CLUTCH BASKET REVIEWS

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Terry, just got everything back together and went for a test ride. This is a completely new bike! It is so much more enjoyable now. No more running higher RPM'S just to keep it from chuddering. Thanks so much for everything. I'll be sure to recommend you to all my Vstrom buddies.

Terry, figured I'd give you a quick shout, got everything back together, and managed to put 180 miles on the bike this last weekend...it was AMAZING!I couldn't believe how smooth, and linear it pulled from down low to up high, the rattle with the clutch out in neutral is pretty much non existent now..before it sounded like a tractor! I even purposely drove around keeping rpm's between 2500-3500 and never once did it hesitate, grumble, or get all "vibrationy" (I know it's not a word!)I wanted to write and compliment you on what you’ve accomplished with the WERKs clutch basket re-engineer. I now have 450 miles on the basket and it has completely changed my ride on the V-Strom. I am able to now ride in the 3000-4000 rpm range with pleasure which makes a significant difference riding around the twisties of the Blue Ridge Mountains . The chudder in that range is gone and the vibrations sitting at a stop light in neutral are significantly reduced. With the new clutch basket and the addition of a new windshield I have literally gone from thinking of selling this bike to loving it.
Thanks once again for your prompt service, salesmanship, and details about the modification process. As I went through this process of deciding to remanufacture the clutch basket I first considered sending my basket to your competition but your ability to treat me as a customer not someone that had picked up bad information on a forum won the day. I am completely happy with the product you have sold me and from admiring the visible work you performed am confident that your product will last many, many miles.
C Kimmel

I received the clutch in the mail this afternoon so I installed it this evening. Went on a forty mile test ride and the Vstrom has never ran so smooth. I tried to get her to chudder but there was no chudder. It is so smooth it is almost unbelievable. I will probably do the clutch lever adjustment next. Thanks for all the help. Please feel free to use me as a reference. Dan

Thank you very much for making the bike as it should have been! Let me know where I can post my experience with you, I would like everyone to know what an excellent job you do..it was truly the best 300 I have EVER spent on any bike..and if you're ever in Utah..give me a call! Paul

Very nice! Runs and accelerates smoothly in the chudder RPM range and the idle hammer is gone. Riding in town is where I was the most annoyed with it before, now it's as smooth as can be at whatever RPM I ride at.
I'm very happy. Great work! Ben

TERRY!!! You sir are my Fn hero!..just got home from a shake down run and I couldn't be more impressed, I should have done this a long time ago. Took me 3 hours in the garage this morning, install was a breeze and the result is amazing. Let me know when I can testify on your site, be happy to put in a good word. Also, I'll ship my old basket back to the same addy you had for a return on the package unless you say otherwise.
Thanks again Terry, well done!!

I just want to thank you for talking me into doing this mod. I'm floored at the huge difference in smoothness!! I had issues with leaving a stop with any amount of throttle prior to installation. The bike would squeal and buck, and that is now all gone. I can lug the bike (don't like to, but if it's necessary......) and the shifting is precise, and buttery. The bike is now how I imagined it would be when I bought it, and I cannot begin to tell you how happy that makes me. Hiscox

I finally did it.

So after years of reading about the Clutch basket Mod by RealShelby, I finally got sick enough of the chudder in my DL1000 and pulled the trigger.

I have had my 05 since July of 09. It came with 47,000 miles and now has about 65,000. I have set it up for some serious long distance travel by installing PCIII, Fuseblock, powered tank bag, Powerlet plug, bar risers, Fork brace, Carabou 40L panniers, Givi E55 topcase, Bill Mayer Seat and several other things I can’t recall at the moment.

I realized early on that I had the dreaded Chudder. The bike just didn’t like to be ridden under 4,000 RPM’s. It shook and complained like a depression era tractor. It felt like there was no available torque under 4K on the tach and that got worse as I went up in gear.

Based on all the information I have found on gearing, I went to the 16 tooth counter sprocket to make the bike more useable around town. Which it did but I hate watching the tach go up near 5k when doing 75-80MPH on the freeway. According to my GPS, I’m doing 67MPH at 4K.

With the OEM gearing I couldn’t even begin to entertain the idea of shifting into 6th gear until I was going at least 75MPH. And that had to be either on flat land with a tail wind or going down hill. To really use the overdrive with out the chudder or bike feeling like it was lugging , I had to be going in excess of 85MPH. I live in Southern California and I have to do a lot of freeways to get to anything good and for some reason the CHP generally frown on going over the speed limit. Whatever.

I am fairly mechanically inclined and given the time and space in which to slowly figure stuff out, I have done quite a bit of stuff to my bikes. However, I have neither the time and space at this point of my life so I decided to let my mechanic handle the installation of RealShelby’s clutch basket.

First off, Terry was fantastic in communicating with me, then processing and shipping the basket. I was lucky in the turn around. He told me that it usually takes a couple of weeks to get the basket, do the mod and return it. It just so happened that the person in line in front of me backed out and so Terry was able to send me that guys basket right away.

When my mechanic finished the install, I headed over to his shop to pick it up. He is located about 25 miles away (I go the extra distance because he is that good) so I had a nice little test drive home.

