMO from what i have seen (emails) and heard from Fred @ Yoyodyne, they have gone beyond normal or even satisfactory support and help with his clutch. Obviously he feels not, that's cool, its his right. I was just reaffirming the fact that i know Fred has TRIED to help him countless times and the fact that the Yoyo slippers WORK and last long time...in engines making more than DOUBLE his hp!

To each their own....ill keep using Yoyo Slippers!

 

E.W., I never said ALL the Yoyo clutches were bad. I said I got a bad unit. Yes, Fred tried to modify the clutch unit by attatching steels to the working surfaces, but it was a failure. I just tore up more frictions when the screws started backing out. I have been in contact with Yoyo for nearly 2 years about this problem; started right after the 3rd race weekend I used it. I have been patient, and have not tried to get a 'free' clutch. I have BOUGHT a replacement pressure plate ( $200 ), new retainers, 3 sets of springs ($100 ), 3 clutch packs ($300 ), gallons of oil, and a Scott oil filter ( to try to get the clutch sh*t out of the oil , $120 ). I've spent nearly as much on parts as a new unit costs. Also, I wouldn't have PURCHASED a Sigma if all I was looking for was a freebie.

I appreciate your advice and have implemented the suggestions. I tried everything else that had been mentioned in the past but it was all to no avail. It looks like I now have a working clutch.

I understand that race parts do not come with a warranty, but if my situation is so uncommon, doesn't it make you think the particular unit I got was a lemon? All I want is for Yoyodyne to stand behind their product and replace the bad unit I received.

 

here is one for those that has never seen it.

 

why does everyone insist on bashing the guy w/problems..... Sure doesn't seem like he's looking for a hand out, just wanted his $800+ clutch to function correctly. No reason to ATTEST to yoyo/fred, the guy seems to have gotten the shaft. Machine's aren't perfect, he probably got something muffed up from the get-go, why is that SOOO hard to believe.

 

And here is one of mine...

 

Steadyeddie,
Could you see any difference at all between your Sigma and the Yoyo slipper? I thought they came from the same manufacturer? Possibly different anodizing??

 

Our clutches are warranted against defects in material and workmanship. They are NOT warranted against abuse by the user. If the rider notices the clutch slipping, does nothing to correct the problem, and continues to race with the clutch for 4 weekends, we consider it abuse.

While we offered above and beyond what we considered equitable, but Shawn insisted we give him a free clutch.

 

It is a different color. Green hue.

As I told you before Fred, I didn't know the clutch was slipping at first. Found out when engine was torn down for rebuild after bearing failure. That is when I contacted you and asked for help. Purchased new parts for the clutch but the same thing happened. Followed ALL your recommendations yet the anodizing still wore off. As ED WHO has said, it can be nearly impossible to tell if the clutch is slipping on a twin. Also, if your clutches pass mustard on bigger bikes with twice the hp I have, why did the clutch I had fail so miserably? Twice?

As I said in earlier posts, you did try to fix the problem, but your fixes didn't work. I got 6 weekends out of a +$800 part, and spent nearly the same amount on extra parts trying to get it to work. I installed a Sigma clutch EXACTLY as I did the Yoyo and am having no issues. Tell me why that is. Different anodizing? Different something else? I don't know, but I do know it is NOT wearing the working surfaces like yours did. I tried being you " test subject" ( your words ) but am tired of throwing money into a problem that wasn't getting fixed. If there is a problem with the unit I received, why don't you want to see it replaced?

 

From your E mail on Jan 08.
Please note that you say the clutch was slipping, but you continued to ride the bike. (Emphasis added for clarity)
The continued slipping without correcting the problem caused the wear, the wear did not cause the slipping.


<snip>
I purchased a Yoyodyne slipper for my 2000SV at the beginning of 2007. It is strictly a race bike so maintenance is done religiously. There is 8 weekends on this clutch. My first set of plates lasted 4 weekends and then needed to be replaced.I have sent my engine to a noted engine builder for a complete rebuild and he told me the slipper is showing signs of unusual wear. The pressure plate looks as though it is warped and wearing unevenly ( which may explain the slippage I was experiencing, from the very beginning, under acceleration) and the keepers are wearing extremely fast. According to all the info I have read, wear should only be a little more that usual. Can you please advise me as to what the problem may be.

Thanks kindly...

Shawn Becker

 

and there ya have it folks. case closed.