Left Handed Rear Brake, (Help Wanted)

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M

mark2e0

Joined
Nov 1, 2008
Messages
146
Location
Dryanovo Bulgaria
I hope someone can point me in the right direction please.
I'm helping a friend in the week fit a Rekluse clutch (no problem there) :)
The thing i cant get my head around is he wants a left handed back brake, But he still want to keep the foot brake as well, Will it just be a matter of running a pipe from handlebars to rear caliper and bung a longer banjo bolt through it all. Or will the pressure from left hand brake push the seals out of the foot operated brake master cylinder if you get my drift :)
All comments will be greatly appreciated.
 
Pitch the foot brake and be done with it!!
I have never used a LHRB with a foot brake. From what I understand they some how "T" in to the rear brake line and that's it. Personally I never wanted to be bothered with another potential brake fluid leak and the extra plumbing.
 
I have a Rekluse with the LHRB *and* the foot brake. No problemo.

If you use both at the same time you get more pressure and you can feel them both be much firmer, but no problems with seals or anything else.

I do strongly advise you get the Magura LHRB not the Rekluse LHRB - the latter is a mediocre quality AJP unit. IIRC, the Magura LHRB is only about $100 more. I wish I had known about the Magura, I would have got it instead.

They T together - get or look at the kit and you will see.

I like mine a lot. Very handy when I have to put either foot down - also for moving the bike around.
 
berger said:
Pitch the foot brake and be done with it!!
I have never used a LHRB with a foot brake. From what I understand they some how "T" in to the rear brake line and that's it. Personally I never wanted to be bothered with another potential brake fluid leak and the extra plumbing.
Click to expand...
Most of the time I use the handlebar lever, but sometimes, just out of reflex, I use the foot brake lever too, or first. In that sense it is nice - decades of muscle memory - not to mention switching from a bike that doesn't have the LHRB.
 
Well if you want to try it out for a pretty cheap price; go to www.ktmtalk.com, join the forum board and do a quick member search for HotRodVW, send him a pm and ask him to make you a brake line and just convert you factory clutch into a rear hand brake. I did that with my 250xcw and it worked awesome and only cost me about $85 if I remember correctly. A lot cheaper then spending a couple hundred on a whole new set up from Revloc or Rekluse.
 
Thank's guys.
The idea with keeping the foot brake was if your stopped on a hill or somewhere steep you could use it if you was map reading or setting the GPS or something (we do tend to get lost a lot) lol
Someone on the KTM forum said you needed to buy a valve for £75 which he had, but did not really explaine why it was needed.
 
jbrown15 said:
Well if you want to try it out for a pretty cheap price; go to http://www.ktmtalk.com, join the forum board and do a quick member search for HotRodVW, send him a pm and ask him to make you a brake line and just convert you factory clutch into a rear hand brake. I did that with my 250xcw and it worked awesome and only cost me about $85 if I remember correctly. A lot cheaper then spending a couple hundred on a whole new set up from Revloc or Rekluse.
Click to expand...

There is no need to purchase a whole new brake line. What I do is to connect the original hydraulic clutch line to the original rear brake with a small adapter manifold. These connectors are available for $10 or less at any motorcycle salvage yard. They are used in many Japanese street bikes to connect the single front brake line to the dual front calipers. Connecting manifolds are also available commercially through http://www.spieglerusa.com.
 
jbrown15 said:
Well if you want to try it out for a pretty cheap price; go to http://www.ktmtalk.com, join the forum board and do a quick member search for HotRodVW, send him a pm and ask him to make you a brake line and just convert you factory clutch into a rear hand brake. I did that with my 250xcw and it worked awesome and only cost me about $85 if I remember correctly. A lot cheaper then spending a couple hundred on a whole new set up from Revloc or Rekluse.
Click to expand...
Magura recommends against using a clutch master cylinder for a LHRB - the reasoning is that the clutch MC is made for mineral oil, not DOT brake fluid which is not compatible with the seals in the clutch MC. Some people have reported that their clutch MC leaked when they used it as a LHRB, others have said it worked fine for them.
 
could the Magura cylinder not be cleaned out before you put the DOT fluid back in the system. ?.
 
Many of us here and on KTMTalk & Thumper Talk have been successfully using the mineral oil Magura clutch MC for LHRB applications (converted to brake fluid) for years with no problems.
 
Chas said:
Many of us here and on KTMTalk & Thumper Talk have been successfully using the mineral oil Magura clutch MC for LHRB applications (converted to brake fluid) for years with no problems.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I have seen people say that. I do recall one person saying they had a problem within a week or so.

YMMV.

I prefer the Magura product - I think it is higher quality.
 
I have ended up with the AJP unit and its not all that to be honest. Not nearly as much bite or power as i would like. Whether the Magura would make much difference - who knows!!
 
colinmc400 said:
I have ended up with the AJP unit and its not all that to be honest. Not nearly as much bite or power as i would like. Whether the Magura would make much difference - who knows!!
Click to expand...
Personally, I prefer to have a soft rear brake. The first thing I did when I got my bike was put some air in the line between the slave and the caliper. The rear brake locked up all too easily with just a touch of the pedal - whether it was pavement or dirt. Now I have more play in the line and I can moderate it more easily. If I really want to lock it up hard then both the pedal and the lever allow me to apply a lot of pressure.

