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apologies mods if this should be under mechanical but figured it's more general as it's how the rekluse exp auto clutch generally affects riding on a 2012 fe570. been a few posts about it but didn't seem to be a general overview thread...
there are three different models, budget restricted me to the entry level rekluse exp which has less features but like a lot of riders i found this model works fine for everyday riding and is a lot cheaper - $450 is australia and around $400 in the states. so can't really comment on the higher models (z-start $629 and exp core $900) but keen to hear impressions from other riders, especially if they started with an exp and can make comparisons.
INSTALLATION
this was easy enough and the instructions are fine, took about an hour, give yourself two hours if you've never messed around with clutches before. they place a lot of emphasis on tightening their replacement parts 1 & 1/4 turns to get the clutch engaging at the right spot (see vid below). i found the clutch was grabbing slightly at idle so instead of taking the clutch cover off again to adjust i just lowered the idle speed a bit till there was no engagement. this has the added advantage of the clutch staying engaged better on gnarly downhills as it will start free wheeling when the revs drop close to idle.
youtube vid on installing in bergs & katos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLZvcezt7zY
ADJUSTMENT
you get a variety of springs to determine when you want the rekluse to engage - low medium and high. i chose low, which as mentioned could mean a bit of messing around to stop partial engagement at idle. i prefer low for various reasons. i'm not into fast starts so dont mind early take up. less likely to disengage on slow downhills. the rekluse actually replaces a few of your clutch plates so in effect there is more wear on the existing plates, and of course the rekluse itself. i'm keen to make them all last longer by minimizing the slipping they'll be doing.
next you can adjust how strongly the rekluse engages. the rekluse exp comes with intermediate wedges, but you can buy heavier wedges for stronger engagement (or lighter ones but can't imagine anyone using them!). i already had a set of the heavy wedges because i found on a previous bike that the rekluse slipped too much when rolling the throttle on in higher gears (at least until the revs got to around 4,500 rpm). i put these in straight away, figuring the 570 has more grunt than the old 450 so would definitely need them. note, it could be the heavier wedges that made the rekluse partially engage at idle but can't be sure on that.
i like the heavy wedges so far. there is miminal clutch slippage, even giving the bike a handful in top gear from say 3000rpm and i figure this has to improve the life of the clutch plates and the rekluse. it stays engaged until just above idle down hills. it's very easy to pop the front wheel up when needed as it engages very quickly the moment the revs pick up (the intermediate wedges on the old 450 made response a bit mushy, great in slippery terrain but not so great when lifting the front wheel in higher gears). it is a compromise however... in very gnarly terrain, or very slow technical riding, the quick engagement isn't so great and lacks the subtle smoothness of the intermediate wedges. at some stage i'll have to put the intermediate wedges in and see how they compare. possibly they wouldn't be needed on the smaller bergs, especially if you tend to ride keeping the revs higher.
it's a pity rekluse don't include the heavy wedges with the kit; the website claims the clutch is fully tuneable but it's only after you buy the kit you realize they aren't included and want $99 for four bits of metal!
GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE REKLUSE EXP
anyone familiar with the rekluse will know the go here. if (god forbid) you are just road riding and pottering on easy dirt roads with your berg then there is marginal benefit. however, the gnarlier things get the rekluse can
transform your riding in tight gnarly conditions especially. in a nutshell:
- the berg will pretty much never stall, even when you drop it
- no clutch work needed for ultra slow riding
- more control, just hang on to the bars and ignore the clutch
- better traction
- less gear changes, even stopped on a hill climb just wind it on in second
- great if you like locking the rear wheel to slide into tight corners
particular benefits for me were gearing and reduced strain. the berg already has that great wide ratio six speed box that lends itself to the 570's capability as a dirt and adventure bike. the rekluse amplifies this. i'm currently running 13/45 gearing and with the rekluse you can still trials ride the bike through tight stuff with ease then cruise on the highway. i might even try 14/45 next. also, these middle aged fingers are really starting to cop the strain after a big day's dirt riding, i'm finding that barely touching the clutch all day except for down changes is making a huge improvement.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES WITH THE REKLUSE EXP
these aren't necessarily problems, but just worth keeping in mind and adjusting your riding style to suit.
you can't clutch start the bike. with an old style clutch cable, you could just loosen off the clutch cable sufficiently to in effect stop the Rekluse from working so you can engage the clutch normally. but with the hydraulic clutch on the berg you would actually need to take the rekluse out and reinstall all the OEM parts. i get around this by carrying a small set of jumper leads on all rides. but if there's something wrong with the starter motor then you are ******. on long adventure rides i'm going to pack the OEM clutch parts to cover this eventuality - just an hour's work to reinstall then clutch start the bike.
