Hi all, Looking for some advice if possible... I recently purchased and installed strada racing shorty levers for my 848... but already regretting the decison after only a 30 minute ride! My hand was that sore that I was actually looking forward to taking a break! Maybe my lack of riding has caused me to have girly hands but hopefully there is another fix! Ive had a read through other threads and seen various members mention an aftermarket clutch slave. I dont know an awlful lot about the mechanics of a bike so looking for someone to point me in the right direction. If this is the best way to relieve pressure on the clutch lever, how easy is the installation? I know I could revert back to longer levers, but I prefer the look of shorty levers and had no issues with my previous bike (CBR600) Heres a pic of my beauty
The Oberon one does reduce lever pressure by about 35% and is a must have, however shorty levers mean u loose leverage and the downside of the aftermarket slave cylinder is that increases travel. Personally I would ditch the shorty levers and get an Oberon slave and then it will be easier to live with Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
There are many on the market, the Oberon being the most popular from what I see I have an MPL on mine and its been great no trouble whatsoever. They exchange force for travel, which suits me as I'm a road ony guy. I like both features as I found the 1098 bite point a little fierce (I either stalled or ended up revving its nuts off to try to get a smooth getaway.................making me ham fisted and look like a total clown). I'm trying to remember back about installing, but as I recall all you do is remove the old slave, clean up the pushrod after removal, install the new slave then bleed the system The only PIA is bleeding, its not hard but requires a little attention to get all the air out. If you don't bleed properly you'll find the clutch, difficult to disengage or it drags Oh and just to add I'm a 10st weakling with wire coathanger arms and I have no trouble with the slave and shorty levers on mine
Easy, just make sure u bleed it properly! There is so little fluid in there though that it's quick to pump through. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Just one more thing to add, if you are installing a new slave when the system is drained it might be worth considering swapping out the banjo at the slave for a combined Bleed Nipple and Banjo fitting. It makes bleeding the clutch a good deal easier IMHO John
Agreed, I also fitted a bleeder/banjo at the master cylinder end on my 916 and it is a big help. I find the clutch harder to completely bleed than the brakes because you can't really get any pressure in it like with the brakes.
I ordered some shorties from China or at least I thought I did... When they arrived, I was disappointed to find I'd ordered the wrong thing and they were in fact the longer version :/ However, my disappointment was short lived because when I came to fit and use them, I found them to be perfect. They looked and worked enormously better than the oem Brembo levers and they were only about 16 quid delivered.
Also, there are other ways to lighten your clutch, which cost nothing. The first way is to remove two clutch springs, which reduces the force required to pull the lever. The other similar method, which I stumbled on while trying to fix terminal drag, is to reduce the pre-load on the springs and therefore the lever effort, by reducing the height of your clutch stack by removing some plates. The risk here is that the reduced pre-load could lead to slip but I have no such problems and if I did, I could simply add plates till the slip stops. The down-side of the replacement slave is that you are swapping lever effort for pushrod travel, which means that bleeding has to be perfect if you are going to avoid drag. Another down-side is cost. Oberons are not an enormous price but if you find you do experience drag, its a fair bit of money to have wasted. So, quite a few choices...
Gents, Appreciate the help! Ive no idea what a bleeder/banjo is but ill do some research and look at installing along with a slave if it adds a benefit! I'll let you know how I get on! Old rider, Your levers look identical to mine although the strada ones were £65. Looks like I should have looked around first! Lee
I have aftermarket long levers on mine and I have no problem with it at all. It had some cheap nasty shorties on my 848 and it was hell using it until inch aged them. Short levers may look nice to some (not a fan myself) but they offer less feel (shorter travel) and performance (harder to use). Swapping parts for less performance just seems plain weird to me. Each to their own of course!
but removing springs and plates increases the risk of clutch slip of 'creep' which is likely to kill the clutch really quickly. I personally wouldn't recommend this approach at all but that's just me.
There you go, the banjo has a bleed nipple on top, this forms a high point on the slave making it easier to bleed both the slave and the line, I'd get an SS one, but maybe that's just me HEL and a shedload of others do them, I cannot remember the size and pitch of the banjo on the slave but it should be a dawdle to find out Here is a link to the HEL fittings, if it helps Fittings
A wet clutch is essentially the same. However, older Ducati wet clutches do seem particularly prone to slipping, so I probably wouldn't recommend anything that reduces spring pressure on one of those Of course it will increase the risk of slip but any slip will be pretty obvious, so simply reverse the process.
Hmmm, not something I know much about but I thought the wet clutches came in later than the 848/1098, as it's still basically a Testastretta motor.
How strange... The 600 and 750 motors used to have a wet clutch and the 900 a dry clutch but they were different engines. Why would the 848 and 1098 differ??