The first thing I noticed when I started the bike was how much the bike DIDN’T vibrate. With the bike in neutral, the bike idles much quieter. There is a slight difference in tone with the clutch lever pulled in but not nearly as much as before. There also no more of that clatter like with the old basket.

As weird as it may sound, the bike feels more solid. When I let out the clutch to take off, there is absolutely no shake in the lower RPM’s as the bike goes past what used to be the “Chudder Zone”. It’s just smooth.

On the way home, I had a few miles of surface streets with traffic lights before I got on the freeway. Taking off at each light, I was amazed by how much easier it was to go from standing still to moving. I no longer had to work the clutch.

To enter the freeway, I had to make a left turn at a light, onto the sweeping right hand onramp. Here is where I uttered the three words I feel best describe the “Werks Clutch Basket”. As I leaned into the curve and accelerated to freeway speed I said, “Holy Cah-Wrap!’

I was expecting at least some of that Chudder/Lugging feeling. What I got was only smooth linear power from 3,000RPM’s until I shifted at around 5,000RPM’s. No shake at all. None.

I have now had the bike back a few weeks and have driven in city traffic, along the PCH and on the freeways. The bike will cruise along nicely as low as 2500RPM’s. I can now be in 6th gear at around 3200-3500RPM’s as I approach a hill or slow moving car and just twist the throttle to accelerate. No complaints from the bike. No need to down shift if I'm just cruising.

The bike is so smooth with this clutch basket that I’m thinking I may go back to the OEM sprockets. Since I can now utilize the torque in the lower RPM range, I should be able to shift into 6th at 3500RPM’s in certain situations and actually have an overdrive. That should garner much better MPG’s on the slabs.

I'm still on the fence though since the 16 tooth sprocket in front makes for pleasant experience around town.

I now belief Suzuki engineered the gearing with a properly working clutch basket in mind but unfortunately that has not worked out. Well... Until RealShelby stepped in.
After all said and done, I would rate the Clutch basket mod by RealShelby as the best mod I have done to my Vee. Bar none.
Jibby.

Terry,
Just wanted to thank you on such a great upgrade!! I just replaced the clutch basket with your modifications and all I can say is WOW. The DL1000 literally feels like a new bike no vibrations at idle and that annoying vibrations and mid rev is all but gone! Also the clutch basket work you did looked phenomenal.
Thanks again Terry this new basket is amazing
CJ

Terry, I got the new clutch basket installed yesterday and let me say ( or shout) WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Dang. I went for a longish ride (100 miles) and kept trying to find the chatter and shudder but none came. More power seems to be transferred to the rear wheel and it pulls from every gear and every rpm flawlessly.

I am glad I found you on the web....My mechanic was really impressed with your fix/design too!

follow up:

I'm still blown away by the difference in my bike now with your mod. I keep anticipating the vibration and it never comes. The whole bike seems to have settled down too. There is less vibration coming through my handle bars now too. GF

WERKS Parts LLC

I'm so excited right now. That new basket cured the weird vibration that I was experiencing. I knew something wasn't right about the bike. It hadn't gotten to the state that many people have reported on the internet. It was mild, but it just didn't seem right. I mean, of course it's gonna shake a little...it's a big twin.
Thanks to you and your product, that deep humming I heard is now gone. The bike feels smooth through all the revs and is now happy between 3-4K and seems to be smoother up top too. I did a little victory ride and tried all the ranges that this bike should excel in. Lugged it a bit through the twisties with mild roll on out of the turns, and hammered it on the straights.
Everything feels better.
Anyway, I've rambled enough. Thanks a bunch, Terry. If you're ever on the mid-north coast of California, I'd love to show you our wonderful roads and buy you a beer...or whatever you drink.
Thanks again!!

Hello Terry George from Canada
sorry for being tardy on getting back to you on how your basket modification worked out for my SV1000S. I installed it put the oil in and started it up amazing no more sound coming from there took it for a 300km ride. Its like new probably better. I wanted to take the time to thank you so much for an excellent job done on my basket and the service that you gave me is second to none.

I really appreciate you and your work and highly recommend anyone with a basket problemfor a SV or V-strom to send it to you
Again i cant thank you enough Terry
Best regards
George

WERKS CLUTCH BASKETS

Terry- the clutch basket mods made a dramatic improvement. I can now lug the engine in the 2500-3500 rpm range without the ugly vibrations I used to get. Before I wasn’t able to short shift through the gears while in-town riding, but now I dont have to keep the revs above 3800 for it to be smooth. No more “riding around” that certain area on the tach. It is also about 50% quieter now at an idle than it was before. I’m very happy with the results. Thanks again- Mike

Hi Terry, I decided to change out the clutch basket myself. Followed you on the Youtube video you produced and stared in and had no problem changing it out. What a difference!! Feels like a new bike. I even tried to make the clutch shudder..couldn’t do it. I am sending you my old basket and will forward you the tracking number under a separate email. Awesome job Terry!
K W

CUSTOMER REVIEWS

Inspection of the 2014 and newer DL 1000 clutch basket and its changes.

