[John G]

Yep. I’d have to agree. The Barnett cable has made quite a difference. The hydraulic clutch won’t make the pull any lighter, as there is no more mechanical advantage. To get an advantage, the throw distance would be lessened, just like when you put on an EZ pull lever. The longer arm makes the clutch easier to pull, but it decreases the travel. Similarly, a larger slave cylinder would decrease the amount of clutch arm travel.

The pros for the hydraulic clutch are really reduced maintenance. The operation may be a little smoother, I don’t know.

 

[Chattanooga_Mark]

I also bought a new hydraulic clutch kit for my CCT soon after the announcement. I sold it a few months later having never installed it. Mainly due to people I respect talking about Victory hydraulic failures they've seen and about the vagueness of the clutch feel with the hydraulic kit. I also bought a barnett clutch cable ($79) from Paulie before he left Honda East. I only have 62K on my CCT but my oem clutch cable still looks like new at both ends. I have a Sav-U-Ride in a saddlebag and the new Barnett clutch cable waiting to be installed. If my oem clutch cable makes it to 90K, I'll install the Barnett, just because.

If periodically cleaning and greasing the clutch cable ends are a big deal to you but periodically bleeding the hydraulic clutch isn't, well, then, pony up and buy the parts.

 

[John G]

The reasons I bough the Barnett cable were twofold: I wanted to see if a stainless braided cable would be smoother and a little easier to pull: It is.
And, I noticed that the stock cable outer casing compressed when you pulled on the cable. (Cheap cable). The stainless cable doesnt compress like the OEM cable, so you get more movement down at the clutch arm instead of losing movement due to the outer casing compressing.

A hydraulic clutch will also eliminate the casing compression problem. I suspect too, the OEM cable just isn't up to the job of handling a heavy clutch. Lubing the ends and inspecting them helps you not encounter a broken cable on a ride, but replacing it is the only alternative, be it with a Barnett, or by using a hydraulic clutch kit.

 

[Rewindguy]

I put over 500,000 km on Hydraulic clutch equiped bikes and never had one failure - 15,000 km on the Vic and it was iffy. Guess what I put on?

 

[Poseidon]

The hydraulic clutch won't make the pull any lighter, as there is no more mechanical advantage.

this is true with the OEM hydraulic clutch kit.

To get an advantage, the throw distance would be lessened, just like when you put on an EZ pull lever. The longer arm makes the clutch easier to pull, but it decreases the travel. Similarly, a larger slave cylinder would decrease the amount of clutch arm travel.

if the master cylinder and slave were redesigned it is possible to decrease the pull effort by changing the pressure and flow of the fluid without effecting the amount of clutch arm travel. The fact that the pull is the same for cable and hydraulic clutch is by design.

The pros for the hydraulic clutch are really reduced maintenance. The operation may be a little smoother, I don't know.

Some prefer the feel of it to a cable, some don't. Lack of cable adjustments are really the only benefit. Flushing the system every 2 years (same as the brake system) is the main drawback. The barrel at the end of the slave still needs the same maintenance as the ends of the cable.

 

[jmstang302]

The hydraulic clutch won't make the pull any lighter,

I have to disagree with this . Being as I have both I can say without a doubt my Vision`s clutch is easier than the XC or Vegas. All 3 have OE parts, I don`t have a Barnett cable. Can`t say if that will equal out the pull?

 

[lou8700]

Any Vision I ever road the clutch didn't engage till the lever was close to being fully released. It would be interesting to see if a EZ pull arm could be installed with a little tweaking of the slave bracket and the hydraulic system would still have enough travel to fully release the clutch.

 

[John G]

There is a way to make an easy pull lever work better. You would have to reclock the angle that the arm makes in comparison to the cable. I actually thought about doing this, but looking at the parts book, it appears that the clutch rod, which the arm is attached to, is not splined. If it were splined at the bottom, where it operates the clutch, you could move the arm towards a degree or two and get just a little more movement, which would give you just a little more movement at the clutch and have it engage better.

Oh, On the post above about the hydraulic clutch, making it lighter by design:. You would have to install a smaller piston in the master cylinder, or a larger one in the slave cylinder. This would result in less travel, becaus the limiting factor is the amount of movement at the clutch lever. You can't increase that. Mechanical advantage via a hydraulic set up uses a smaller piston to move a larger one, but as you increase the size, you have to pump the smaller piston more to move the larger one. If You go the other way, it takes more effort at the handle to pump the smaller piston at the slave end. It's basic physics. Work equals force times distance.

 

[topcat]

I too wanted a hydraulic clutch on my 13CCT at one time. Instead I put an EZ-pull on it and once a year I unhook both ends, clean and regrease them. Have had the EZ-pull for over 50K miles (despite the warnings of "you'll fry your clutch) and both ends of the clutch cable look brand new. It only takes one finger to pull in the clutch and it's never slipped or given me an issue. Maybe the reason my cable looks new is that the longer arm on the EZ-pull is reducing the stress on the ends of the cable due to the added leverage of the longer arm.

Totally agree with Brad here. I put EZ pulls on my KP and Cindy's BW.
Keep them adjusted correctly and lubed they are a great product.
Much lighter and smoother pull. You do need to follow the directions closely.

 

[John G]

I totally agree about the pull. It was awesome. But as I stated previously, on my Vegas, I couldn’t get it adjusted right without it either not fully engaging the clutch, or really loading up the thrust bearing and putting too much pressure on the clutch while disengaged. It could be the stock clutch handle? I don’t know. I looked at ways of re-engineering it and couldn’t come up with an acceptable alternative. If I could have rotated the clutch arm just 5 degrees or so, to the left, I think the ez pull would have worked. Most bikes, the arm is splined onto the clutch shaft. The Vic isn’t. It’s a cheaper manufacture.