auto clutch. worth it or no?

[stainlesscycle]

i ran a rekluse on my 200 and i felt it maybe really didn't have any advantages. i ran it for a while, and got rid of it. the loss of clutch use (clutch pull becomes very stiff...) at higher rpm's was a huge turnoff. also not able to zap the clutch as well to get the front light really kinda unnerved me. i need to clear logs, jump gaps at will, without changing gears...

with the 300 motor's grunt, i think it might have it's advatages, but i'm debating. i bought another auto clutch, to try it out once again.

aside from anti-stalling does the rekluse have any real race advantages? the big disadvantage i see is free wheeling backwards (i.e. stuck on a hill), and inability to kick it in gear/bump start. i can see 'maybe' an advantage hill climbing in wrong gear - but i just clutch/downshift to get back into the meat of things. any a or b riders feel there is a SIGNIFICANT advantage to it? as long as i am in the correct gear, i see no advantages... i don't stall in single track, even when a gear high. i abuse the clutch, but have had no clutch issues.

i only care about it's positives/negatives in a race environment. trail riding is a whole different world.

 

[AZRickD]

Are you talking about the Rekluse Z-Start, or the new EXP and EXP 2.0?

I find that the higher the skill of the racers in our local series, the more complaints (or should I say, "issues") they seem to have. Even then, most of them are won over.

I have resisted getting an auto-clutch on my 2T GG and have used that resistance to develop some techniques over time. When I see the advantages of the auto-clutch is during fatigue. My technique is fine when I'm fresh, but when I get tired I find myself lapsing mentally. I'll come in braking hard into a turn and lock up my rear wheel because I didn't pull my clutch in far enough. Stall. Kick-Kick.

Like you, even if I have an auto-clutch, I would have to buy one that allows stock clutch feel so I can clutch out of turns or over obstacles. I'm hoping the EXP 2.0 will be that device for me sometime in the future.

 

[stainlesscycle]

i bought a used efm - not willing to blow the $900 on a clutch that i may or may not like..... in the past i had a z-start. ran it for a month or 2 and sold it.

i do find that later in a race i find myself exiting turns in too high a gear, and need to slip the clutch like crazy/down shift to get back into the correct gear. or i just end up lazy and let the motor chug up to the meat of the power band a little too slow... or just entering an elevation change in the wrong gear, and work the motor/clutch hard to get back to a happy rev. but i think with an autoclutch i'll do the same thing...... i almost never let it stall though - i have stalled in an uphill corner rut occasionally from laziness/fatigue though..... the nice thing about the gasgas is i can take the inside line and avoid the ruts entirely...avoiding the 4 stroke corner lines, is very nice. as is the inside corner pass, something i could never do on a 4t.

 

[AZRickD]

Got it. Yep. I didn't like the Rekluse Z-Start. The clutch lost modulation for those more surgical of techniques.

I await more commentary.

 

[GMP]

If your harescrambles are less technical and more speed oriented (like most) , and you don't have any hand issues, then why bother? You can ride the 300 a gear high anyway.

I wrap my clutch lever with sticky friction tape. That way, as long as you cover the clutch with a finger or two, your glove sticks to the lever even if your hand gets shifted on the grip slightly from a hit, like rocks or sharp edge braking bumps.

 

[AZRickD]

If your harescrambles are less technical and more speed oriented (like most) ,

Ours series is mandated to be more technical (the club putting on the race is penalized if the average speed is above a certain mph). And outside of racing, many here prefer technical single track.

 

[thumperrider1]

Loved my rekluse CORE EXP that was on my 250. Way better than the rekluse standard or PRO. The juice clutch felt identical to stock and had full modulation.

 

[stainlesscycle]

If your harescrambles are less technical and more speed oriented (like most) , and you don't have any hand issues, then why bother? You can ride the 300 a gear high anyway.

I wrap my clutch lever with sticky friction tape. That way, as long as you cover the clutch with a finger or two, your glove sticks to the lever even if your hand gets shifted on the grip slightly from a hit, like rocks or sharp edge braking bumps.

it's all technical where i'm at aside from the gncc's (which are like a dirt superhighway...) - regular harescrambes here are 3rd-4th gear tops. gncc regularly hit 6th gear. ridiculous fast.

