Lever action

[DUGG]

The last couple years my hands just aren’t what they used to be. Too many years of wrench on cars I suppose.
So I set out to see if I could improve the clutch lever pull. Did some research on converting my 1100 to a hydraulic set up. Parts seem hard to come by and a lot of work once gathered.
And from reading on here many didn’t feel like it was much of an improvement.
My first thought was to reduce friction in the lever.
I bought some 8mm x 12mm x 3.5mm bearings off Amazon and drilled out the pivot in the lever. Initially I planned to step the hole and put a bearing on each side. But ended up though drilling and stacking 4 bearings together.
It did feel easier to pull. But no real way to measure.

I did find add on hydraulic slave cylinders. But most seem designed for smaller cc off road motorcycles.
Plus with riding season here didn’t want to go too far down the rabbit hole. Finding a master and hose etc. I might revisit that this winter .

[DUGG]

Next, I went looking for more modern levers. Thinking a more modern design might offer a better pull.
I found some MZS adjustable levers and brake master cylinder on Amazon and ordered them up.

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In the description, it said something about ball bearings. Turns out the ball bearing was in the adjustable part.
The master cylinder spec at 13.5 mm bore
I Installed the clutch lever assembly and even with the short levers It felt easier. But I couldn’t get a proper adjustment.
Didn’t bother with the master cylinder at this point.

More searching came up with longer adjustable lever specific to the GL1100. But only available in Europe.
The cost and shipping were prohibitive. And I was a bit leery because why are they only available in Europe?
What if I spent all the money they get here and they didn’t fit?
Too expensive and too much uncertainty

[DUGG]

More searching came up with a set of RVK86 long levers that fit various Honda models, including 82-86 Sabre.

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Order a set of those. First issue was the Sabre turns out is a hydraulic clutch.
I was able to mate the RVK lever to the MKS perch and mid sections. Plug and play so to speak.
I was able to get proper adjustment and I felt that the pull was much easier than the original lever.
Making progress, now onto the brake master cylinder.
Same thing there was able to adapt the lever onto the master cylinder.
Bled the hell out of the brakes, including tying the lever back to the handlebar overnight with a zip tie
On the plus side, the brake effort was effortless. Literally one finger.
Problem was to get full travel the fingers holding onto the handlebar got in the way.
I took the motorcycle for a brisk drive down one of the local curvy roads. Also did some high-speed stopping maneuvers
Under normal riding using two fingers everything seemed good.
But on a high speed full on grab the brakes for all they were worth if you didn’t use three fingers, the lever hit the fingers on the handlebar.
I even used a quarter inch washer to shim between the master cylinder and the lever.
This didn’t create any brake drag, and did seem to improve the travel a bit.
But I still wasn’t happy with it
I tried adapting the two different mid sections to my existing 14 mm master cylinder. The MKS contacted the piston on the edge.
The RKV86 preloaded the master cylinder more so than the other set up. And didn’t contact the brake switch

[DUGG]

At this point, it was up against the wall so to speak. I had a ride planned to eastern Washington and needed good front brakes.
My next thought was why not get a master cylinder for a Sabre?
I was able to find one on Amazon and get it shipped to me overnight the day before my planned ride.

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Surprise surprise, the Sabre uses a 1 inch diameter handle.
Before getting too deep on how to adapt it to the handlebar, I figured I should see if it’s actually going to work. I mocked it up on the handlebar using some duct tape as a shim.
Bleed the brakes, damn, I’m going through some expensive Dot 5 brake fluid at this point.
I was able to get a good feeling lever out of it immediately.
I didn’t have a lot of time so I took it for a spin around the neighborhood.
The lever felt good at this point.
Now I needed to figure out how to mount it to the handlebar.
I found adapters on Amazon, but they certainly weren’t going to be there in time
I ended up utilizing a copper three-quarter inch connector.
Used a tubing cutter to cut it down to the correct length. And then a good old hacksaw to cut it in half.

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This got a pretty good grip on the handlebar. I did add some Permatex sleeve retainer as insurance.
I did have to cut a little off the casting in order to get it to set as close as possible to the switch assembly so that I could hook up my throttle lock.

Friday morning I loaded up the motorcycle along with my girlfriend and headed east over Highway 20.
I’m happy to report that the front brakes worked very well with only two fingers on a fully loaded GL1100
And as a bonus, I did not have to do any full on grab the brakes for all that they are worth stops.
Oh, and the clutch seems to work a lot easier than it used to.
Still can’t get it into neutral when stopped. But it seems a lot easier to find neutral just before I come to a stop.

[DUGG]

I’m really happy with the results and how they turned out
After riding more, I feel that the effort is greatly reduced on the clutch.The front brakes work extremely well. Or my hands got stronger?
I may add ball bearings to the clutch pivot at some point. But that will be a winter time project along with pulling the motor to paint it and painting the frame and who knows what else.

[Fred Camper]

Looks good, glad you got some improvement. I switched by 1977 over to a GL1200 clutch and hydraulic actuator. The effort is about the same for a new lubed cable but better than an aged cable and less maintenance. So likely not better than your set up regarding effort.

[DUGG]

A hydraulic system would definitely be less maintenance.
I think I’m changing out clutch cables about every four or five years at this point

[dontwantapickle]

I'm still running on the original 44 year old cluch cable.
whodathunk... go figure.

[DUGG]

That’s gotta be some kind of a record for clutch cable