will pattison
Sponsoring Member
- Jul 24, 2000
- 439
- 0
sent to magura...
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to whom it may concern-
i am writing this letter to express my disappointment in the magura hymec hydraulic clutch kit, one of which i have on a '99 yamaha yz400 that is raced only off-road, and another of which i have on my '00 yz426 that is used exclusively for motocross. in the case of the unit on my off-road bike, the failure occured as a result of poorly fitting threads on the plastic cap on the slave cylinder. the loose fit allowed muddy water to enter the slave cylinder, ruining the seals and allowing leakage. when i called the u.s. office of magura, i was told that no one there had ever heard of such a failure. i found this interesting given that 2 of my friends who also have the product also had similar failures.
to be fair, the magura representative i spoke to agreed to send me 2 new aluminum caps, which all the new slave cylinders apparently come with, along with a complete new slave cylinder (i was told it could not be rebuilt). at the time of the failure, the unit had approximately 20 hours on it, and in the 10 or so hours since i replaced the slave cylinder is has performed flawlessly. however, in the meantime, the slave cylinder on my other bike has self-destructed. after only about 25 hours, the lower seal on the slave has degraded to the point that filling the master cylinder will only give me about 1 hour's riding time before all the fluid has been lost. this motorcyle never sees muddy water.
while as a racer i appreciate the smooth, consistent, and easy action at the lever of the magura unit, as a mechanical engineer i am completely disappointed with the design of the slave cylinder. it's lack of reliablity has caused me to decide to get rid of the product completely and either go back to a cable or try another brand of hydraulic clutch. i was told at one time that the slave cylinder was actually designed for use on mountain bikes. that is easy for me to believe at this point, as it is clearly not engineered for use on an off-road motorcycle.
i feel that i have given this product a fair chance, but i am completely fed up at this point. note that a copy of this letter will be posted to dirtrider.net, a dirtbike rider's forum that has over 8000 members worldwide. hopefully that will motivate your company to live up to the reputation for fine engineering that it has had in the past, but which seems to have faltered with the hymec clutch kit.
************************
to whom it may concern-
i am writing this letter to express my disappointment in the magura hymec hydraulic clutch kit, one of which i have on a '99 yamaha yz400 that is raced only off-road, and another of which i have on my '00 yz426 that is used exclusively for motocross. in the case of the unit on my off-road bike, the failure occured as a result of poorly fitting threads on the plastic cap on the slave cylinder. the loose fit allowed muddy water to enter the slave cylinder, ruining the seals and allowing leakage. when i called the u.s. office of magura, i was told that no one there had ever heard of such a failure. i found this interesting given that 2 of my friends who also have the product also had similar failures.
to be fair, the magura representative i spoke to agreed to send me 2 new aluminum caps, which all the new slave cylinders apparently come with, along with a complete new slave cylinder (i was told it could not be rebuilt). at the time of the failure, the unit had approximately 20 hours on it, and in the 10 or so hours since i replaced the slave cylinder is has performed flawlessly. however, in the meantime, the slave cylinder on my other bike has self-destructed. after only about 25 hours, the lower seal on the slave has degraded to the point that filling the master cylinder will only give me about 1 hour's riding time before all the fluid has been lost. this motorcyle never sees muddy water.
while as a racer i appreciate the smooth, consistent, and easy action at the lever of the magura unit, as a mechanical engineer i am completely disappointed with the design of the slave cylinder. it's lack of reliablity has caused me to decide to get rid of the product completely and either go back to a cable or try another brand of hydraulic clutch. i was told at one time that the slave cylinder was actually designed for use on mountain bikes. that is easy for me to believe at this point, as it is clearly not engineered for use on an off-road motorcycle.
i feel that i have given this product a fair chance, but i am completely fed up at this point. note that a copy of this letter will be posted to dirtrider.net, a dirtbike rider's forum that has over 8000 members worldwide. hopefully that will motivate your company to live up to the reputation for fine engineering that it has had in the past, but which seems to have faltered with the hymec clutch kit.