On steep descents, the clutch will disengage if the rear wheel locks up momentarily, or the revs drop too low. A small blip of the throttle will re-engage the clutch; this becomes automatic eventually, but can be distracting on seriously gnarly hills till you get the hang of it. you can reduce this with the low engagement springs and heavy wedges.
If you stall on a steep hill, you don't have the clutch there to hold the bike still. This can be a big issue if you can't hold the rear brake on. i haven't had this happen yet, but basically prepared for it. if possible, i'll hold the revs just above idle to keep the bike in place. or if all else fails, turn the bars and drop the bike sideways on the hill to avoid that horrible downhill run in reverse. that's gotta end badly.
the rekluse replaces some of your clutch plates to fit into your existing clutch basket. obviously this means your plates will wear faster, and the rekluse itself. as mentioned, i figure the low engagement springs and heavier wedges will reduce this wear. or buy the top model rekluse, it comes with a custom sidecase to allow using all your clutch plates.
already mentioned that depending on your riding style you may find the rekluse slips too much when rolling the throttle on at lower revs, especially in higher gears. the heavier wedges will fix that. but i wasn't really happy with rekluse in this respect. the website says the rekluse exp comes with "optional wedges AND springs" to make the auto-clutch "fully tunable to rider preference and terrain conditions". but in reality it only comes with the optional springs, and you have to pay an extra $99 if you want the heavier wedges. poor wording on the website, they should make it clearer the exp will actually cost $198 extra to make it fully tuneable, after buying the heavy and light wedges that aren't included.
SUMMING UP THE REKLUSE EXP
hard to pass up on the rekluse if you ride the berg in dirt, unless you are already a jedi master at clutch slipping, or think it is cheating and you'd prefer to learn the jedi way. this review is biased by my tendency to not rev the berg, and do a weird mix of adventure riding, road, dirt and technical stuff bordering on trials riding, but hopefully will give other riders an insight into this cool equipment.
there are three different models, budget restricted me to the entry level rekluse exp which has less features but like a lot of riders i found this model works fine for everyday riding and is a lot cheaper - $450 is australia and around $400 in the states. so can't really comment on the higher models (z-start $629 and exp core $900) but keen to hear impressions from other riders, especially if they started with an exp and can make comparisons.
INSTALLATION
this was easy enough and the instructions are fine, took about an hour, give yourself two hours if you've never messed around with clutches before. they place a lot of emphasis on tightening their replacement parts 1 & 1/4 turns to get the clutch engaging at the right spot (see vid below). i found the clutch was grabbing slightly at idle so instead of taking the clutch cover off again to adjust i just lowered the idle speed a bit till there was no engagement. this has the added advantage of the clutch staying engaged better on gnarly downhills as it will start free wheeling when the revs drop close to idle.
youtube vid on installing in bergs & katos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLZvcezt7zY
ADJUSTMENT
you get a variety of springs to determine when you want the rekluse to engage - low medium and high. i chose low, which as mentioned could mean a bit of messing around to stop partial engagement at idle. i prefer low for various reasons. i'm not into fast starts so dont mind early take up. less likely to disengage on slow downhills. the rekluse actually replaces a few of your clutch plates so in effect there is more wear on the existing plates, and of course the rekluse itself. i'm keen to make them all last longer by minimizing the slipping they'll be doing.
next you can adjust how strongly the rekluse engages. the rekluse exp comes with intermediate wedges, but you can buy heavier wedges for stronger engagement (or lighter ones but can't imagine anyone using them!). i already had a set of the heavy wedges because i found on a previous bike that the rekluse slipped too much when rolling the throttle on in higher gears (at least until the revs got to around 4,500 rpm). i put these in straight away, figuring the 570 has more grunt than the old 450 so would definitely need them. note, it could be the heavier wedges that made the rekluse partially engage at idle but can't be sure on that.
