Hello Darlings, I am after some advice in regards the clutch on my bike. There are no problems with it, it is silky smooth and works perfectly.
Me on the other hand, not so great! Arthritis is ruining my fingers, particularly on my left hand making using the clutch very painful, even on the soft clutch of the SV. My partners ZRX is now unridable for me because I cannot pull the clutch lever in.
I still run a full length lever, albeit one from our old friend at The Two Wheels and it is adjusted as well as it can be, but pain is making using it difficult to use. So I am now looking for an alternative.
The two options I am looking at are as follows. Hydraulic clutch conversion or the removal of clutch lever altogether.
The Hydraulic Clutch Conversion. This has been suggested to me as a possible way to make the lever movement easier on my left hand, but I have no idea what make is good or even if it will work. Can any of you suggest a good system that will work on my K3? I am not afraid of complicated jobs, I am mechanically capable and my other half is a former motorbike mechanic so can do the jobs I struggle with. I don't want cheap Chinese rubbish that will fail after a month of not riding, so it will have to be fairly resilient. It will also need to be able to run maybe a two or preferably three finger lever that is adjustable for an old bag with the twisted, crooked fingers of an eighty year old!
The other option I am thinking of is a little more complicated. Removing the gear linkage and replacing it with an air/electronic shifter and then making the gear lever into a clutch. I would still have the clutch for slow speed control and the like, but will be able to shift up and down using my thumb on a couple of buttons. Have any of you heard of or can recommend a system that works like this?
Cost will have to be a factor into what ever system I can make work for me, although my wonderful (yes, really) Mother in Law has offered to pay for it if we can find the right bits.
Medically, the GP is out of ideas and I have been through the pain clinic, but they just want to help me with counselling to help me come to terms with giving up bikes in favour of knitting and then surviving prison, as a result of the murder of medical professionals by knitting needles shoved up the their back passage!
I know that some of you gorgeous people have been down this path yourselves, so you are likely to have some great input. As for my bike, it is now so heavily modified, I could not bare to part with it, even if I end up not able to ride her anymore. I am very aware that the future holds for me the prospects of autoscooters and a life devoid of cool SV fun, but I am not there yet. To this end, I am currently experimenting with capsaicin cream on my fingers, but after putting that on my hands, I cannot even wipe my foo after a wee with out it stinging like I am sat on fire ants!
