• 4 Stroke Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Italy - About 1989 to 2014
    TE = 4st Enduro & TC = 4st Cross

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

Autoclutch Suggestions

Robert Gulden

Husqvarna
A Class
I have an 11' TXC 250 I would like to equip with an autoclutch. After looking around a bit, it seems like I only have two options. The first is a Rekluse Core EXP, the second is an EFM. I mostly ride on single track, hills, and some varied (no moto etc.).

I have read that the rekluse can be a little fussy and is more moto oriented? And the EFM is less adjustment dependent. I have no idea what the truth is, but I do know that either clutch is pretty pricey in my world. I don't want to throw money away. Suggestions? Also, who has the very best price on the Rekluse ? Thank you a bunch!
 
I have the rekluse in my tc250 and it works really well. EFM in my 125, I think the rekluse works a little better, but it is also about 250.00 more. I think I got the rekluse from Enduro Eng. for 870.00, efm was around 625..
 
I hated to spend the money but got the Rekluse for my TXC310. It's the usual high Rekluse standard (and the clutch on the x-lite is a little lite so they only offer the complete core unit) ... took 1 hour to install and works extremely well except for the tendency of the x-lite clutch to chatter just a bit under certain conditions ... ZipTy has a cure for this.

In summary - the Rekluse is a lot of money (because you have to get the whole core unit) but it works very well.
 
I have had excelent luck with both my EFM and Rekluse products. The EFM is set it once and then forget about it for the life of the bike. The Rekluse has more adjustability and may work slightly better but we are kind of splitting hairs there for me. You can't go wrong either way.
 
I just got my TE 250 outfitted with the Core EXP on Saturday and took the bike out in the snow on Sunday. We rode in some wet and slippery, narly, rocky single track and I would have stalled the bike on a few occasions, but the auto clutch worked wonders. It let me focus on holding onto the grips and keeping balance, instead of being concerned with fanning the clutch. The nice thing was that I tried using the clutch like I would normally and could rev the bike up and it felt just like it did before. Can't wait to try it in the dry conditions but that may be another couple months or so. The one thing I did notice about it was the "ball bearing" chatter noise that came from the clutch doing it's job. It sounds a little weird and was a concern but Rekluse said that the sound is normal. I'm not too concerned with that. I'm just happy to know that my bike won't stall in the most inopportune times and that my clutch fingers will sustain themselves on a long, technical ride. :p
 
Glad to hear you are happy with the clutch. I put those little rubber rings on mine when I installed it and so far it has been quiet. I don't think they will last for very long however. Have fun!:thumbsup:
 
I noticed last night that the auto clutch wants to drive away in 1st gear now so I must need to do some adjusting. I watched all the videos on the Rekluse website and feel I have a better understanding of how to adjust it. Has anyone had the problem of the bike wanting to drive away in gear? How simple was it to fix the problem? Any tuning ideas would be appreciated. I have the Core EXP 2.0.
 
I noticed last night that the auto clutch wants to drive away in 1st gear now so I must need to do some adjusting. I watched all the videos on the Rekluse website and feel I have a better understanding of how to adjust it. Has anyone had the problem of the bike wanting to drive away in gear? How simple was it to fix the problem? Any tuning ideas would be appreciated. I have the Core EXP 2.0.
Is the idle too high?
 
Is the idle too high?
The idle hasn't changed since the install, but I will check that. I'm hoping that it's just the gap spring that needs adjusting and that all the parts are fine and have no signs of wear. Everything was working perfectly up until last night. Just hate taking off the clutch cover. Apparently this unit has a break in period.. so maybe this is my first adjustment. I'll let you guys know what I find out.
 
Ok turns out that the break in period was over and an adjustment was needed, . I followed all the directions that were on the rekluse website and got advice from their toll free number... and actually it was very easy. Checked Free Play Gain and it was too much. So tightened the inside screw clockwise until the free play gain was the right amount. Had to remove the clutch cover a bunch of times but finally nailed it. Couldn't have done it without the help of the guys at Rekluse. Their customer service is excellent... :)
 
Hate to bust the thread up, but I am kinda new to the off road game, and I really am not sure what the Auto clutch does. What exatly does it do and what is the benifit. I went to rekluses website and besides saying it makes your starts more conscistent, I watched the videos and such, but the web site really did not explain what it does. Help a newb out guys
 
I had almost a 100 hrs on my rekluse exp 2.0 and was having to adjust install gap pretty much every tank of gas :banghead: so i called rekluse and ordered the updated adjustable slave cylinder and a set of blue springs for a 450 class bike ,almost finished with 3rd tank of gas now and not one squeel,squall,chatter,chirrp or adjustment. I think when the bike got hot the allen screws in the adjuster was not holding and letting in slip out of adjustment. You locktight the new non adjustable plug in the pressure plate,and no need to remove the clutch cover for adjustment just a turn of screw behind the chain guard:D
 
Hate to bust the thread up, but I am kinda new to the off road game, and I really am not sure what the Auto clutch does. What exatly does it do and what is the benifit. ...

Hey mate.

