eRider Hydraulic
Clutch Conversion Kit
Price
(msrp): $189.00
................
Pat's Review
When
I purchased this piece I had told Kevin I would do a
DRN Tested on it, well here it is 6 months later (sorry
Kevin). Between building a new house, the quick sale
of the previous house before the new one was completed
caused us to move into an apartment and store everything
(including the bikes), then finally moving in and shortly
there after heading to Dirt Week 2001 where I promptly
blew a crank seal it’s been tough to get impressions
of the unit.
First
Impressions:
Opening
the box I see and sealed bag with a “Hebo”
(not a well known name in the states but very well known
abroad) tag sealing the bag. Opening the bag reveals
a completely assembled perch / master / hose / slave
assembly pre-bled and ready to go. The master cylinder
is an AJP part that is a very high quality piece, the
hose is braided stainless with a plastic coating and
the slave unit is a Hebo piece. All that is required
is to determine what pieces of multi-fit kit are required
for my 1996 KTM 360exc. As it turns out all that is
required is one of the cable ends and the cable stop.
Fitting a routing the assembly is pretty much just like
running cables with the exception that you have this
big hunk of metal in the middle to contend with. The
instructions basically say to wrap the slave in a piece
of inner tube and zip-tie it to a location that works
for your application (the instructions are in Spanish
with a translated version provided by e-rider, very
nice guys!). The reason for the semi-permanent mounting
seems to be to allow adjustment of the free play of
the cable with the adjuster on the bottom of the slave
and to keep it easy to install.
Installation:
Most
installations will require the cable housing from the
slave to the clutch arm to be trimmed to length. DO
NOT do this with any kind of cutting pliers! The best
method is to cut it with a Dremmel and abrasive disk
since it is a plastic cover over a spiral wound steel
housing. Remember to measure twice and cut once or in
my case to cut three times to make it fit perfect.
Since
I never like to do things the easy way I spent some
time looking for a “factory” location. Since
the slave is not on the end of the unit acting on the
clutch arm it’s pretty easy to mount it in a safe
and unobtrusive location. Mine happened to be mounted
to the head stay bracket. As an added bonus this location
allowed a straight shot to the point where the stock
cable penetrates the left case and acts on the arm which
is next to the ignition. The only problem was that it
would take forceps for fingers to make the connection
since KTM didn’t allow much room. This IS NOT a
fault of the kit and is really a pretty trick way to
protect the actuator arm from damage. Since I just happened
to have a couple pair of these handy little instruments
it was not a significant issue. Re-fitting the kit after
installing my Eric Gorr modified engine (“Yes dear
you DO have to have porting done when you replace the
seals.” – not a word OK?) I found it MUCH
easier to re-connect everything with the ignition removed.
The
one key bit of information in setting up the kit properly
is to use the “special tool” supplied with
the kit to set the depth of the piston in the slave
so that it has sufficient travel to disengage the clutch.
It just so happens that this special tool looks EXACTLY
like a pop rivet so I doubt its loss would warrant a
special order. Since these things always seem to require
a third or fourth hand I will let you in on my little
trick to setting it up. You can either use forceps to
hold the cable in the proper position, or just take
the special tool and push the piston just a tiny bit
past the prescribed depth to where the edge of the rivet
is under the C-clip and it will hold the piston down
for you. Once the cable stop is secure the tool can
be removed and the supplied rubber cap with popup warning
device installed to keep dirt and crud out of the slave.
I did some final trimming of the cable and then installed
a cable end that I picked up at my local bicycle shop
to ensure the cable will not fray and to make the installation
“factory”.
Once everything is secure and buttoned back up the fruits
of your labor can be enjoyed. Most people that have
ridden a bike equipped with a juice assisted clutch
will swear their next bike will have one. There is no
lever that will make the pull as smooth and as easy
as a hydraulic clutch and it stays adjusted! So while
your buddy is messing with his quick adjust perch your
concentrating on riding. While his fingers are pulling
the higher effort cable your single finger pull is so
light you could do it with your pinky (I have just for
grins and it’s THAT low effort).
So if you own a bike that didn’t come with this
wonder of modern dirtbike development and would like
it, your answer is
a click away at www.erider.ws with all the other neat
stuff. Don’t be frightened away by all the orange,
e-rider is
a KTM specialist with trick solutions and replacement
parts for pumpkin bikes but this little gem is color
blind.
Contacting
Erider:
www.erider.ws
eRider
9896 Wilson Mills Road
Chardon, Ohio 44024
440-286-6273
ktm413@hotmail.com
