LCGB Forums

Not only do I have small hands, I have strength and dexterity issues with my left hand. A while back I bought a dog leg lever in an effort to assist my gear change. But, it makes it worse.

The picture shows the dogleg fitted and the one I removed placed over the top.



As a separate issue, I am taking steps to make the clutch itself lighter but I still need a lever that my fingers can reach

Has anyone ever bent an aluminium lever using after putting the lever in a vice and using a blow torch? Judging by the number of bent levers I have come across on Italian imports I suspect this is what the Italians did.

I wonder if you’ve considered the OEM Serveta dog leg levers as were available for the SIII, though I guess that they would require other SIII components to function with your headset. They definitely had a smaller span than the non-dog leg levers.

Applying heat to aluminium alloy can catch you out. The outer surface, being oxidised, has a significantly higher melting point than the inside material so judging the temperature can be very tricky. Whilst it is a normal, relatively easy way to cut steel with an old school flame cutter, if you try it with aluminium alloy, you will end up with a mess.

I do have one of the Lynx levers you refer to, WT, but that would be a right pain to try and modify to fit

I’ll have a look for an old S2 lever to try and see if I can successfully bend one with gentle persuasion. Beyond that, I see Lambretta Upgrades to another dogleg version which isn’t too expensive.

PM Tuning do an adjustable lever.They are adjustable for reach and feel.Think you may have to buy them in pairs,about £81.
Hope this helps
https://www.pmtuning.co.uk/product/defa ... -operated/

Micky67keane wrote:PM Tuning do an adjustable lever.They are adjustable for reach and feel.Think you may have to buy them in pairs,about £81.
Hope this helps
https://www.pmtuning.co.uk/product/defa ... -operated/

Thanks for the reply. They look like Series 3 though

I struggle with the ball end on my S2, with my child size hands.

Have been looking for an alternative with no success.

Tip off from a good mate, he is using px levers

They come in various forms, swept ball end, dog leg etc

gaz_powell wrote:Tip off from a good mate, he is using px levers

They come in various forms, swept ball end, dog leg etc

It’s right! One of the pictures below shows how the PX lever is an easier reach than the “standard” S2 one

The dogleg lever from Lambretta Upgrades turned up and, after a bit of fettling, it’s fitted and it is a lot easier for me. I now have work to do to make the clutch softer.

I spent my spare time today swapping out the original Spanish Jet LI type chaincasing to a Uni GP type complete with a Crimaz easy clutch from CamLam

https://www.lambretta.co.uk/product_inf ... ts_id=9300

I don’t want to speak too soon as I haven’t yet been out on the road on it. But, just activating the clutch on the stand now feels pretty easy.

The Crimaz did need two or three minutes easy dremeling to the casing to get it to work though.

Storkfoot wrote:I spent my spare time today swapping out the original Spanish Jet LI type chaincasing to a Uni GP type complete with a Crimaz easy clutch from CamLam

https://www.lambretta.co.uk/product_inf ... ts_id=9300

I don’t want to speak too soon as I haven’t yet been out on the road on it. But, just activating the clutch on the stand now feels pretty easy.

The Crimaz did need two or three minutes easy dremeling to the casing to get it to work though.

Hi Storkfoot.
Would you be able to let us know how the clutch worked when you have tested it out on the road, please?
Thanks.

I’ve been out on it for an hour or so and the clutch has been nice and light. Before fitting, this clutch was 7 or 8 out of 10 for being stiff. It’s now a 3 or 4. The standard clutches on my PX and TV175 are only marginally lighter.

I’m happy

Another thing to note about clutch leversis the distance between the pivot and the attachment of the cable inner. The greater the distance, the harder the pull. I played about filing the hole for the nipple on my LiS and manager to improve things slightly but you cant over do it as the amount of cable travel is reduced.

Whatever we may consider as a solution we need to overcome clutch problems, IMO there are two fundamental issues.

Probably the oldest known issue is that we fit stronger clutch springs to ensure the increased torque of modified motors can be coped with. Clutches fitted with more than four friction plates should not need such strong springs, but in all likelihood will still require better than, say, OEM GP. Staying at the business end of the clutch - within the crankcase cover - the OEM operating cam lobe that presses upon the clutch centre is not very efficient in terms of mechanical advantage & one common solution these days, is to adopt the principle utilised in most motorcycles which use a rack & pinion. The UNI kit appears to me to be as good a solution as any because it offers various positions for the inner cable attachment. Unfortunately, it requires a GP type crankcase cover.

The second issue is that our hand spans may not necessarily decrease as we get older, but the strength in our hands most likely does. It becomes more uncomfortable to hold the clutch in for any length of time & although dog-leg levers can help with the reduced span required, for the amount of inner cable pull to remain the same as the non dog-leg levers, the radius of the inner cable to pivot point is greater.

So, IMO a ‘cure’ can never be realised just by a change of lever at the headset. I can only imagine that the rack & pinion conversions to be a viable solution as far as reducing the load on the operative’s left hand although it’s worth repeating that the cable assembly, it’s route & clipping in place & the clutch components will all have an effect. The inner clutch bell in particular is something that can catch us out. I’ve substituted old OEM Innocenti bells for brand new re-made bells that looked to be of quality. Although they can look good, they ‘spring’ under compressive load which does nothing to help & encourages drag. I’m confident that with the selection of the better OEM clutch internals that a good six plate clutch can be built utilising the friction & steel plates from the likes of CamLam that will cope with a lot of torque & not drag. That in itself does not overcome the main fundamental issue of the OEM mechanism for clutch release taking more energy to operate than it should….

I've used an adjustable vespa dogleg lever on my Spanish S2 as I have small hands, there's a slight step on the outer edge where it meets the gear change housing but I find far more comfortable to use than a std lever