I just installed a Magura Hydraulic Clutch on my girl friends Versys .... WHAT A DIFFERENCE ... no more vauge feel ... no more engagement lag ... no more lubing the cable to stop the stiff ... draggie clutch pull ... The slave cylinder installed in the stock mounting bracket that the cable did ... no modification nessary ... the master cylinder lever just clears the left switch housing also ... with the red adjuster knob removed ( the actual adjuster stays ) ... I altered the stock cable routing slightly to avoid kinking the hydraulic line ... I would highly recommend this mod for this bike ... I bought it used off of ebay ... almost any will work ... as long as it will fit a japanese dirt bike ...

Awesome... Do you have pics of it installed?

Nice mod & welcome to the site!!


:welcome::thumb::thumb:

Sounds nice! I would like to see the pictures.

Sweet mod for sure. I'm still having issues with my stock clutch not engaging right away all the time. It's very annoying. I've got a Magura on my Husky TE450 and it's the tits. However, my buddy put one on his WR450 has had some issues with the slave cylinder. I don't think all the slave cylinders are the same on all Japanese dirt bikes, because when he started having problems they began sending him different parts to try (at his expense!).

If we could figure out the exact parts that will work long term, this would be a very useful mod.

I love hydraulic. How much dough and trouble are we talking about?

Welcome & pics please!!! :D

From my experience ... most of the problems are user induced ... the first and formost thing is to make sure that there is absolutly ... NO AIR ... in the system ... once that is achieved ... it works flawlessly ... every one uses mineral oil ... I use ATF ... I might add with no issues ... Photos are on the way ... there are other things on the bike that might interest you folks also ... I'll let the photos do the talking ... once I get them uploaded ...

Awesome Freewheeler! :D

Welcome to the tribe.
:eek: I have been thinking about doing this mod and you've beaten me to the punch!
Looking forward to seeing your mods.

I'll take my stone-age simple cable clutch any day. But, make sure you do a write up on how you did it in case somebody wants to follow in your footsteps!

Don

Here is a few photos ...

http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i137/ddkessler/Versys%20Album/

You will also notice that I moved the front fender up to accomodate a 130x80-17 rear tire which happens to be a Anakee ... the reason is my girl friend just got her licence ( IE inexperienced ) ... and being that I also own a Vstrom 1000 and a couple drz475's and a KLX650 with a vulcan piston in it ... you can guess that I spend alot of time on dirt and gravel roads ... which she was game for ... that rear tire ... mounted on the front slows the bikes geometry down and also gives more gyroscopic effect ... which is all good things for her ... I also had Galfer make me custom ... dual front brake lines so I didn't have over the fender brake line issues when I raised the front fender ... as it turned out ... I ended up with a Galfer rear brake line as well ... I might add ... also a nice improvement ... On the handlebar ... you will notice that I also installed handlebar warmers ... as western New York has a short riding season ... so anything to extend that is a bonus ... The sheild is a Givi with the wings cut off to make enough clearence for the Moose bark busters that I installed ... I have also removed the intake snorkles and the throttle secondaries ... and did the Vacuume T mod ... that is about it for now ... mods to come are KG clutch with HD springs ... and 08versys muffler mod ... I'm also toying with the Idea of boring the throttle bodies and picking up a power commander ... as I can tell there is at least 10 more HP to be gotten with the bikes present state of tune ... When that's all done ... I'll probably like it so well that I'll sell the Vstrom ... and pick up another versys ... and start the mods all over again ... :D

YIKES that front tire looks huge!

YIKES that front tire looks huge!

That's ... Because it is ...! I just finished the KG clutch plates w/ HD ( IE 20% stronger ) clutch springs .... I also just put on the Cherry Bomb Muffler ... I think I'm finished ... for now ... ! :D

Interesting... Did you simply bolt up the fender's lower mount hole to the upper fork mount bolt? It still clears the lower triple clamp when fork is fully compressed? I guess the only drawback is that the lower part of fork tubes is now a bit exposed.

Interesting... Did you simply bolt up the fender's lower mount hole to the upper fork mount bolt? It still clears the lower triple clamp when fork is fully compressed? I guess the only drawback is that the lower part of fork tubes is now a bit exposed.

Yes ... you are correct ... You have to relocate the brake line stay on the lower triple clamp ... because it does hit the fender when you bottom the forks ... One of these days I'm going to take the front wheel off my Vstrom and see if it will work under the front end of the Versys ... Pliminary measurments on the spacing between the forks and brake rotor diameter says it should work ... right now the overall diameter of the 130x80-17 tire is the same as the 19 anakee that is on the front of the Vstrom ... huge difference in width though ... all that rubber spinning makes for slow transitions left to right compared to the skinny 19 inch tire on the Vstrom ... any way ... my biggest worry is the axle diameter between the two bikes ...

Do you have pics? I'm a female rider and am having trouble shifting in stop and go traffic, causing lots of hand pain because the reach is a bit far for my small hands even when handle is moved as close as possible. This sounds like just what i need to make shifting easier. Patti

Do you have any part numbers for the master and/or slave cylinder that you used? Very nice mod.