 

[GMP]

It varies here, but in general its not as technical as our enduros and certainly not my trail riding. Any technical sections are short. Sunday I raced an event that had everything from 2nd gear tight woods to 6th gear pinned fields, with super nice flowing stuff as the balance over 10 miles.

 

[Clay]

There is another advantage that no one mentioned......If you have an auto clutch, most of the time when you fall, the bikes just lays there and idles waiting on you to pick it up and go. No need to fold out the kickstarter and kick the bike. Even if the bike fires on the first kick you still have lost a few seconds.
The anti-stall thing is big to me, too. If you have a non e start bike, folding out the lever with your hand and kicking once or twice saves you a few seconds. It's once less thing to worry about.
The Core Exp works/feels like a stock clutch to me. We did some demo rides last year with a bike that had an EXP and we just quit telling guys it had an auto clutch. I don't remember even one person who figured it out on their own.
Personally, I'm sold on an auto clutch. That's pretty much the first think I do on a new bike.

 

[stainlesscycle]

We did some demo rides last year with a bike that had an EXP and we just quit telling guys it had an auto clutch. I don't remember even one person who figured it out on their own.
Personally, I'm sold on an auto clutch. That's pretty much the first think I do on a new bike.

didn't they figure it out when they kicked it in gear? can you hold it pinned, pull in the clutch, and start it just like a regular dead engine start? does the pull feel exactly the same through the entire rev range?

what about right hand tip overs (although not very common - i almost always fall to the left...) - potential for throttle jammed=bike launch?

 

[BluegassXCR]

IMO-yes the clutch feel remains the same all the way thru the rev's

pinned throttle=bike launch....ummmm your non-rekluse bike is gonna do that too.....

 

[stainlesscycle]

pinned throttle=bike launch....ummmm your non-rekluse bike is gonna do that too.....

duh. yep, didn't think about that.

 

[2whlrcr]

I've got a EXP Core in my 300 GG and don't like how it engages, but I live with it.

I've also got a Pro model in my WR250 Husky and love the engagement, but hate the clutch feel, so I have mixed feelings about both. The only reason I run them, is for the anti stall factor and the potential time it saves me in races. If I was only trail riding, I wouldn't bother and save some bucks.

 

[MrBlah]

I've got a EXP Core in my 300 GG and don't like how it engages, but I live with it.

I've also got a Pro model in my WR250 Husky and love the engagement, but hate the clutch feel, so I have mixed feelings about both. The only reason I run them, is for the anti stall factor and the potential time it saves me in races. If I was only trail riding, I wouldn't bother and save some bucks.

I love my rekluse pro, and dyna ring

I do not like my core exp 2, it dumps the clutch at about 95 %

I wont buy a bike that does not have an autoclutch available, I do not like riding without them

 

[john01]

Can you adjust the EXP for less than 95%?

 

[MrBlah]

Can you adjust the EXP for less than 95%?

what I mean is, you have between 0 and 100 % lockup, 0 being fully disengaged by lever or the auto clutch

it should transition smoothly to full lockup, on my core exp 2.0 it does not, it gets almost all the way, to about 90-95 %, then it just dumps the clutch, it'll pull the engine rpm's down a bit when it does it, it's annoying as it drops the power a bit when this happens

I'm going to call rekluse when I have time, I dont think it's supposed to work like that

 

[Clay]

didn't they figure it out when they kicked it in gear? can you hold it pinned, pull in the clutch, and start it just like a regular dead engine start? does the pull feel exactly the same through the entire rev range?

what about right hand tip overs (although not very common - i almost always fall to the left...) - potential for throttle jammed=bike launch?

We started the bike for them and handed it to them. Yes and yes.
I seem to fall to the right 95% of the time. I use closed end EE handguards and haven't had a prob with a stuck throttle.

 

[gasser]

what I mean is, you have between 0 and 100 % lockup, 0 being fully disengaged by lever or the auto clutch

it should transition smoothly to full lockup, on my core exp 2.0 it does not, it gets almost all the way, to about 90-95 %, then it just dumps the clutch, it'll pull the engine rpm's down a bit when it does it, it's annoying as it drops the power a bit when this happens

I'm going to call rekluse when I have time, I dont think it's supposed to work like that

The core exp on my 250 works great. The guys at Rekluse will help you get it sorted - their customer service is great.

 

[john01]

So it does a way of adjusting the engagement?