Clutch and front brake master cylinder upgrade????

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dekberg

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Ok......I need to replace my clutch master cylinder and am wondering what are the best replacement/upgrade master cylinders for my MAX. I need to be able to reuse the lines I have so they need to be "plug and play". Any suggestions....PLEASE HELP.

Also I'm sick and tired of the sloppy clutch lever!! Hopefully the upgade will eliminate this nagging problem.

Thanks in advance for all the replies.

Darren:ummm:
 
I'd just find a used OE master to replace it with. If it's leaky or doesn't build pressure right I'm pretty sure there's rebuild kits available. You have to be somewhat careful replacing the clutch, since if it doesn't push enough fluid or build pressure quickly enough you might not disengage the clutch all the way even when fully against the bar.

Sloppy clutch levers are nothing new...just saw a trick posted here to get an el cheapo feeler gauge, find the one that fits in the "slop", cut it, then put a hole in it to match the bolt. Slip it in there with the lever.

For the brake....I have a Brembo remote reservoir that came off an R1. Adjustable lever reach too. Lots of power.
 
Darren

The world is your oyster - from OE M/C's off other bikes or from one of the specialist manufacturers. Depends how much you want to spend.

Unless you are going for different calipers then best to stick with a piston diameter close to OE.

This is to ensure that you maintain a similar lever ratio i.e. the ratio of the the surface area of the master cylinder piston to the surface area of the caliper pistons.
A smaller piston will give a longer lever travel but the feel will be more soggy, larger will have less travel but will feel wooden.

The clutch is not so critical but close to OE will give the same feel and travel.

You would also need to check that the banjo bolts are in the same place and that there is the facility for the micros switch for the brake light and clutch interlock.
Not a disaster if these are not present as you could always fit a hydraulic switch but this would incur more cost.

Anther factor is if you want to retain the mirror mounts - note that many of the other manufacturers use a RH thread on the LH clamp (Yamaha use LH) so you might meed to change the mirrors; those with remote reservoirs don't normally come with mirror mounts.
 
also to think about, is whether or not you want the same old same old levers. what i've been able to conclude is that if you want shorties or adjustables or kick ass bling, you don't have many choices (if at all, although for a pretty penny, i HAVE seen some sweet ones that i think BRM and extracep offer, or was it COO, no not any of them, it was some german company, or was it belgium? anyways...) when using OEM masters. if you do want to upgrade the levers, keep in mind which ones or what kind you want and see if they are compatible with your choice of masters. my 2 cents--take it or leave it :). good luck!
 
I changed my brake and clutch masters for TL100R ones. They don't match though, but it doesn't bother me. I didn't want a mirror thread/hole, hence the choice, and they were very cheap :) The levers are Suzuki Bandit, and got them free from my buddy with a bandit 1200 who doesn't like skulls :biglaugh:

Anyway, here's a pic of the brake side. Ignore the torn seat cover, which has now been replaced :rofl_200:


click to view
 
I think that Ninjaneer is referring to the ISR items.

I can endorse these a I have their radial master cylinders and six pot calipers on my Max. Not cheap though...

You could always try the 'What price can you put on safety?' argument to justify buying them.

Note that you will also need to budget for some 320 mm diameter disc's if you go this route.
 
Thanks for all the replies....one thing I've learned, this is one the friendliest, easy to use MC forums on the net. I've gone on some other forums and guys were being just complete dicks to guys just getting started in the MC world. Have not seen that at all in the beloved VMAX forum.....for this I thank you all. Negativity and just being a jackoff in forums will push new riders away in the end.....and in the future they will have good ideas to bring to the table that will never get shared.

That being said......I think I fixed the problem with some interesting results. Here's what happened; I broke the lower support arm of the clutch master cylinder (the arm just under the clutch lever). As I went to push the clutch lever back in it snapped off. It's cast aluminum so forget welding it. So I made a lower bracket out of .080 aluminum. Screwed it to the broken piece and the back side of where it clamps to the handle bars. Now when I tighten it down it has some flexibility. BAM....no more sloppy clutch lever. Now I would not recommend breaking your master on purpose to perform this fix.....but I will take some pics with more indepth explanations so you can all make your own choices.
 

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