I’ve been a one or two finger clutch rider ever since I broke the clutch lever off my Yamaha 80 in 1964. On the road I hope your handlebars don’t get ripped out of your grip when you put feather the clutch or change gears. However, it’s an all-time off-road event when riding over rocks, ruts and sand.
A full-length clutch lever only allows my thumb to grip the bucking bars with my other four fingers on the lever. If I don’t wear gloves when I drive the Ultimate motorcycling Yamaha Ténéré 700 Project Bike, the clutch disengages right at my joints. I can’t fully disengage the clutch with two or three fingers wrapped around the grip if I’m wearing summer gloves or knuckle protection winter gloves. The simple solution is to shorten the clutch lever or buy an aftermarket short lever. However, the leverage is reduced, which makes the clutch much harder. Enter the inventive Cory Hanson, owner of Camel ADV Products in Alberta, Canada. Hanson came up with his 1-finger clutch kit for a different bike, then saw the need and fitted it to the Ténéré 700. The nifty $69 MSRP kit uses the mechanical advantage of a larger clutch shaft long to reduce the clutch pull required at the lever by up to 37%.
A replacement cable guide is included to route the cable to one of three adjustment points on the longer clutch shaft. In addition to reducing the effort required by 18, 30 or 37%, depending on the connection point you choose. It also widens the friction zone for better finger-actuated traction control at those critical moments. I created a must-have list for the Ultimate Motorcycling Yamaha Ténéré 700 Project Bike and the 1-finger clutch kit from Camel ADV Products were at the top of the list. Unfortunately, I found out that the OEM crash bars I ordered with the bike are the only crash bars/engine guards that interfere with the longer movement of the clutch shaft. Seven months, 4000 miles and lots of “should” thoughts later, I ordered the Camel ADV 1 Finger Clutch Kit and various crash bars. The machined 6061 aluminum shaft is available in your choice of red, blue or black to match the color scheme of your Ténéré. The kit also includes the fairlead, new spring, clevis, clevis pin, cotter pin and snap ring.
Camel ADV has an installation video for almost all of its products, and Hanson walks the viewer through the installation steps. The kit video is 21 minutes long, although the entire removal and replacement process takes no more than 10 minutes. You will need snap ring pliers, so be sure to include that in your planning. Hanson suggests using the center adjustment hole to start with, and I found this one to be the best for me—just the right amount of two-finger clutch pull and bonus of an extended friction zone. With the freeplay adjusted and the test drive complete, I pulled out my saw and cut off the end of the clutch lever. I deliberately cut long so I could choose exactly where to make the final cut after fit testing with my winter and summer gloves. Second cut done and off to the field test. As expected, just using two fingers on the clutch lever put me in my own friction zone. The Yamaha Ténéré 700 project bike rolls off the line smoother. Slow, tight turns are more controlled, and I don’t pinch three of my fingers under the clutch lever. In bouncy terrain and tight turns, I now have a firm grip on the bars, with three fingers and my thumb holding on, rather than my thumb trying to do all the work – what a welcome, simple and inexpensive mod.
Due to the simplicity of the kit as designed by Camel ADV, the entire installation process is quite simple and ends with a particularly light clutch pull. I made the kit so I could comfortably use a short clutch lever. You might want it because you have weakness in your left hand due to carpal tunnel or arthritis.
Camel ADV 1 Finger Clutch Kit Review Photo Gallery
Comments are closed.