RL250 Hydraulic clutch a happening thing..

[Doc]

well I followed my hunches and my idea of the cheapy RL250 hydraulic clutch works like a dream usually my hunches end up in the hunches and useless ideas bin but not this time. The complete clutch setup cost me $30au. I wasn't happy with the crud lever that came with the m/cylinder so I lashed out another $30au on a set of Chinese ASV foldable levers. This included a disc brake front brake lever and a cable clutch lever and perch assy. I simply spun everything around on the perch and presto, instantly adjustable front brake lever. The other disc brake lever I flipped over and it fits perfectly in the master cylinder giving me matching levers. The quality of the ASV stuff is up there with the best jap stuff I've, the levers even pivot on miniscule roller bearings and the attention to detail and finish is very good. The master cylinder assy on the otherhand has poor quality and colour to the anodizing, the banjo bolt uses small o'rings instead of crush washers and the bolt itself was useless after 3 or 4 goes at bleeding and was replaced with a shortened banjo bolt from a mikuni oil pump. Generally it looks chinese Anyway for $60 it seems a little rich but it all works and feels so much better I'm more than happy(for the time being). I'll be hunting up a complete spare clutch setup as replacement parts. Lack of said spare parts will be a future problem guarantee'd and the easiest/cost effective fix is simply bin the old and fit a new

[Doc]

  ok ok I know ..it looks like crap and is prolly is crap but eh, it works
maybe if I give em' a coat of satin black it won't be so offensive

[Doc]

still on the subject of RL250's I was tossing pieces around cleaning up on the weekend and this fell together  kinda looks like it's meant to be so I'll lower it a little more and see what happens..eventually, I'm really in no hurry to die

[David Lahey]

ok ok I know ..it looks like crap and is prolly is crap but eh, it works
maybe if I give em' a coat of satin black it won't be so offensive

Doc please don't paint the clutch lever black. I reckon that bright looking stuff looks great on your RL.

The RL dirt tracker looks pretty cool so far too.

Next time I get a chance I'll get a photo of the home-made clutch master cylinder on my riding buddy's hot-rodded TL125. Its a fully billet machined job and even has his insignia machined into it. He's a toolmaker and makes some of the most wonderful stuff for his bikes.

David

[TonyB]

doc can you adjust the length of the cable that sticks out? also what are the size of the threads? I might want to try one on my iz465

[Doc]

Tony there is no real adjustment other than what can be taken up in the 8mm thread. Not sure of the actual length of the inner. To give you a rough indication the alloy body and cap of the slave cylinder is 50mm not taking the threaded section into account. The threaded section I'd guess around 40mm and the inner cable from all appearances is about 60-65mm. The picture shows a fully primed ready to go item on full extension. I'm not endorsing these items in any way as i have no idea of how long they will last but all I can say is I'd reckon they'll bolt straight onto a lot of different models. To fit it to the RL required no mods at all excepting readjusting of the clutch freeplay once it was bled. The folding lever on the otherhand I do endorse as they really are far better than I imagined

Feetup I was actually having a bit of a dabble waiting for either an RL enthusiast or a trials purist to burr up over my RM400 engine transplant suggestion thing is the more I looked at the photo the more do-able it seems. I've decide to follow through with this idea on the one proviso, the frame does not get modded in any way It may well go back to a normal RL 1 day and I'm not a total butcher. I'd love to see a pic of the TL125 clutch setup by the way. I envy people with such engineering skills no matter how trivial it seems to them.   

[jimson]

Doc the RL flattracker looks cool  is the engine bolted in and does the sprockets line up I like it.jimson

[Doc]

Jimson the engine is just sitting there but yes, it lines up easilly as the RM400 is physically smaller than a TS/TM or RL250. Taller but more compact an airfilter could be a minor issue but an angled pod would sort that.