clutch reducer

[waterbug]

I have a 08 venture and for some reason my clutch hand hurts when I am holding the clutch in in traffic and such, do they make a clutch reducer or something and if so do they work? thanks

[Eck]

How many miles do you have on it ??

[SilvrT]

I don't know about a clutch reducer but I'd be looking into why your hand is hurting. These hydraulic clutches don't take a lot of effort or strength to hold the lever in (at least it doesn't seem that way for me) and I've ridden my son's Sporty and a few other bikes which has a cable and even those for me didn't seem all that bad albeit a bit more effort is req'd on those.

 

 

All the best in your quest (no pun intended)

[Eck]

That is where I was leading my question towards.. If the driver has only put a few miles on the bike since he owned it then his hand may not be used to pulling in on the clutch..

If however, the driver has put several hundered miles on the bike then I would say lets try bleeding the clutch to ensure there is no air in the system and see if that helps ease the strain on his hand..

[SilvrT]

Eck, how does air in the line make it harder to pull?

[Eck]

Eck, how does air in the line make it harder to pull?

 

Air can get trapped behind the clutch center pin behind the plates and the clutch lever will be hard to squeeze or it wont move at all.

 

Ask me how I know.........Well Ok, I'll tell you since you asked..

 

When I had my clutch plates replaced it happend to mine then. We had to call in the Yamaha mechanic to the house to look at it. He walked in, we told him what we did and now the lever is hard to pull in and it stops about 3/4 of the way in..

He pulled on the clutch lever and it moved a little but that was it.

He said, no wonder, you have air in the line.. Just bleed the clutch.

 

We told him we never broke a line or loosened the bleeder.

 

He said, Im telling you that you have air in the line, just bleed it.

 

I loosened the clutch bleeder as he pulled on the lever. I'll be darned..air came out and then fluid. We did this three times til it was just fluid.

We filled up the reservoir and the clutch worked perfectly from there after.

 

Have no idea how air got into the system..he never explained it. he got in his truck and went back to the shop and didnt charge me / us a dime. This was in Hamilton, Al.

[Sideoftheroad]

Wonder if it could be something with the hands (arthritis?)

 

You do alot w/ your hands after all in the body shop. The years might be catching up to ya.

[waterbug]

The bike has alittle over 8k on it, a friend told me he heard that there was a clutch reducer out there for some bikes but I have never heard of one.

Yes could be to many years working on cars and painting but its not the hand I use all the time to paint or do what ever with. I have strength in it and I just bought a hand exciser so hopefully that will help. Just might be something I have to live with I guess because my ins suc$s and I dont want to pay to have it looked at

[massey130]

when we got our 04 RSVa couple months back, i began to ride. i do woodwork, leather work, yard work, computer work, hunt, fish, reload & sport shoot. i was surprised at how weak my clutch hand was.

 

i went wally mart & bought a pair of those hand spring excersiser thing-a-ma-bobs. they made the difference for me. i use when i am at the keyboard to strengthen my hand & forearm.

[KiteSquid]

waterbug,

 

Do you have four fingers on your left hand?

 

 

Are you using all four fingers on your left hand to squeeze the clutch lever?

[wizard]

waterbug,

 

Do you have four fingers on your left hand?

 

 

Are you using all four fingers on your left hand to squeeze the clutch lever?

 

Gee, I wouldn't have thought to ask that. Good question. Maybe, if you only have 3 fingers, do you have two thumbs? :-)

[bamico]

Waterbug,

 

Could be a repetitive motion fatigue issue as well.

As others have stated, grip exercizes may help.

Even more important though is stretching.

 

Try this...

Take your left hand, fingers together and straight out (as if preparing to salute).

Grasp your left hand with your right.

Bend the left hand back toward the sky, in the direction of your upper forearm. (bending the wrist... moving the flat fingers up and towards your wrist watch).

You'll feel the stretch in hand and forearm.

I have to do this on a regular basis on long rides due to an old injury in my left hand.

 

Hope it helps.

Bob

[N3FOL]

The bike has alittle over 8k on it, a friend told me he heard that there was a clutch reducer out there for some bikes but I have never heard of one.

Yes could be to many years working on cars and painting but its not the hand I use all the time to paint or do what ever with. I have strength in it and I just bought a hand exciser so hopefully that will help. Just might be something I have to live with I guess because my ins suc$s and I dont want to pay to have it looked at

 

I have about the same miles as your bike at apx. 8400 miles ('07). Try bleeding the clutch and it may be a good time to replace the fluid anyway ... as stated by Eck. I did mine a few months ago and it is always nice to see clean fluid in those reservoir sight glass. As stated before, arm and wrist curls in your local fitness gym (ie: Gold's Gym) may do the trick.

 

Ride Safe.

[Condor]

Sounds like the onset of Carpal to me... Had the right hand done early this year, and I'm scheduled to have the left wrist done after Cody on the 27th of Oct. Had carpal symptoms equally in both hands, but while the right went dead, the left felt fine. Over the summer I started getting shooting pains down the side of my left ring finger. Damn they hurt. Plus a little numbness in the finger tips. So now I'm looking forward to getting the left done. Some things you might try doing to get a little relief. Don't tighten up the glove strap as much and loosen your watch band. If it's tight get another band or just take it off while riding. My 2 cents....

[waterbug]

The pain is not so much in my hand as my fingers and its when I am holding the clutch in say in traffic. I heard some were that they could change some things in the clutch system to make them easier but dont know for sure so thought I would ask. Thanks

[Condor]

The pain is not so much in my hand as my fingers and its when I am holding the clutch in say in traffic. I heard some were that they could change some things in the clutch system to make them easier but dont know for sure so thought I would ask. Thanks

 

All these years I thought the fingers were part of the hand....??

[massey130]

try some foam tape on the clutch handle. it may be the clutch handle "digging" into the tender area of the fingers. after awhile, you may be able to remove the foam.

 

sort of like a new beginning guitar player having to go through building caluses on the finger tips. will be sore for awhile, but eventually you toughen up.

 

just another thought

[Seaking]

The pain is not so much in my hand as my fingers and its when I am holding the clutch in say in traffic. I heard some were that they could change some things in the clutch system to make them easier but dont know for sure so thought I would ask. Thanks

 

I recently installed a heady duty clutch kit in my 07 and man my hand got horribly sore in traffic, to the point I'd avoid congested areas..

 

But funny enough, muscle memory kicked in and now I hardly notice it.. But I do know what you mean, my VStar with it's HD clutch kit gave me the same prob..

 

I've head of many people refer to that off set device you mentioned, sort of like changing the fulcrum point of the lever making it so much easier to do the work than before..

 

Heard of it, never seen it or found it..

[KiteSquid]

Gee, I wouldn't have thought to ask that. Good question. Maybe, if you only have 3 fingers, do you have two thumbs? :-)

 

I was trying to collect the facts, but there are some people with missing (birth defect or loss in an incident) or extra fingers (Polydactyly) on one or more hand.