i like the heavy wedges so far. there is miminal clutch slippage, even giving the bike a handful in top gear from say 3000rpm and i figure this has to improve the life of the clutch plates and the rekluse. it stays engaged until just above idle down hills. it's very easy to pop the front wheel up when needed as it engages very quickly the moment the revs pick up (the intermediate wedges on the old 450 made response a bit mushy, great in slippery terrain but not so great when lifting the front wheel in higher gears). it is a compromise however... in very gnarly terrain, or very slow technical riding, the quick engagement isn't so great and lacks the subtle smoothness of the intermediate wedges. at some stage i'll have to put the intermediate wedges in and see how they compare. possibly they wouldn't be needed on the smaller bergs, especially if you tend to ride keeping the revs higher.
it's a pity rekluse don't include the heavy wedges with the kit; the website claims the clutch is fully tuneable but it's only after you buy the kit you realize they aren't included and want $99 for four bits of metal!
GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE REKLUSE EXP
anyone familiar with the rekluse will know the go here. if (god forbid) you are just road riding and pottering on easy dirt roads with your berg then there is marginal benefit. however, the gnarlier things get the rekluse can
transform your riding in tight gnarly conditions especially. in a nutshell:
- the berg will pretty much never stall, even when you drop it
- no clutch work needed for ultra slow riding
- more control, just hang on to the bars and ignore the clutch
- better traction
- less gear changes, even stopped on a hill climb just wind it on in second
- great if you like locking the rear wheel to slide into tight corners
particular benefits for me were gearing and reduced strain. the berg already has that great wide ratio six speed box that lends itself to the 570's capability as a dirt and adventure bike. the rekluse amplifies this. i'm currently running 13/45 gearing and with the rekluse you can still trials ride the bike through tight stuff with ease then cruise on the highway. i might even try 14/45 next. also, these middle aged fingers are really starting to cop the strain after a big day's dirt riding, i'm finding that barely touching the clutch all day except for down changes is making a huge improvement.
PROBLEMS AND ISSUES WITH THE REKLUSE EXP
these aren't necessarily problems, but just worth keeping in mind and adjusting your riding style to suit.
you can't clutch start the bike. with an old style clutch cable, you could just loosen off the clutch cable sufficiently to in effect stop the Rekluse from working so you can engage the clutch normally. but with the hydraulic clutch on the berg you would actually need to take the rekluse out and reinstall all the OEM parts. i get around this by carrying a small set of jumper leads on all rides. but if there's something wrong with the starter motor then you are ******. on long adventure rides i'm going to pack the OEM clutch parts to cover this eventuality - just an hour's work to reinstall then clutch start the bike.
On steep descents, the clutch will disengage if the rear wheel locks up momentarily, or the revs drop too low. A small blip of the throttle will re-engage the clutch; this becomes automatic eventually, but can be distracting on seriously gnarly hills till you get the hang of it. you can reduce this with the low engagement springs and heavy wedges.
If you stall on a steep hill, you don't have the clutch there to hold the bike still. This can be a big issue if you can't hold the rear brake on. i haven't had this happen yet, but basically prepared for it. if possible, i'll hold the revs just above idle to keep the bike in place. or if all else fails, turn the bars and drop the bike sideways on the hill to avoid that horrible downhill run in reverse. that's gotta end badly.
the rekluse replaces some of your clutch plates to fit into your existing clutch basket. obviously this means your plates will wear faster, and the rekluse itself. as mentioned, i figure the low engagement springs and heavier wedges will reduce this wear. or buy the top model rekluse, it comes with a custom sidecase to allow using all your clutch plates.
already mentioned that depending on your riding style you may find the rekluse slips too much when rolling the throttle on at lower revs, especially in higher gears. the heavier wedges will fix that. but i wasn't really happy with rekluse in this respect. the website says the rekluse exp comes with "optional wedges AND springs" to make the auto-clutch "fully tunable to rider preference and terrain conditions". but in reality it only comes with the optional springs, and you have to pay an extra $99 if you want the heavier wedges. poor wording on the website, they should make it clearer the exp will actually cost $198 extra to make it fully tuneable, after buying the heavy and light wedges that aren't included.
SUMMING UP THE REKLUSE EXP
hard to pass up on the rekluse if you ride the berg in dirt, unless you are already a jedi master at clutch slipping, or think it is cheating and you'd prefer to learn the jedi way. this review is biased by my tendency to not rev the berg, and do a weird mix of adventure riding, road, dirt and technical stuff bordering on trials riding, but hopefully will give other riders an insight into this cool equipment.
