will pattison

Sponsoring Member
Jul 24, 2000
439
0
sent to magura...

************************
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.
 

Rich Rohrich

Moderator / BioHazard
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jul 27, 1999
22,838
16,902
Chicago
The Magura for my CR125 is sitting back in the box with a leaking slave cylinder. I think it may have gotten too cold and the seals went belly up. Never did get any real riding time on it. The stock Honda cable works fine, and my tolerance for poor engineering hit it's limit with this thing. Lesson learned on my part.
 

motoman393

Member
Nov 12, 2000
49
0
I heard the Hebo Clutch is very nice and smooth! Is it reliable or will it crap out on me like the POS Magura? I almost bought a Magura...I am glad I didnt now! Any comments on the Hebo unit? Thanks,

Garrett
 

will pattison

Sponsoring Member
Jul 24, 2000
439
0
as to the hebo...that is my next bet. however, the kit i am looking at does not appear to have any mounting hardware. we are still scratching our heads about that. anybody got a clue?

as to magura fixing it, i already know that they will replace the parts, but i don't have the time or patience to replace a slave cylinder every 10-20 hours of riding. more fundamentally, though: i shouldn't have to.

wp.
 

GlennP

Member
Jun 6, 2000
311
0
From GasGas experience, the Hebo unit has been excellent (although I realize the slave is different). The master has a nice, simple lever mount design with replaceable nylon bushings. I hate sloppy levers, so I like this sysem. The Maguras on my KTMs have worn and leaked, while the Hebo on my GG is like new after over a year of use. If I recall, Ivan posted he installed one on his 250f with good results.
 

marcusgunby

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 9, 2000
6,450
2
Will i understand your frustration.The new clutches do come with the aluminium caps.Has the 2nd one you have possibly got ingress after powerwashing?Im thinking that the 1st set up you have is now fine and if Magura gave you a new type slave cylinder for the 2nd bike your problems will be over-assuming the alu caps do the trick on the new type slave cylinder.I have 30-40 hours on mine now with no problems but dont even mention the instructions sent out with the kits, or we will be to the flame board faster than an EG CR 550.
 

dkmccarty5

Member
Aug 30, 2000
45
0
Hebo hydraulic clutch conversion kit

See the erider logo on the left ? click-on for a good pic & description of the Hebo hydraulic clutch. We have sold dozens of these to YZ/WR/YZF owners and the response has been very positive. If you review the Thumper Central section of this forum you will find many threads about the product, including a detailed (including digital images) installation instructions.
 

JAMRACING

Member
Apr 21, 2000
55
0
Just spoke to Magura, and I'll be receiving my new slave cyl. within two weeks, under warranty, with the new cap...
It was pretty amusing, because he said he had never heard of the problem.
 

KiwiBird

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 30, 2000
2,386
0
I have a been using a Hebo unit on my CR500AF with no problems whatsoever and can endorse the product without reservation.

I liked the Hebo over the Magura because the Magura slave looked so flimsy and didn't appear to have the range of travel offered by the Hebo. The Hebo also uses brake fluid.
 

PSYCHO DAVE

Member
May 19, 2001
8
0
Try This

Hello

I was going to try a magura clutch, but I heard nothing good about them. So I didn't even go there.
What I did try instead is whats called an easy clutch. They cost $36.99.
And they work great.
You can get them from Chaparral.
 

marcusgunby

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 9, 2000
6,450
2
Up-date, i have phoned the magure imported for the UK and they have sent me a complete slave cylinder for £30 which i dont think is too bad.
 

TM-Frank

Member
Dec 15, 2000
325
0
OK, you are all talking about the Magura slave cylinders so my reply doesn't fight right in here.
My TM250 came with a GRIMECA (italian?) master cylinder and TM's own slave cylinder. After 5 years of riding the master cylinder (actually the lever mount) was pretty well worn out and I replaced it with a MAGURA part, because it was the only part that was readily available. I would have had to wait a couple of days for a new GRIMECA and I didn't want to miss the race on the weekend.
After comparing both parts on the same bike I can say that the MAGURA part is junk! I have already ordered the new GRIMECA and are going to sell the MAGURA at once after mounting the new part.
The slave cylinder on my friends KTM EXC520 went leaky after a few weeks and the HYMEC master cylinder on his 540SXC too!
MADE IN GERMANY or not, I wouldn't recommend any of MAGURA's hydraulic parts to anyone.
 
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