Brake/Clutch Hand Levers

 

    Have you ever wondered why Brake/Clutch Hand Levers jut out so much
in as much that if your Cycle get's bumped over, the damage is extended to
the master cylinders and not just the fairing, handlebar....

    You may think it protects your hand in a HIT maybe if your not
wearing knuckle gloves, but I find they tend to effectively pin your hand to
the handle grip in a slide, so you can't make a safe jump or ride the slide
with your hand from the pavement...

    I had that wonderful experience in 1991 in a Honda Elite 250 scoot
once, total airborne and all, but then most people found those little tires
hard to live with....

 
Dirtbike riders used to leave the brake/clutch lever perch a little
bit loose so the perch would rotate around the handlebar instead of
breaking the lever in a crash.

If you look carefully at pictures of brake/clutch levers used on
modern road racing motorcycles, you'll see that the levers are
specially designed  to break off about 1/3rd of the way from the end,
or the levers may actually be articulated with a pivot pin at 90
degrees to the lever's normal plane of motion.

No, I never thought that in my wildest imaginings. If the
manufacturers included a hand guard like the brush busters used on
enduro bikes, that would be their obvious intent.


Quit sliding and jumping and crashing and you won't have the problem.

Alternatively, drill a 1/4-inch hole in each lever, 1/3rd of the
distance from the end ball so the lever will break off in a crash but
still leave enough so you can ride home.

 wrote:

|>>         Have you ever wondered why Brake/Clutch Hand Levers jut out so much
|>
|>
|>Yeah, I always wondered about that....since you mostly use two fingers
|>on 'em anyways.

    I was thinking of cutting them so they don't go past the Handel Bars
at any angle.......

    I wonder if that would be a better idea, maybe do some searches on
radical bikes and their Brake/Clutch Hand Levers customizations 1st....not
too enthusiastic about the work....

 ©yamaha_majesty@mbk.cid wrote:

At least no matter what happens to the levers, you'll still have your Bach
brake.

--
'01 SV650SK1  '99 EX250-F13  '98 ZG1000-A13
OMF #7

 Mark Olson wrote:

Don't get Bizet Chopin the levers, or you'll be Haydn for trouble.

--
Martin

'03 R1150RS (#2) '02 V11 Sport