so i got my CLAKE pro lever and installed it yesterday. i have not been out on an actual ride yet but will be headed out this coming friday.
i did ride it up and down the street a few times to see how the engagement works and i have to say i am very impressed with it.
initially i was looking for a better alternative to the reckluse RLHB on my WR it was marginal it required a lot of effort to lock the rear wheel and was difficult to reach as i wanted to keep my clutch lever.
ive since upgraded to the 2016 450FX and re used my reckluse clutch on this bike. all i needed was a new clutch cover and the reckluse fit perfectly on the new bike.
i elected not to reinstall the LHRB from reckluse as i felt it was underpowered
so instead i tried the OX brake, the owner of the company agreed to give me a full refund if not satisfied and fortunately he took it back without issue.
for me the OX was simpler but from a durability standpoint looked like something that would break easily. it looked like something better suited for a bicycle and as far as effort it took just as much to get the wheel to lock as the reckluse and i had to pin it all the way to the bars to get that result.
with the CLAKE all those problems are resolved! i do have a reckluse clutch installed but i can see how and why someone may want to go back to a stock clutch at some point.
the clutch disengagement is smooth and you can adjust the clutch preload to make it lighter than stock but i feel it is about the same effort wise as stock without any changes.
i now have the magura hydraulic clutch so no cable and the only thing i notice is that the clutch returns to engagement a little slower then before. i suspect it is due to the viscosity of the mineral oil passing through a small opening that causes this but it still functions fine as you rarely dump a clutch like that anyway.
i did swap out the CLAKE clutch cam for the one with a little more lift as i was not confident it was fully disengaging. now it seems better.
for me i have never been one to use the rear brake with my foot, i find that 4 strokes have so much engine braking i've never needed it but going down steep technical terrain when i wanted to move my weight back on the bike it is impossible to reach the rear foot brake in this position and sometimes the engine braking is not enough especially with a reckluse which tends to free wheel down a hill at slower speeds.
i also had an unexpected dismount recently when i accidentally whisky throttled the bike at a slow speed while i was already sort of falling off of it and it pretty much shot out from under me leaving me on the ground. if you have a reckluse you know how bad that can get when you get spoiled and keep your hand off the clutch! any blip of the gas of an otherwise stationary bike can cause bad things to happen!
with the CLAKE it forces you to use the rear brake more or at least keep a hand on the lever and i feel that whisky throttle is a lot less likely to happen.
i think ill end up riding with my left hand on the lever more now that it has 2 functions and ill learn to use both brakes more often.
overall i am impressed with the build quality and the ease of adjustment. the brake functions seems perfect without any changes i can easily lock the rear wheel and modulate it perfectly. there is a lot less effort needed to accomplish this verse the other 2 offering's mentioned previously.
you can have a lot of clutch / brake overlap, or none at all depending on the cams and wether or not you grab the lever on the inside or outside positions.
CLAKE made a boo boo with my order i need to get resolved this week, i ordered the pro lever initially on their website not realizing it was the pro, i wanted the clake 2 instead which was cheaper. i called Owen in Australia (fortunately i have VOIP and it was about .03 a minute)
he refunded me the difference and changed my order, but i still ended up with the pro lever. at this point i don't know if i need to bother with the clake 2. they told me it is as simple as swapping out the levers with the single removable pin but i don't know if ill even use the 2 levers separately or lock them together as 1 or bias them so you can get some brake with the clutch and vice versa.
the pro lever seems adequate and with the reckluse i feel like the clutch is less important anyway.
the only time i can see using the clutch function without the brake is if i want to just clutch during shifts without risk of using rear brake as the pro lever is a little tricky to get just clutch and no brake. you have to grab it at the inner position and roll your hand in the inwards direction to keep the brake out of the equation. eventually if you pull it all the way back it will activate the brake, just not as much.
bleeding the system was the most difficult part of the install process. but i found that a syringe and a clear plastic tube made short work of it. i did not follow their instructions. i elected to assemble everything and inject the fluid through the bleed nipple at the slave. this ensures no air introduced to the system and it's faster and cleaner than using their method.
when i talk to Owen again ill ask if anything can be adjusted as for the effort to pull the clutch as it says in the manual that if you have a reckluse auto clutch you cannot use the clutch assist feature. i need to find out why that is and what can be done to lighten the pull some as i would like to use it with 1 finger operation.
ill keep you guys posted as things progress but if in the mean time your looking for a better way to rind enduro i highly recommend the product. other than 6 weeks to order it and the price it is a great accessory and fits behind my hand guards with no problem.