[Gary856]

Up until a week ago I preferred to set my clutch lever engagement point (where it enters the friction zone) close to the grip. Basically I used the grip as the reference point to gauge how much to let out the clutch lever to get into the friction zone. An engagement point closer to the grip seemed easier to “hit” consistently. Whenever I had the bikes serviced, the shops would adjust the clutch to engage farther out; that annoyed me, and I would re-adjust it closer to the way I preferred.

I picked up another bike (DRZ-SM) last Thursday night, and it had the clutch engagement set pretty far out. I rode it without adjusting the clutch, and found it was actually pretty good to have the clutch engage farther out like that. Shifting was easier and quicker since I didn’t have to pull the clutch lever in as much. Now I’m going to adjust all my bikes like that – clutch engages with the lever farther out.

I think the difference is, after riding for over a year, clutch feel and “hitting” the friction zone have became much more intuitive, and my preference changed along with that. It’s very interesting that I keep finding small things to change as I gain experience.

[stu]

I have pazzo’s on my bike, and with my small hands need it closer in toward the bar for less fatigue. Wherever is comfortable is my liking

[eternal05]

At first (read: when I was new and bad) I liked having the friction zone with the lever closer to the grip than to the full-out position. As time went on, especially once I started using shifting techniques where you only slip the clutch a bit, I started moving the engagement point out a bit.

The only thing to be careful about is making sure it’s not too far out that the clutch isn’t always 100% engaged when the lever is released. The same is true about making it too far in though…

[TrialsRider]

You guys must be grabbing a hand full of clutch and front brake there, On any controls that can accomodate it, I move my levers in on the bars to increase leverage, and operate them with one or at most two fingers.  This leaves the rest of your phalanges free to maintain a solid grip on the handlebars.   

[IBA270]

What TrialsRider said…as you progress and build your skills, you’ll probably notice that you want more “feel” from the levers thats normally gained when they are adjusted out a bit. We teach “four fingers” and I have to re-program my brain when instructing; I ride with one finger covering both for many different reasons, but comfort being the main reason; I use two for clutch (barely pull in on up shift) and one on brake, unless we’re getting hairy…and then only two.

On all my bike however, from my little Ducati through my race bike and my gynormous RT, one finger will stand them all their respective noses!

[Author]

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