Bullet-Proof Barnett Clutch Basket

4. Even if everything else is cool, the thing that will make a high performance clutch is a basket that won't break. Three differences you can easily spot between the two baskets is the beefy sealed bearing in the Barnett basket (A), how the hard anodized 7075 metal used makes that cast aluminum stocker look pretty frail, and that the Scorpion basket uses grade-8 fasteners (B), instead of rivets to hold the ring gear. Put another way, the Scorpion basket, though far less likely to need it, is rebuildable.

5. The Scorpion basket weighs in at 8-1/2 pounds, a half pound lighter than the 9-lb factory unit. In itself no big news, but if you're one who follows the finer points of rotating mass and the flywheel effect, there's another element of the Barnett Scorpion kit that we need to touch on.

6. You see even though the outside rim of the "flywheel" in the form of the Scorpion clutch basket is fractionally lighter than stock, this super stout hub assembly is anything but light. At 8 1/4 pounds, it's over two pounds heavier than the Harley hub. However, this heft is concentrated in the center of the rotating assembly. So, inertia is minimized. Since the clutch is the heaviest (and most unbalanced) rotating mass in the powertrain, other than the crankshaft itself, it helps to keep the weight centralized to the mainshaft.

7. Installation is as simple as following the six pages of instructions supplied with the kit. Unless you have a hydraulic press handy, you're not going to be able to do it at home, since the hub assembly must be pressed into the basket. Pulling the stocker requires no puller, which makes it pretty straightforward. Just be sure to tie the automatic tensioner (arrow) down before you pull the old clutch, compensator, and primary chain off. It'll be easier to put things back together without fighting that. Seems a shame to cover up a thing of beauty like this, but once the new Barnett Scorpion clutch assembly is installed, you'll only need fresh primary fluid and a new gasket to button up the primary and go for a ride.

8. All done and you should have a clutch that's up to anything you can throw at, plus a pull at the lever that's as light and easy or easier than stock.The pull at this lever is only 9-10 pounds as measured by this hyper-accurate fish scale. Add in the fact that this clutch is holding well over 110 lb-ft of torque, will not slip or grab, and is only working at a little over half it's capacity, this lever easily controls a whale of a clutch.

9. Speaking of pulling the clutch lever, Barnett has offered the classic black vinyl casing clutch and throttle cables forever. However, with the popularity of people going for that blacked out look, the company has now incorporated black chrome elbows and hardware to create its line of Stealth Series cables.

10. Awhile back we stopped by the Barnett facility in Ventura, California to get one of our project bikes set up with some Stealth Series Cables. While Mike Taylor, president of Barnett, and Joe Snell, head of the Cable Department were taking measurements for our project bike we snuck off to see what we could find.

11. Barnett makes just about everything in-house, so as we wandered around we encountered one of the cable assembly stations. Since they make everything themselves Barnett offers both stock replacement and custom length cables for H-D and aftermarket applications. In 2006 Barnett introduced its High Efficiency (HE) inner wire for '87 and later H-D cable clutches. The HE cables feature nylon coated inner wire, a High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) inner liner, and are pre-lubed, which aids in smooth cable action and reduced lever effort.

12. Here's a collection of Barnett's wide variety of cable fittings in both black chrome as well as mirror chrome just waiting to be assembled. Aside from the black casing Barnett also offers three other casing styles: Platinum Series, Stainless Braided with Clear coat, and Stainless Braid with carbon clear coat.

13. By the time one of the employees found us wandering the assembly floor, our custom length clutch and throttle cables were finished.

14. The Stealth Series clutch cable fits perfectly with the black and chrome look on our project Softail. Even though we routed the clutch cable with a little bit of a tight bend up top, the lever was still easy to pull in.

15. While the black chrome does hold up pretty well, just like regular chrome, you'll want to be carefull when putting a wrench to the black chrome hardware because it can get nicked and or galled. But we were very pleased with the look, and the action in the throttle was very smooth and it snapped back crisply.