Not the easiest question to answer coz it has different benefits for different riders. Basically, whenever you ordinarily need to (or should) feather the clutch, the Rekluse basically does this automatically when the revs drop. I have found it particularly useful in three situations:
  1. On single track - basically put the bike in a higher gear than you would without feathering the clutch, then point-and-shoot. You can slide into a corner, then just point the front wheel where you want to go and twist the throttle. No need to mess around with dropping a gear or tapping the rear foot brake (I have installed the left hand rear brake too) so your legs/feet can be in the best position to keep you balanced and in control rather than needing to move them to/from the foot pegs.
  2. Rockys/rooty/very rough terrain - again, rather than needing to upset your balance shifting your feet around on the pegs to change gear and/or tap the rear brake, you can just find your best balance point on the pegs and concentrate on throttle control and balance to guide yourself over the terrain. If/when you lose traction you just need to back off the throttle a little then wind it back on one traction is regained.
  3. Restarting on steep slopes - just put the bike in gear and slowly twist the throttle to take off (without breaking traction)... BRILLIANT!
It's also supposed to make the bike more difficult to stall as well, especially when you lock the rear brake as the clutch will just do its thing when the revs drop. I dunno if I haven't set my clutch up properly, but I have actually stalled a few times, so this is not a guaranteed "benefit" in my opinion.

On a ride I was on yesterday, the guy behind me reckons he could see when I was benefiting from the Rekluse on the rocky and sandy (low traction) sections as he then struggled a little on the same section following me.
 
Sou Arctra, would you say a begining rider that ends up entering rougher terrain at a generally slower speed than optimum, (sometimes if find myself loosing balence due to lack of clutch control/not enough speed to negociate tougher opbstaces) would benifit from this or is it something that is more for the pros
 
Ok turns out that the break in period was over and an adjustment was needed, . I followed all the directions that were on the rekluse website and got advice from their toll free number... and actually it was very easy. Checked Free Play Gain and it was too much. So tightened the inside screw clockwise until the free play gain was the right amount. Had to remove the clutch cover a bunch of times but finally nailed it. Couldn't have done it without the help of the guys at Rekluse. Their customer service is excellent... :)
I felt like my rekluse was beginning to "pull" a bit when in gear and at idle, and the engine braking would never let go even with the revs low, I followed the tune instructions that came with the unit this weekend. Now the bike does not pull at all in gear at idle. While not in gear, the clutch lever comes back with tension about 1/8 inch when I rev it (Mine did not include the rubber bands). Does that seem right?
 
Sou Arctra, would you say a begining rider that ends up entering rougher terrain at a generally slower speed than optimum, (sometimes if find myself loosing balence due to lack of clutch control/not enough speed to negociate tougher opbstaces) would benifit from this or is it something that is more for the pros

A beginner rider would benefit enormously from a Rekluse. But you bring up a good point - it can only do so much for you. If you're a bad rider it's not going to magically turn you into a great rider. What it will do is give you a bit more confidence riding into a rough section though, so you will find yourself carrying a bit more speed which will make riding it easier.
 
I felt like my rekluse was beginning to "pull" a bit when in gear and at idle, and the engine braking would never let go even with the revs low, I followed the tune instructions that came with the unit this weekend. Now the bike does not pull at all in gear at idle. While not in gear, the clutch lever comes back with tension about 1/8 inch when I rev it (Mine did not include the rubber bands). Does that seem right?

That seems normal the way you are describing it Robert. How long have you had the Rekluse ? The customer support told me that the clutch plates do ware down over time and that its not unlikely to have to buy new ones every season or so depending on variables such as how hard you ride etc. I also agree with Arctra. That the auto clutch gives confidence. Is Good for a beginner rider to learn to ride on a normal clutch, then switch to an auto clutch when they want to ride longer and tougher stuff. I still use the clutch a lot when riding cause the 250 4 stroke likes high rpms to perform. But now I know I won't stall the bike on top of a pile of jagged rocks etc.
 
That seems normal the way you are describing it Robert. How long have you had the Rekluse ? The customer support told me that the clutch plates do ware down over time and that its not unlikely to have to buy new ones every season or so depending on variables such as how hard you ride etc. I also agree with Arctra. That the auto clutch gives confidence. Is Good for a beginner rider to learn to ride on a normal clutch, then switch to an auto clutch when they want to ride longer and tougher stuff. I still use the clutch a lot when riding cause the 250 4 stroke likes high rpms to perform. But now I know I won't stall the bike on top of a pile of jagged rocks etc.
Laura,
I've had my Rekluse since last summer, but only really used it from the fall on.I also have a 250(txc) and here in Oregon every ride has several big climbs. I'm really happy with my motorbike on single track but my friends with 450s rip up hills that I really struggle with. I need to get better, but I'm also thinking about more displacement. No matter what I do in the future, I never want to lose the e start!
Have you looked at any of the new Fantics up there?
 
The one negative thing about the autoclutch is the fact that the bike will always roll, even when in gear and engine off. So it sucks when you're on a hill and want to park the bike. Or when you want to get the bike down something using the clutch as a brake with the engine off. I also feel your pain Robert. My boyfriend has a 450 and can power up hills with ease. With our bikes, we need to be in the right gear and have a good run at it and feather that clutch. But I love how much lighter my bike is compared to his. I'm not sure what you mean when you asked if I have Fantics up here? do explain..
 
Back
Top