Do you have pics? I'm a female rider and am having trouble shifting in stop and go traffic, causing lots of hand pain because the reach is a bit far for my small hands even when handle is moved as close as possible. This sounds like just what i need to make shifting easier. Patti
rapcec518, your might want to check out Pazzo levers for your problem, it would be a cheaper and easier solution.

:type:I found specs online for these hyd. clutches. They all look similar in cable length and the master cyl. sizes are different, the smaller the number the easer the clutch pull but you have better control with the bigger number master cyl. I am not sure on the different slave cylinder sizes but thinking of calling them on monday and asking what the numbers mean.

I would like to get one of these hyd. clutches but dont want to order one that wont fit.

I was wondering if Freewheeler can look and see if he can see any numbers on the master cylinder or slave cylinder, than I could figure out which kit he has and then we would know what fits for sure.

I tried to cut and paste the spec sheet but I couldent get it to work.

Thanks.
Darryl.

The master cylinder that I used is the 10.5 mm bore ... the slave cylinders are all the same bore size ... I also tried the 9.5mm bore master cylinder ... it had a slighty easier pull and a longer transition from disengaged to engaged ... it also worked well ... I prefered the 10.5 master cylinder ... and reinstalled it ...

Maybe I'm lucky but I dont have the slightest issue with mine.
Compared to my previous Yamaha 750 parallel twin with similar power the V is way better.
Ted.

The master cylinder that I used is the 10.5 mm bore ... the slave cylinders are all the same bore size ... I also tried the 9.5mm bore master cylinder ... it had a slighty easier pull and a longer transition from disengaged to engaged ... it also worked well ... I prefered the 10.5 master cylinder ... and reinstalled it ...

Thanks for the info. I realy would like to get one of these because the stock cable clutch is grabby and is more of an on off switch, hard to slip offroad.

If I understand your post right the 9.5 would be better for slow technical riding off road with more travel in the area that it is slipping the clutch? Or do I have that backwards?

I would like to get my bike ready for the BMW GS challenge that they are having in western Alberta next fall, there will be lots of slow technical riding hope to show up some BMW riders with a Kawi. street bike.:devil:

What bike was the original kit for?

Thanks again.
Darryl.

Thanks for the info. I really would like to get one of these because the stock cable clutch is grabby and is more of an on off switch, hard to slip offroad.

If I understand your post right the 9.5 would be better for slow technical riding off road with more travel in the area that it is slipping the clutch? Or do I have that backwards?

I would like to get my bike ready for the BMW GS challenge that they are having in western Alberta next fall, there will be lots of slow technical riding hope to show up some BMW riders with a Kawi. street bike.:devil:

What bike was the original kit for?

Thanks again.
Darryl.


Darryl ... based on your situation ... I would recommend the 9.5mm master cylinder ... your understanding is correct ... also ... the clutch pull will be easier ... I bought two magura clutches off ebay a couple 3 years ago ... I don't remember what they came off of ... what worked out in my favor, is that one had the 10.5mm master cylinder, and the other had the 9.5mm master cylinder ... that is how I was able to compare ... in reality though the difference in the Versys application is subtle ... If your buying used ... I would base my decision on price as opposed to which size master cylinder ... One last note ... the stock line is plastic ... I was skeptical at first ... however when it came time to custom size the length ... I was glad I had the plastic ... I just cut it to length, and lightly clamped the hose in the vice ... and taped the banjo fitting in the end of the line ... DONE ...!!!
Which ever one you end up with ... you will like it much better than the stock cable system ... It has a Sooooooooo much better feel to it ... that is not even comparable to the cable system on this particular bike.

I just got off the phone with Peter Ubellacker with Magura USA in IL. and He has a kit specifically for the Versys. It comes with a 9.5 master cylinder, mirror mount, wiring for the starting safety switch, and a longer black breakaway lever to better clear the headlight switch.

It's just new and he gave me an introductory price of 235$ which sound's good to me because the dirt bike kit I was going to order was 200$ and I would have to rig up some sort of mirror mount and get rid of the safety switch.

I am not sure if he has any more of these kits or not or if he will sell them for the same price but if your interested you could give him a call at 618-395-2200.

I will post a review with some pic.s when I get it, and hopefully a ride report if the snow stays away long enough this winter.

Got my new hyd. clutch the other day, it's great. Haven't been able to take it on a test ride yet because winter has hit Alberta Canada -30 deg. cel. and snow, so I had to take it for very short rides the length of my shop 60ft at a time. It's like night and day difference with the cable.

It used to be a two finger with effort clutch pull now its a one finger with no problem. I came with the mirror mount and the clutch safety switch. It's a easy install, didn't have to take the slave cylinder off to route it down to the motor just had to fiddle with it a little to get the proper routing.

I cut the lever down to two finger length because it's pretty long and it hits my hand guard, I only ever use one finger on the clutch anyways and it's always on it ready just in case when I am riding, that and the front break also.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q185/crude_bucket/PC080329929x697.jpg