KDXRIDER.NET

Just to recap.

I am in the market for an auto clutch. Rekluse does not make one for the KDX and based on my queries to them, I'm not sure they ever will. The Dynaring is no longer available in the US and I was unable to procure one from AUS. That left me with EFM.

I sent them my complete clutch assembly and they modified it for their product. It uses stock clutch plates and steels. The turnaround time was about 2 weeks door to door and cost about $700.

I installed it on tues in about 30 mins, no adjustments were necessary and it works as advertised. The clutch lever was eliminated and there is no provision for an override.

I will take it out tomorrow to my favorite trails (tight, technical, hill climbs,etc) and put it through its paces. So far I am pleased. Nice smooth lockup at a relatively low rpm, wheelies are not an issue. Personally I can't find a difference in feel except it won't stall. Makes very slow riding a non issue and much easier than before.

I'll post a "post ride" report, but so far I'm thrilled.

I took pics of the installation and will post them soon.

Pete

Looking forward to your report. I thought there was no option for an auto clutch unless Revloc helped us out. The thought of loosing my clutch lever and mounting a rear brake lever in its place would be sweet.

cragwl wrote:Looking forward to your report. I thought there was no option for an auto clutch unless Revloc helped us out. The thought of loosing my clutch lever and mounting a rear brake lever in its place would be sweet.

I've wondered how hard it would be to get used to a hand brake for the rear. Could you figure a way to still have the foot brake as well?

I spent 20 years riding and racing mountain bikes. It would be second nature. It would be easier to modulate the rear brake with your hand. IMO. Imagine downhilling the KDX like a big hit bicycle. Crazy Big clunky boot vs finger tips.

If they make a brake line splitter I would assume it could work with the hand and boot.

I've thought about changing to a handbrake, I have a buddy with a yzf426 who did just that. He loves it and made the same mountain bike comparison. Personally I don't have any MB experience, so i think it would definately take some getting used to.....

As far as both a hand a foot actuator for the brake, I think that would be hard if not imposible. A simple splitter won't work (unless you use them both with the same pressure simultaneously, or like brake fluid geysers....) and a pair of check valves won't work as was my first thought, because you need to have a return path for the fluid once you release the brake.....

One or the other IMHO, otherwise its a solution looking for a problem. But I could be wrong.

Pete

For years I rode mountain bikes and dirtbikes for years and somehow it is never an issue.

I used to have a manual shift Jeep and now I have the same thing only auto and it took a long time to quit hunting for the clutch pedal in emergencies.

*****FIRST RIDE REPORT*******

First off, take this for what it's worth. I'm still learning how to ride this thing. I have been riding street bikes for the better part of 30 years, but I saw my first trail last year........

Anyways, I had it out for about 2 hours today and I was riding alone, so I didn't do anything too crazy, BUT, I really like it.

The only time I ever even noticed I didn't have a clutch was when I came to a stop, or got a little slow in the rocky stuff. I did notice that I tried to grab for the cluch lever more than once, but that passed fairly quickly. It was seamless in all aspects, from fast fire roads, to slow rocky areas, to slow, uphill climbs and fast uphill climbs. I spent a fair amount of time practicing my slow standing riding, and wow! what a difference! I can really work on my technique and not have to worry about the clutch (ok, its a crutch for me right now, but I'm 45 and I'll take all the help I can get!).

I even found that the bike is not nearly as sensitive to being in "just" the right gear on hill climbs. I left it in 3rd on a fairly steep rocky hill that sometimes gives me grief (I know that from past exprience, if I did that before I wouldn't make the hill. It seems Im not terribly adept at feathering the clutch as I should be....) and up we went, lugging like a 4 stroke with zero drama.

Engine braking. If you come down a hill with the rpms high enough, the clutch is engaged and it acts as normal, if youre a gear or 2 high and slow, it just freewheels. It pays to select the right gear for the steeper hills.

In short, I'm thrilled. I still have my "other" KDX and my XR if I think I'm getting rusty without a clutch, but for now, I'm good..... It was expensive, no doubt, but for me, worth every penny!

Pete

A little out of my price range, but it sounds great!

