Personally, I'd rather have the cable,Why you ask?
1. Cables only snap when they are not maintained, meaning yearly, ya got to lube the cable, if you don't, yes! it can snap. With hydraulics, No adjustment...
2. I can adjust any clutch with the cable for the way I want it to grab, Hydraulics, either it's in or out, no slipping, if needed...
3. When travelling afar, if my cable should break, with a spare or new one I can fix, Hydraulic clutch fluid go out, your done, call a tow truck... Expensive fix cause now it has to be bled.

With that being said, Yeah hydraulics may be the forward move but the machines are getting to be that you must take back to the dealer to repair, just like the cars. And as I get older, changes even though may be a better thing, I'm starting to buck... I've always enjoyed through my winter months to go over every aspect of my bike to be mechanically ready for the season. This way you get to know your bike
Oh my cable, has over 65,000 trouble free miles on it as well as the rest of the bike, (my 2011 tour glide ultra), and still works like new...
Anything mechanical in time can and will fatigue, do scheduled maintenance to keep her running like a kitten

 

Personally, I'd rather have the cable,Why you ask?
1. Cables only snap when they are not maintained, meaning yearly, ya got to lube the cable, if you don't, yes! it can snap. With hydraulics, No adjustment...

My cable snapped in the first 60 days of ownership, it prematurely failed because it was factory defective, not from any lack of owner maintenance. The dealership service manager agreed.

 

Cable should not be breaking at 2800 miles under any circumstances.
Glad you had warranty!

 

Cable = cheaper, simpler, more adjustable, etc. And a new covered, chrome cable was $98 delivered from Barnett that was also stock +3".

 

So where exactly did your cable snap? At either end or somewhere in the middle?

 

The cable pulled out of the barrel at the lever end, it didn't actually break.

 

Hydraulic clutches have been around for decades. On vehicles that may sit for periods of time, they can start to be a problem. Also, many people can conceptualize how to replace a cable. Most, however, cannot rebuild a master cylinder along side the road. Cables may break, hydraulics can leak. I actually see a benefit for cables over hydraulics for that reason.
Now if a person has an injury or for some reason hasn't the strength in their clutch hand/wrist/arm, then a hydraulic clutch can be fitted to make it easier to engage and disengage a clutch.
Other than that, I personally don't see any benefit of hydraulics over cable in this situation.

 

I agree 100%, but only on the older bikes that were so much simpler to tinker on. I could change a clutch cable on my old Suzuki GT750's in about fifteen minutes, but with a Chief Classic, I think the shop took an hour to an hour-and-a-half to re-install that new cable on my Chief.

It seems that everything is more complicated than it needs to be anymore, and even though I'm a fan of hydraulic clutch actuation in the case of the Chief, it's only due to the BS of properly routing the cable on this bike.......but! and it's a big 'but', that's the price of having that beautiful headlight shroud, etc, that I like so much.

 

Maybe it's in my head but I like the feel of a clutch cable over a hydraulic clutch.

 

Never had a hydraulic clutch on a bike go bad and they will self adjust for wear. They use cables for cost......

 

Personally I like the k.i.s.s.
Princable
Keep it simple stupid
But it could just be me

 

I put Venetian blinds on my windshield so I could block the sun too.
I had a hell of a time finding the right shade of red with distressed leather fringe.

 

??????

 

Last summer at Sturgis in backed up traffic (overheating bikes) came across two Ultras that had lost their clutch control due to fluid boiling in the slave cylinder.

 

I've never subjected a motorcycle to the hellishness of riding in Sturgis during the August rally, and I live twenty miles from it. I'm amazed that half the bikes there don't crap out for one reason or another.

I've probably owned fifteen bikes that used hydraulic clutches, and I've never experienced a problem with them, but I've also owned many more than that with cable clutches, and for the most part, they've been trouble free as well.

My original question was simply wondering why, on a bike where few manufacturing shortcuts are evident, they went the way they did with the clutch cable. I wish they would have done the same with the ignition, went equally 'old school' and just used a key to start it.

 

Personally I prefer cable over hydraulics. $160+ to perform a repair/replacement is probably far less than it would cost to make a hydraulic repair. By the way the cabled clutch on my RM is much easier to pull in than the one on my HD EGlide.

 

Already put a Barnett Clutch on my Scout after the OEM stretched the 2nd time .. Give me a Cable anytime sure not worried about it looking matched up on the handlebars, just want to get safely down the road .. Know many that paid Big Bucks for a Hydraulic Conversion on their Ride only to regret it after they did ..

