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If you are not a fan of the stock KX250/450 clutch lever (or brake lever for that matter) look into an ARC Hydraulic Folding Clutch Lever. We decided to get rid of the skinny clutch lever blade of the stock KX250 and replace with a more traditional slightly wider shape of the ARC. All ARC Clutch levers fold forward when you go down (and we all do at some point) so they don’t bend or break in a fall. Each lever is available in Forged or Machined Black Anodized Aluminum (Or Memlon). What is cool about ARC, is if you do somehow bend or break a lever, they got a 100% guarantee, just ship the lever back and $15 for a new one.
Installing the ARC Hydraulic Folding Clutch Lever is not as easy as simply taking the stock lever off and bolting the ARC on. You have to make sure to adjust 1mm worth of play between the lever and the hydraulic plunger to ensure that you aren’t engaging the clutch or slipping it under load. This is simple to do as you can adjust the set screw near the front of the lever. Once you have adjusted the set screw to the proper amount of free play, as well as lever distance from the bar, you’re ready to ride. The lever is also adjustable for bigger or smaller fingers by simply adjusting the set screw for the amount of reach you want. The shape of the ARC levers are pleasant to most sized hands from size small fingers to larger sausage units. Aden and I can go back and for the with ease on how far we each want the clutch lever distance to be. Aden has performed plenty of spills with the ARC folding levers and so far so good. Not to mention that I am not getting a blister from that stock skinny KX lever. The engagement feel of the ARC lever is a little wider than stock and allows for a more linear pull as well as engine delivery. Basically in a nutshell, the ARC lever isn’t so on/off feeling as the stock piece.
Because the stock front brake lever is as skinny as the clutch lever, so we installed the ARC’s six-way adjust Power Lever. We are able to make the brake of our KX250 feel “Softer” or “Harder”. If you like a more touchy front brake you can install the 19mm chip or if you like a softer touch, you can install the 14mm. The ARC PowerLever comes with 3 FlipChips that give you 6 different power ratios. Each insert has a “divot” that specifies the distance from the lever pivot center to the centerline of the pushrod that actuates the brake. ARC created these special “knees” or chips for factor riders an now the consumer gets some of this special treatment as well. All of the test riders that rode with the ARC Power Lever decided on the 16mm option which gave us a firm feeling brake, but not too touchy. We combined this ARC Power Lever with a Braking Batfly Aluminum rotor and that gave us an increase in front brake feel through corners!
Overall, the whole ARC setup is a good purchase for any bike (as we have this set up on our Yamaha test bikes as well). Whether you purchase the both levers or just one it will pay for itself in the long haul. There’s nothing worse than being at the track or 30 miles away from the truck with a broken lever. Having multiple options to choose from is also a nice addition since they have both the standard aluminum and the memlon levers that are becoming more and more popular. In addition, the replacement parts are available for purchase for the clutch perch so you can replace any part without having to buy the whole setup. The ARC/Nissin Hydraulic Clutch Lever is $79.99 and the Power Lever is $129.99. These are fair prices for levers that are guaranteed for the life of your machine. Check out what the mastermind Bob has over at arclevers.com.