I don't know if the Magura MC would be better in that regard - maybe it would, but just by looking at the two you can tell the difference in the quality and design. I was very disappointed to pay as much as I did for the Rekluse LHRB kit and get such a low quality MC/lever assembly.
 
A friend of mine (who has limited use of both legs from being crushed in a a road bike accident) is using the stock clutch lever/master cylinder (KTM 400EXC) for the rear brake with a continous line to the back with no problem, but I think he had to replace the OEM seals in the clutch lever for some designed for use with brake fluid. He did have the clutch lever slaved to the rear master cylinder but found that his foot (which he has no feeling in) would sometimes end up on the brake pedal and slowing him down so he went to the single cable and took the pedal/master cylinder off. The lever operated rear brake is plenty strong, although if you are not used, to it the lack of a pedal is a bit weird.
 
RDP501 said:
A friend of mine (who has limited use of both legs from being crushed in a a road bike accident) is using the stock clutch lever/master cylinder (KTM 400EXC) for the rear brake with a continous line to the back with no problem, but I think he had to replace the OEM seals in the clutch lever for some designed for use with brake fluid. He did have the clutch lever slaved to the rear master cylinder but found that his foot (which he has no feeling in) would sometimes end up on the brake pedal and slowing him down so he went to the single cable and took the pedal/master cylinder off. The lever operated rear brake is plenty strong, although if you are not used, to it the lack of a pedal is a bit weird.
Click to expand...

Yeah, unless it somehow can cause a problem from the pedal hitting something and then something breaking (which I suppose is possible) I would just as soon leave it on.

I do occasionally use the pedal by reflex but then feel the extra pressure in the hand lever and think 'oh yeah'. Either way, I like it - allows me the flexibility I desire. I think the lever has more feel to it - better than the pedal with big off-road boots.

I would love to have a bike with hand shifting too. I know you can set it up that way with some kits, but I don't think it would be rugged or practical enough for off-road unless you absolutely had to, and I can't see riding off-road with limited use of my legs. On the pavement, maybe - off-road, not.
 
CodeMonkey said:
Chas said:
Many of us here and on KTMTalk & Thumper Talk have been successfully using the mineral oil Magura clutch MC for LHRB applications (converted to brake fluid) for years with no problems.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I have seen people say that. I do recall one person saying they had a problem within a week or so.

YMMV.

I prefer the Magura product - I think it is higher quality.
Click to expand...

I had my set up on my KTM for over a year with no issues and sold the bike to my buddy and he hasn't had any issues either. You might be thinking about the plugs that he was selling to plug off the bottom of the line. I bought a plug kit from Rekluse that has about 6" on line and you fill it up with about 3" of fluid. This keeps the pressure from building up.
 
jbrown15 said:
I had my set up on my KTM for over a year with no issues and sold the bike to my buddy and he hasn't had any issues either. You might be thinking about the plugs that he was selling to plug off the bottom of the line. I bought a plug kit from Rekluse that has about 6" on line and you fill it up with about 3" of fluid. This keeps the pressure from building up.
Click to expand...
No, this was specifically about using the Magura clutch MC with regards to using it as a LHRB and problems regarding mineral oil v. DOT brake fluid.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=magura+clutch+lhrb

The clutch line fluid thingy - I have that too. The only problem I had was that after initial usage the mineral oil in the line went down, probably probably because of air/etc. in the apparatus. I put more mineral oil in it and no problems since.

Anyway, since I still have my Magura clutch MC, I may go ahead and use it instead and sell the Rekluse kit for a discount.
 
Okay, talked to my dealer and he said he has had a number of people come in with Magura clutch MCs that were meant for mineral oil, that had major problems. Apparently the seals and other rubber parts swell up and start to come apart. He said it is usually because someone ignored the 'Mineral Oil' wording cast right into the top cover. After all, a number of other bikes use brake fluid in their clutch MCs, like those that use Brembo clutch MCs.
 
The_Force said:
can't you get new seals for it that can handle the brake fluid?
I Think you can use dot 5 brake fluid but you have to flush out every bit of the old dot 4 or 5,1 fluid out or it wont work.

some info on using dot 5 in magura clutch brake combo

http://www.dirtbikeworld.net/forum/arch ... 63580.html
Click to expand...
As the last post in that thread said, it isn't the DOT rating, but whether it is silicone or glycol based fluid. Glycol based brake fluid would not be compatible with the seals in the clutch MC. Silicone brake fluid *may* be compatible - I don't know. I also don't know it you could get compatible seals. It is the seals that are the main (maybe only?) problem.

Maybe those who have tried brake fluid in their clutch MCs used silicone fluid? Maybe they didn't use/have a Magura MC that is marked 'Mineral Oil' like the new Husabergs do? Many bikes use clutch MCs that use brake fluid. Like the new Huskys have Brembo clutch MCs that use brake fluid (didn't think to look which type).
 

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