 

I personally am a huge fan of the hydraulic clutches. Simply because they are very consistent. I find that old school folks and big twin riders prefer the cable clutch better. It's one of those things like handlebars or seats. Whatever the rider likes best. I would consider a hydraulic clutch if a reliable good one was available for my Chieftain.

 

Just thought would mention that the Polaris Built Vision the only Hydraulic Clutch in the Victory Line Up has far more Clutch Failures than any of the Cable Models ..

 

Maybe they just haven't figured out how to make a good hydraulic clutch system yet (though just about everyone else has by this time). That may be more of a condemnation of Victory than of that type of system overall.

 

how common is this cable failure?
Does the frequency of failure warrant carrying a spare?

 

It's not common at all, and it would probably be far more useful to carry spare inner tubes than a cable.

My cable problem at 2800 miles was a fluke, and not typical.

In my experience, both the hydraulic and cable clutch systems are very reliable, my original question wasn't based on a reliability concern, but why Polaris chose one over the other, the cable system being decidedly 'low-tech' when a more complicated way was available. Polaris seems to pride themselves on going the more complicated route with many things on this bike, so why stop with a cable?

 

I'm no Motorcycle Mechanic although done my share of wrenching to upkeep .. Clutch Adjustment to me is part of simple maintenance, and very simple to do .. I realize some want the bike to take care of itself .. Changing Oil is not a Service .. Are Adjustments to be made and Inspections to be checked if plan on doing things yourself..

At least a few of you rember doing a walk around the bike checking the chain look at the sprockets checking the free play on the breaks and clutch looking at the oil leaves doing weekly value adjustments ect that's what keep you alive or at least not stranded
Now guy ride and no nothing or very little other than this is the brake and this is the throttle

 

Not fond of hydraulic clutches on anything, exspecially a motorcycle. The cable can be adjusted to my grip. I don't think hydraulic have that ability. Plus, something else to leak.

 

I just got rid of a 2014 Limited with a hydraulic clutch. I like the cable better for reasons stated above, no adjustment possible with hydraulic clutch and I didn't find the pull any easier.

 

Hydraulic clutches are better...period. The automatically adjust through the wear cycle. Polaris doesn't use them because of cost................

 

It's that your opinion or is that a fact?

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

 

Fact. Look at the systems and how they work. Their operation for effort can be manipulated by the size of their operator and slave cylinders. A cable system is ancient technology. A other vehicles use hydraulics for clutches and brakes.........

 

So you have documentation that show Polaris won't use it because costs too much?

 

Never Owned a Motorcycle with a Hydraulic Clutch and really don't feel it's a must have at my age .. Replaced Cables on Most every make though although in almost 50 years of riding had a cable break on me once .. Simple maintenance and a cable will last 50,000 Miles and is very easy to replace on most Bikes anyway .. But if feel the need for a Hydraulic by all means go for it ..

 

Replaced the clutch cable on my Vintage with a Barnett + 1/2 inch cable (better fit with beach bars) only because I do not trust the OEM cable about 2 hours work to replace.

 

So you have documentation that show Polaris won't use it because costs too much?

The Victory Vision has always had a Hydraulic Clutch .. Maybe they had to add it to get people buy that strange looking thing ..

 

So you have documentation that show Polaris won't use it because costs too much?

Does anyone have documentation that proves otherwise? Heh Heh............

 

Exactly. So it's just your opinion, which is completely fine.

 

Nope, busy with work and looking for another state to live. Gonna' flee this awful place and find some peace.

 

OK, good luck at both.

 

Whether I prefer a hydraulic clutch or cable depends on the bike. I guess I'm really quite indifferent in general, though I would not want the added technical complexity of a hydraulic clutch on my SR400 Yamaha. It's a simple little machine that uses a simple cable clutch system. Everything is exposed and easy to get at, adjust, and replace if necessary.

Rather than the two hours it takes a shop to replace the clutch cable on my Vintage (not to mention the $160-$170 price of the 'Indian' cable alone...what are we at then, a $400+ effing clutch cable repair?), it would take me about twenty minutes to replace the SR's clutch cable myself, and probably cost about $35.

So! I now prefer cable actuated motorcycle clutches, though not necessarily on modern 'premium' motorcycles like the Polaris Indians, where like everything else with this bike, costs four times what it should to repair.