Clutch hand wear

[JPaganel]

So, with the roads being ice and snow, and the FJ being inop due to the crash and burn, the season is over for me.

I am mended from the crash, but I do have a lingering problem in my left hand. I have tenosynovitis, which is inflammation of the membrane around my tendons. This is in the bits that make my hand close. Boils down to my hand hurting and making a fist being a problem.

The condition does not have a definite cause, and the doc can't say it's accident related, but he thinks it might have been caused by using the clutch rather than by impact. The clutch I used most of the season was the stock FJ clutch.

Anyone have hand problems like that? What did you do?

[Capn Ron]

Sorry to hear about that!!  As much as folks here dislike them for lack of a clutch, you may be the perfect candidate for one of these:



It's the FJR1300 AE (Electric shift).  The port side grip looks like this:



No clutch lever to deal with and you might be a happy camper (Read: still able to ride)   

Used ones are about and can be had for $6,000 and up.

[ken65]

G'Day. That sounds similar to what i felt with my left wrist. I was riding everyday and it was getting worse as time went by. I cut back on the riding and it slowly healed up.

I never went to a doctor but at times i thought my riding days were numbered. I looked into getting a wrist brace but as luck would have it it went away.

It built up over a 6 month period and disappeared in around a month. I hope you have the same luck.

ken

[JPaganel]

Sorry to hear about that!!  As much as folks here dislike them for lack of a clutch, you may be the perfect candidate for one of these:

No clutch lever to deal with and you might be a happy camper (Read: still able to ride)   

Used ones are about and can be had for $6,000 and up.

FJRs are nice. Problem is, I don't think I could come up with 6K if I sold every bike I have right now.

G'Day. That sounds similar to what i felt with my left wrist. I was riding everyday and it was getting worse as time went by. I cut back on the riding and it slowly healed up.

I never went to a doctor but at times i thought my riding days were numbered. I looked into getting a wrist brace but as luck would have it it went away.

It built up over a 6 month period and disappeared in around a month. I hope you have the same luck.

ken

I'm hoping this will resolve over winter. I do have a brace per doctor's orders.

Still, I'm wondering how common these problems are with the FJ clutch and if there is something about it that makes it different. Stiffness, lever position maybe...

[ken65]

At the time i was riding my xj and the clutch is much softer than the  pull on my fj which has a barnett spring thing fitted.

Also most of my riding was around the city so it was a lot of clutch work.

[FJscott]

[urlhttp://www.rekluse.com/offroad_index.shtml][/url]

Rekluse makes aftermarket auto and semi-automatic Clutches for dirt bikes up to Harleys.
cheapest one I saw is $400 and they go up from there.
Scott

[the fan]

Visit a good hand and wrist specialist. I have both Tendonitis and Tenosynovitis in my right arm. I my case it was caused by a combination of a very bad break in my right wrist  and being bull headed stubborn and continuing to work a very physical job.

I tried braces, stretches, and injections with little success. Finally at the advice of my ortho I went under the knife. In my case a nerve had become pinched in my wrist when the bones were healing and the surgeon was forced to remove the nerve. Prior to this I only had about 25 % wrist rotation and would often get near blinding pain if I pushed too hard.

My advice is to follow the doctors orders and make sure that they get all of the information.

The injury and subsequent tendon issues pretty much ended my competitive riding, but by adapting how I set up my controls and how I hold the grips I generally never get past the dull ache/ stiffness point and am able to ride reasonably well. Look closely at how you set up the levers. In my case it is my right hand so I move the brake as far inboard as possible giving me way better leverage and reducing how far I need to close my hand. The next thing to look at is the orientation of the lever. Adjust the lever down until when you rest your hand on the grip and fingers on the lever it forms a straight line to your elbow. This is an old racer trick that works well to reduce fatigue. The FJ has a fairly easy clutch pull and I doubt that you will find an easier pull in another large CC bike.

[Pat Conlon]

I replaced the oem 5/8" (16mm) clutch m/c with a 15mm FJR m/c resulting in a easier pull.

If you have a doubled diaphragm clutch spring, go back to a single spring or go with a Barnett coil spring conversion..

That's all you can do for the lever pull...but a Bill mentioned above,  proper lever position is important.

Heal well.