| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
Well, had a minute of bad luck yesterday that led to a really crappy ride home. I was doing some work on the land we own, getting ready to pull a couple bushes out. We don't have a tractor, so I was using our M35A2 'deuce and a half' 6x6. It works very well, it was cheap...but it weighs 13,500 lbs empty. So I set the parking brake and get out, and start walking to the back of the truck so I can hook the chain to the pintle hook. I got to the back of the truck much faster than I should have - because it was rolling. It dodged a cargo trailer and a riding mower, and went straight for my Uly. When everything had stopped moving and I'd stopped cursing like a sailor and took a look, the right front wheel of the deuce was on top of the front wheel of the Uly, which was laying on its right side with the throttle grip commpletely buried in the ground (thank god it was soft ground or it could have been much worse). Got the truck off the bike, and stood it up (those damned things are heavy when they're laying flat!). Front brake lever, totally gone. Only thing left was the pad for the adjuster wheel, and the little spring. Right mirror, also gone (later found both, completely buried in the ground). Throttle OK. Handguard popped off, snapped back in place (found out when I got home that when it twisted, it actually loosened the brake line bolt by hitting one corner of the head and turning). Dirt here, there, everywhere, some grass stuck in the right bead of the front tire, and the front end was twisted. Straightening the front end was just a matter of loosening the trees and the lower clamps and straightening the alignment - nothing appears to be bent. Amazingly the bars weren't bent. The really crappy part was having to ride home through the mountains with NO front brake. The "driveway" to the land I was working on is little more than a pair of singletracks side by side - washed out, pitted, rocky, loose gravel. Lots of fun. Not exactly front brake terrain in the first place, but given the slope I would have liked a little extra 'whoa' power. It made me think about notching my levers (and I now carry a spare pair in my stow-n-go bag under the seat, too), so if I did break another one it would only break part of it, and I could have at least a little brake ability for the ride home if needed. Where do folks notch their levers - face? Grip side? Top/bottom? How deep is enough for accident breakaway but not normal use flex? | ||
| Bearly |
Rat OMG that's so bad... Your Deuce running away from you is bad enough sorry to hear that but then to aim at your Uly? That's a bad day. Never take a day off of work again! Notched levers are a great Idea. My Uly went down without me once as I hit rear brake on top of a lone rock on sandy concrete. My miss hap just took the ball off of the end of the clutch lever. Al at American Sport Bike has some of the high dollar adjustable kind of levers over here. BRAKE LEVER (Message edited by bearly on June 20, 2008) | ||
| Ulyranger |
That's a bad day for sure, can't believe you made out that good(or should say the Uly). The wheel or fork tube or handle bar should have been bent......these Ulys sure are tough. How did you ensure the forks were not tweaked? I've driven several Dueces and have never trusted those parking brakes on anything other than flat ground. On any kind of slope I chock the wheels, or park with a bumper up against a tree or rock or some other solid object. | ||
| Ratbuell |
The thing that gets me on the deuce is when you climb out, your thigh hits the release button on the parking brake handle. Government design at its best, lol. Worst part is, even if I was going to chock the wheels, I hadn't gotten past the spare before it started rolling. I try not to start/stop/start/stop too much either because I don't have any 24v vehicles to jump the thing with, lol. I have CRG stubbies on my S1W and like 'em, but I'm not into spending nearly $200 on levers at the moment. Stock lever, check. Cutoff wheel, check. Grind a notch about tthhhhaaaaaattttt deep, check. lol. | ||
| Bearly |
Too bad you don't sell them up there Rat. You could get the employee discount! | ||
| Miamiuly |
I don't notch them but I do leave the controls "dirt bike loose." Tight enough not to move under normal use but just loose enough that with two hands, you can force them to slip and twist on the bars. Worked at least once so far and probably kept me from breaking my arm when it got wedged in between the grip and brake lever as I went down. (off road spill) (Message edited by miamiuly on June 20, 2008) | ||
| Arcticktm |
If you have access to a dirt bike, look at that. They almost all have notched levers. I can speak from experience here: My KTM640 fell off the truck when unloading recently, and the handguard flexed enough to allow the front brake lever to break. KTM uses notched levers, so only the last 1.5" broke off (including the ball end). The notch is cast in to the lower half of the lever (facing down). It is not very deep. Only about 0.06" by my measurement. It is less than 1/2" long (maybe 0.3"). So, cut a 0.06" deep x 0.3" long notch into the lower half of the lever (which meant about .25" tall on my KTM lever) at about 1.5" from the ball end of the lever. The 1.5" could depend on the bend of the lever. The KTM lever has a bend in this area, so that makes it the best place to put the notch, and allows plenty of lever to still be left over when the end breaks off. Hope this helps. Keep in mind that this is a cast in notch, so the edges/corners are pretty smooth. Cutting a groove with a sharp edge tool would make the lever a bit weaker than the cast notch design, due to the sharp corners of the notch. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
I have not done anything to my Uly, or other street bikes, but I do make a fracture point on my race bikes' levers. I drill a 3/8" hole through the lever about 3" from the end. The exact spot is was originally determined by wrapping tape around the lever just about where my third finger crossed. When a lever breaks, I'm left with three fingers' purchase. I clamp the lever and use a spade bit to drill (no walking) then use a counterbore to relive the sharp edges. Mark in Arizona | ||
| Skully |
+1 on the 3/8" hole | ||
| Ratbuell |
Great info everyone, thanks. Right now I have a "wrong" silver Firebolt lever on there that is going to remain as a spare. Guess it can be a drill-bit guinea pig too, once the black Uly lever arrives  | ||
| Miamiuly |
If you have access to a dirt bike, look at that. They almost all have notched levers. I'll have to look at my ktm 125, I know they are short and I know I made sure the perches were loose enough to get moved in a crash. My pazzo levers on my zx10r came notched, but I still leave the perches just loose enough. It has saved me on the dirt many times and once on the street that I can think of, that time the lever bent some. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Mark/Skully, Let's start with the understanding that I'm mentally challenged. Do you drill the hole vertically down through the lever or directly through the face from front to back? I've been thinking about doing this since I dropped my bike at a motel cross walk. Someone decided that putting polished interior stone outside where it would be rained on would be a good thing.  |