Our group rides consist of 2 Dads and up to 7 kids. Last time out, one of the boys stalled on a steep section of the trail stopping the train. I got him going, jumped on my bike and hit neutral instead of 2nd, rode backwards and dumped the bike. They never crash in easy places. What an advantage the auto clutch would be in shepherding these kids. Something to think about.....  

Thanks for sharing your opinions. Please keep me posted on further assessments.

Day 2 of testing.....

Went out with a buddy of mine (he was on a crf450x....badass bike btw!) and I had the chance to really flog this thing. I hammered it HARD. After about an hour and a half if felt like the clutch was slipping, but inversely. The hookup was at a much higher rpm, I'm guessing around 2000-3000 rpm as opposed to the 1000 rpm earlier in the day. But when the clutch locked up, no slippage at all just a totally different feel. I really had to hammer the motor to lock up the clutch and keep it locked. It never let me down, but my low rpm chugging was gone.

I'm assuming this is something that can be adjusted and I will call Garry on Monday to find out. It's a neat setup, but if I can't hammer it, it goes in the trash...

The saga continues

Pete

A KDX loosing its chug is as bad as a bird loosing his wings. I hope you can work this issue out.

I found out with my Dyan Ring that you have to change the trans oil a lot. Have you tried that? Are you running oil or ATF?

SS109 wrote:I found out with my Dyan Ring that you have to change the trans oil a lot. Have you tried that? Are you running oil or ATF?

Not yet. Good idea though. I use motor oil (non synthetic, non energy conserving). Never tried ATF but I want to at some point.

Although, unless this is "breakin" related, having to change my oil every 3 hrs (twice a ride on some days ?!?) ain't gonna cut it. Lol

Well, I talked to Garry and his response was worn plates. That's not the case. I think it was machined with a little too much free play in it and I don't think it showed up until I beat on it some. So I built a new clutch stack using one extra steel plate as a shim and played with the height using some old clutch fibers I had on hand and it works well. I'll take it out to the trail tomorrow to flog it some more.

If this works, I will toss the clutch basket in my mill and machine it properly. I don't feel like losing my bike for another two weeks if I send it back to him.

I did come to an odd discovery though. The discs from my xr400 are the same size but with twice the friction area of the kdx ones... So I used those instead, it should give me better holding force and wear longer....

Pete

When I buy my bike it already had the EFM.. 10 years without riding.. so I loved it to "get back on track" but it didn't took long before I buy another stock basket from ebay ... The stock clutch is easy to pull with one finger so I didn't needed it anymore and will never mess again with "auto" clutch..
You'll be back to stock soon..

Rjcapt wrote: I did come to an odd discovery though. The discs from my xr400 are the same size but with twice the friction area of the kdx ones... So I used those instead, it should give me better holding force and wear longer....

Pete

Any chance you could post a pic of the two to show the difference? And what year Honda?

Thanks

CoronasAndChips wrote:

Rjcapt wrote: I did come to an odd discovery though. The discs from my xr400 are the same size but with twice the friction area of the kdx ones... So I used those instead, it should give me better holding force and wear longer....

Pete

Any chance you could post a pic of the two to show the difference? And what year Honda?

Thanks

No doubt! I'm interested in that info as well. Maybe the XR frictions will last longer than the stock ones with my Dyna Ring since they have more area.

JoKDX220r wrote:You'll be back to stock soon..

Why is that? Is that because he won't be happy with the EFM specifically or just auto-clutches in general? If in general, hmm, I'll never return! I love my Dyna Ring! I can ride harder longer and focus more on picking the best way through a tough technical section than having to worry about perfect clutch technique. I guess if I only rode fire roads and wide open desert then a stock setup would be fine with me. However, anything real technical or gnarly and I'll take an auto-clutch every time!

I took some pics but I have had very limited success with posting pics here through photobucket. If I can either text or email the pics to someone who is more computer literate than I am, that would be great.

The clutch is the same for all XR400s, I have a 2001. The last set I got was a Tusk set for $40 on eBay.

I have an H series kdx (97), so I'm not sure about the E series....

As far as an Autoclutch in general, there must be SOMETHING to them as every bike I've seen running hardcore trails on the pro level uses them.... I think they come stock on the '12 KTM 300 XC-W. I don't know where I'll be with mine in a year, but I dig it so far....

Pete

You can email them to me. I'll PM you my email.

Pics sent. Thanks