Just finished fitting a Werks clutch basket to my DL1000 i have Had a few pms about it so thought i would post up my thoughts.

Contacted Terry at Werks LLC after reading about his clutch baskets on here.

Response to my enquiry was unbelievably fast.
I went for the exchange program and Terry sent me a PayPal invoice to make it easy.. Cost in Australian dollars was $489.50 less the $100 refund I will get when Terry receives my old basket.
I have a friend who works for DHL and she very kindly sent my basket back at no charge. Not sure what it would cost via aus post.
Delivery took just 8 days with USPS. Tracking made it easy to see when. It would arrive. The slowest part of its journey was through aus customs.
The basket arrived with a new clutch cover gasket.
If your going to do this I would also recommend replacing the basket bearing.
There were none available from Suzuki in Australia but I ended up finding one on eBay that cost me $20 delivered. Suzuki wanted $35. It's an odd size so nothing available from CBC etc.
Didn't replacement any plates or springs as they were all with in spec.
Was pretty straight forward. Hardest part was getting coolant back in.
The end result is brilliant. Just went for a short ride to check oil and coolant levels and the bike is much smoother. No shuddering or wierd noises.
I would highly recommend this mod if you have a 1000.
Made the bike enjoyable to ride again.

Hey Terry,

Well...I just came in from a 70 mile test ride with the new basket. VERY NICE!!:) It DOES feel like a different bike...and is going to take some getting used to....but this is great. Idle sounds so much nicer now...not like it's going to throw things out the side so the basket must have been contributing some noises. The WebCam gears add a bit of clacking at low revs to replace the gear whine of the stock ones, so some idle commotion is to be expected and the engine sounds very 'competent' now if that makes sense.

One thing that jumped out at me right away was how much better the clutch works....taking off it feels a lot more precise and it does seem to be disengaging more cleanly so the 'clunk' going from neutral to 1st is much reduced and it shifts out on the road effortlessly now where before it took a little prodding sometimes to get it to change. We're running the Factory Pro shift star which tightened up the shifting nicely and now it's jumping into gear without hesitation, so the fact that the basket is running true is letting the slave travel get the plates farther apart. All great stuff.

Also.....it revs smoother for sure! Used to get a little buzzy between 5-6K which is almost gone now and it really does feel more eager to rev. Not sure if it's just that it feels smoother that it feels more willing, but I really do like it...a LOT. The power pulses are still there when you feed in the power, but they're well cushioned by the springs and the amount of vibration that is getting to the frame much reduced. I found myself really cooking a few times as I was feeding in a lot more power than my vibration sense told me that I was. Going to take some getting used to that.....and watching the speedo a bit more now.

I could go on....so I'll stop there....but consider the basket a job VERY well done! Planning on hitting the twisties tomorrow morning for a more thorough shake down and am looking forward to it with the 'new' bike. I know everyone says that same thing, but it is true! That one change has elevated the quality of the ride ten-fold and made the engine seem SO much nicer....stronger and just happier running. Once I get a little more time on the bike, I'll write up a good review on the forums and try to steer some people your way. This is a fine addition to the SV1K for sure. And a damn shame that Suzuki didn't make them like this from the get-go. When I put in the fresh factory basket that just came out, it didn't impress me as much as yours just did...and that one wasn't nearly as worn as the one you just built ....so this improvement is impressive. Thank you so much Terry.

As for the new basket.....my bike now runs like a dream.....and a very smooooooth dream at that!
I no longer dread riding in the 'chudder zone' and she pulls smoothly in every gear just like she was built to do.
The gearshift seems crisper and more precise, and I can roll on in any gear without shaking my fillings outta my teeth!
Thanks for making such an awesome product.
Cheers,
Simon

You've probably forgotten all about me, but I wanted to let you know the results of my efforts to eliminate what I thought was a returning chudder to my clutch basket.
I re-synced the throttle bodies. That helped some. I continued to try other items, like valve adjustment, new plugs, and professionally cleaning the injectors with little or no further results. Then a true sportbike master told me to check my aftermarket muffler packing. Turns out that nearly all the packing had been blown out of the left can, causing a small (but significant enough to feel) difference in the output of the two cylinders. He helped me repack the cans and chided me for not using a fuel tuner with my aftermarket mufflers and K&N air filter. I knew it would run a bit lean, but had no idea just *how* lean it actually was. I have since added a Healtech FI Tuner Pro, and with the renewed exhaust, it runs smoother than ever.

I guess this is my way of saying I'm sorry I ever doubted you. If you're putting together a database of all the things that can make these Suzuki twins vibrate, feel free to add my story to the board.
Clutch basket works like a dream. Thanks again for your work! K E

( I put this review in because it represents something owners need to understand. The clutch basket modifications will ONLY fix what the old clutch basket was doing. That can actually make other problems seem to appear, but were actually masked by the problems with the old clutch basket. This customer was satisfied with the WERKS clutch basket when installed but thought something might be wrong with it after putting quite a few miles on it. He put some work into it following my suggestions to start with. While those were not the problem, another route was taken and by chance it turned out to be the culprit.)

I really appreciate you and your w

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