[HogTalker]

Anyone have experience with a twist-grip clutch? Are they easy to install? How difficult is it to engage/disengage, compared to a standard clutch?

[Leo]

I know there are a few manufacturers out there that make a twist grip clutch, but there has always been a problem and I'm not sure if someone has come up with a solution. The problem with twist grips are actually with your own muscles. It's easier to pull a clutch to get full range that it is to twist the grip a quarter turn to get full range. I realize this problem has been somewhat solved on some bikes with the pulley systems, but for British bikes the clutch actuator is different and a pulley system wouldn't be effective. I think if they were modified with a type of counter weight spring inside that wants to help force the clutch open, it might help.

Here are my thoughts...Like I said before; the hard part about a twist clutch is your own strength. So...it needs a counter spring that has less tension on it than your clutch springs and the normal return spring. If a spring was installed inside the unit itself so that when the clutch is in the "Off" position, the spring is twisted so that it either expands or contracts (doesn't matter which), so that it holds, for lack of better terms, energy.

When you twist the grip to release the clutch, the energy stored in that spring is released, which helps with the twisting. When you let go, the weight of the clutch springs and return spring allows the grip to go back to the normal off position, and at the same time, twists or contracts the spring in the bars so that it stores the energy again.

The internal spring would need to be large enough so that the cable fits through the center of course. Also, the springs used could have different twisting weights, to accommodate for the different tent ion in the clutch and return springs.