My choice is the Paragon, of course there are numerous rollers available but most of them are nothing but AC copies with a roller. Which is a benefit in most applications for upshift and backshift but they don't correct a common problem that they have unless it is an enclosed roller.
As we all know, when you switch to the roller you either have to go with a stiffer spring or wrap the secondary tighter to increase the pinch on the belt. Then of course we need to change the primary to compensate.
What a single sided roller (as well as A button clutch) can't do is keep consistent pressure on the belt. And I mean in real world riding, not drag racing on a flat surface.
When you run hard across the lake and hit those hard bumps and unload the track or catch some air on the trails somewhere, what happens when the track bites again and re-load the secondary is, the roller or button jumps off the helix and overshifts the clutch. You can see this commonly on Yammie clucthes because the bottom of the tower casting gets contact marks in a place where it shouldn't ever contact. You'll see this running hard in rough stuff and the tach will vary, or if you just caught some air, land and the tach drops and pulls out of it.
An enclosed roller assy. will not do this. The tach stays rock solid in all conditions. Why do you think the Team works so well in Sno-cross? It's an enclosed roller. I'm not a fan of the 2 roller concept but it works.
A cheaper way to get the enclosed roller concept is to put an ER kit on the Yamaha secondary, no machining required.
What the Paragon does that none of the other clutches do is keep the sheaves opening on the same plane. Every other clutch as it shifts the sheaves rotate. Well if I want belt contact on a pulley, why do I want one side to rotate on the belt and the other side not to???? The Paragon is the ONLY secondary in which the sheaves do not rotate going through the shift range. Therefore you need way less spring in the secondary clutch. On most sleds you can tune it by just putting a higher rate primary spring in it.
Does a Paragon have issues? Sure, the early ones needed a couple changes and if you're not used to tuning with a straight helix you'll cuss the thing out, every new clutch is a challenge.
Is it worth $800? Thats up to you. If you want a cheap roller clutch, its not for you. Myself, I think it's the deal, did I have issues tuning the first one? Sure, can you take any of the 5 of them I have off any of my sleds? Not a chance.
