Rekluse H-D Prostart Clutch

Rekiuse H-D ProStart Clutch

CW EVALUATION

Look, Ma, no hand!

GOT SHORT FINGERS? A WEAK LEFT hand? Hate having to work your Harley-Davidson’s clutch lever at stops? Or performing that constant engage-disengage hand-boogie in bumper-to-bumper traffic? If so, Rekluse Motor Sports can provide a bit of relief with its ProStart centrifugal clutch for all 1990-2006 H-D Big Twins (except ’06 Dynas).

With ProStart, a rider can ignore the clutch lever when the bike is creeping along at walking speeds or comes to a complete stop. The Rekluse replaces the stock Harley pressure plate and diaphragm spring with a springless plate assembly containing 28 ball bearings that move radially in tapered ramps around the plate’s circumference. At idle, the clutch is disengaged; but as soon as the engine revs, the balls are flung outward in their ramps, pushing the pressure plate inward and engaging the clutch.

Included in the clutch kit are new steel plates, two special fiber plates, a new set of clutch-release ramps and, of course, the centrifugal pressure plate. Installation also requires a separate $99 assembly kit.

When we bolted a ProStart onto a 2000 H-D Softail Standard, the job took about 2XA hours. Everything went without a hitch, thanks to instructions that thoroughly cover every step from start to finish. The stock clutch hub’s six standoff bosses have to be shortened by about half an inch, so the assembly kit includes a little milling tool that you chuck into a drill motor and use to trim the bosses to length. Rather than remove the hub for that machining, you instead wrap a big provided plastic sheet around the bosses and the entire primary case to keep metal chips from getting into any part of the primary drive during the milling process. And just in case you should ever want to convert back to a stock clutch, the kit comes with six spacers that return the bosses to their original length. Functionally, the Rekluse performs as advertised. You never have to lay fingers on the clutch lever any time the bike is stationary, even when first putting it in gear; once moving, though, you still have to use the clutch to upshift and downshift. Getting used to the automatic engagement takes a bit of acclimation, especially when you’re trying to move along with stop-and-go traffic. Full-throttle launches are impressive, though, enough so to let our 95-inch Screamin’ Eagle Softail smoke the rear tire for quite a few bikelengths. On the downside, the clutch can sometimes surprise you by disengaging when you’re making a slow Uturn, which can easily cause a low-side tip-over.

So the question is not how well the Rekluse works but if it’s worth the expense. By the time you total the price of the clutch kit, the assembly kit and around $200 in installation charges if you farm the work out, you’re looking at more than $1200. In our opinion, that’s a lot of jack just so you don’t have to squeeze the clutch lever on a stopped motorcycle. □

DETAILS Rekluse Motor Sports 110 E. 43rd St. Boise, ID 83714 208/426-0659 www.rekluse.com Price...$949, plus $99 ^Llps A High-quality, beautifully made components A Well-thought-out and executed A Leaves left hand free to give #1 sign Downs ▼ Still have to use the clutch when shifting ▼ Parking in gear on a hill won’t stop bike from rolling ▼ Throttle-blipping can cause unintended acceleration ▼ $$$$