Sneak peek: OTR CNC clutch cover

[Tenerider]

Hey guys, while I was shopping some parts (GB-Racing covers and a new battery) at off-the-road.de today I saw this:

 

 

A closer view revealed some nice details:

 

 

 

I was curious and asked OTR's head Thorsten for the benefits (apart from cool looks):

The two-part cover means clutch servicing is much easier, especially on the road: no need to drain oil and coolant any more when your clutch plates need replacement.

The covers are much beefier than the OEM casings and reinforced in high-impact areas.

What I like most: The clutch arm is moved out of the way. Not only does it look much cleaner imho, but it also gives more clearance for boots.

 

The pics show their first prototype, that's why the anodized finish isn't perfect yet.

 

 

 

 

[Peen]

Nice.

 

Hopefully they sort out that horrible kink in the clutch cable first though!!

[Tenerider]

6 hours ago, Peen said:

Nice.

 

Hopefully they sort out that horrible kink in the clutch cable first though!!

Good point, I didn't notice this on the bike, but it looks bent on the pics. Perhaps because it's their test bike? I don't think it's intentionally.

[Peen]

Yes, probably just a result of messing about with prototype parts and such and not a design issue.

 

It looks very similar to the GYTR clutch cover, I wonder what sort of price it will be, the GYTR one is about £1700 or 1900 euro so not really a consideration for most people.

[Tenerider]

2 minutes ago, Peen said:

Yes, probably just a result of messing about with prototype parts and such and not a design issue.

 

It looks very similar to the GYTR clutch cover, I wonder what sort of price it will be, the GYTR one is about £1700 or 1900 euro so not really a consideration for most people.

I've just noticed this morning that the GYTR cover is indeed similar. They didn't mention a final price yet, but gave a rough estimate of something around 1300€ IIRC (dunno if this is with or without VAT).

Not worth it for me personally yet, because I don't think my clutch needs frequent service due to my riding style (which is "slow and anxious"), plus I've moved my pegs back, so my boots don't interfere that much with the clutch arm. But the quality of OTR's CNC parts always amazes me and keeping that in mind, the price is probably quite fair (especially compared to the GYTR parts).

[Peen]

They are perhaps thinking more for racing applications since people are using these bikes for rallys and racing a bit now. the cp2 engine is even raced at the Isle of Man TT in the R7.

[Dougie]

1 hour ago, Tenerider said:

I've just noticed this morning that the GYTR cover is indeed similar. They didn't mention a final price yet, but gave a rough estimate of something around 1300€ IIRC (dunno if this is with or without VAT).

Not worth it for me personally yet, because I don't think my clutch needs frequent service due to my riding style (which is "slow and anxious"), plus I've moved my pegs back, so my boots don't interfere that much with the clutch arm. But the quality of OTR's CNC parts always amazes me and keeping that in mind, the price is probably quite fair (especially compared to the GYTR parts).

1300? Holy Shet, paid less for my 1vj

I think my “minds eye” for estimating costs was frozen in the 90s. I still think anything over £2 a pint is a rip off for fermented recycled piss.

[Tenerider]

11 minutes ago, Dougie said:

1300? Holy Shet, paid less for my 1vj

I think my “minds eye” for estimating costs was frozen in the 90s. I still think anything over £2 a pint is a rip off for fermented recycled piss.

Yeah, I've guessed something like 800€ or so until they explained what adds up to the price: Material costs (they start with a huge block of 7075 aluminium due to the depth of some critical structures), then of course development costs, production costs, finishing and so on. I wonder what a mass-produced OEM clutch cover costs, it might be several hundreds of €/£/$ as well?

What I can say is that thing is SOLID. When you knock it with your fingers you can feel and hear the difference to the comparably thin OEM part. I'd definitely run these without any extra protection (I'm using GB-Racing parts currently, which aren't cheap...).

Edited June 29 by Tenerider

[random1781]

45 minutes ago, Tenerider said:

Yeah, I've guessed something like 800€ or so until they explained what adds up to the price: Material costs (they start with a huge block of 7075 aluminium due to the depth of some critical structures), then of course development costs, production costs, finishing and so on. I wonder what a mass-produced OEM clutch cover costs, it might be several hundreds of €/£/$ as well?

What I can say is that thing is SOLID. When you knock it with your fingers you can feel and hear the difference to the comparably thin OEM part. I'd definitely run these without any extra protection (I'm using GB-Racing parts currently, which aren't cheap...).

I think mass produced would be die cast, which would significantly bring the price down both because of time to make and material savings. But I think the problem with that is the extremely high cost to create the molds, and in this case they'd have to make two separate molds. Plus you'd need to outsource that whereas they could probably CNC these in-house. I imagine they'd need to sell a lot to recoup costs.

 

Really cool concept though. I've already found myself once in a situation where this would have been helpful!

[Tenerider]

4 minutes ago, random1781 said:

I think mass produced would be die cast, which would significantly bring the price down both because of time to make and material savings. But I think the problem with that is the extremely high cost to create the molds, and in this case they'd have to make two separate molds. Plus you'd need to outsource that whereas they could probably CNC these in-house. I imagine they'd need to sell a lot to recoup costs.

 

Really cool concept though. I've already found myself once in a situation where this would have been helpful!

Funny, I immediately thought of you when they explained the benefits!

 

Yes, die-cast forms are way too expensive afaik for small batches. Plus, the CNC'd parts are much less brittle, aren't they?

[sunndog]

Just FYI you can change the clutch without draining fluids down just by leaning the bike over a bit 

[random1781]

Ha! Yeah that was the time that I tried a hill climb the first thing in the morning before letting the engine warm up and I glazed my clutch. But that was my own stupidity.

But even with that, the CP2's clutch is pretty durable and you'd have to work really hard to completely kill it. Even in my case once my engine cooled down I was able to adjust the clutch enough to climb some steeper hills and get out of where I was. I think racing like @Peen mentioned is the most practical application for this, at least anywhere close to that cost. Plus you can also just lean your bike over like @sunndog also said. But the purpose of a lot of motorcycle parts isn't to be practical!

Brittle-ness is the difference between the yield strength (when the material begins to permanently bend) and tensile strength (when it actually breaks). So if those two are close together, it's considered brittle.

 

The alloys used for casting generally start off with low strength, and then the parts are processed to bring them up to the strength you need, versus materials used to billet which usually start at higher strengths. I would guess that most manufacturers just stop at the strength required, but I think you can make cast parts pretty strong.

 

That's my understanding anyway, I'm not an expert!

[sunndog]

Oh aye this cover will almost certainly be way stronger than stock. Be cheaper as a one piece though

[random1781]

5 hours ago, OFF THE ROAD said:

We think on race use, of course. But also all the Tenere 700 riders that e.g. ride around the world and want to keep repairing as simple as possible. Plus the much better contact to the bike on the right bike side.
When riding with MX boots the right leg is always pushed to the outside. With the relocated position of the lever you know have enough space to stand with  a straight and not "bend" right leg.

That bend is annoying. Is the position of the brake lever different with this?

 

Glad to see y'all here on the forum! The Haan/Excel wheels I got are holding up really well.

[qInvention]

On 6/29/2024 at 3:20 PM, Dougie said:

1300? Holy Shet, paid less for my 1vj

I think my “minds eye” for estimating costs was frozen in the 90s. I still think anything over £2 a pint is a rip off for fermented recycled piss.

Yup, I gave €750.- for my 3AJ 

[Dougie]

In all seriousness, I appreciate engineering for the correct reason like this, solving a problem, and making things better. Been in the field for decades. 
I’m just a tight bastard. If anyone wants to buy me one, I’ll write their name on my screen.