| Author | Message | ||
     Javakilla |
Anyone have any experience with the shorty break and clutch levers on Ebay from hong kong for $50? RW. | ||
| Andymnelson |
Lots of experience on this board, most of it involving 2 things: 1) the necessity to modify the levers to work properly on our bikes 2) front brake lock ups due to the lever being made improperly made for our bikes. Yup, stupid cheap levers causing accidents. Save up your pennies and buy some CRGs. | ||
| Andymnelson |
Here's the most recent story I have read of this happening: http://www.buellxb.com/Buell-XB-Forum/Buell-Lightn ing-XB12S-XB12Ss-CityX-XB12Scg/Batman-bites-it | ||
| Froggy |
There is a in the 1125R section that had his front brake lockup on him at high speeds a few months ago, he also was running the cheap levers. | ||
| Javakilla |
Cheap mirrors kinda ok.. Cheap levers you could die.. Thanks for the info RW | ||
| Sneth |
this would have been useful info to me a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure what happened, but afterwards the front brake was locked. I just put some cheap china levers on, and I bet this happened to me. Luckily i was only going 10 mph. | ||
| Briz31 |
NOTE: the Levers he had installed. The Guy on the link (buell XB forum) They were "97-03 gsxr shorty levers" From the forum: ""You have those gsxr ebay levers don't you? Check and make sure they're not pressing on the plunger in the master cylinder at all. I've seen a few people here say they've had problems with their brakes locking up after they put those levers on because they didn't grind them down far enough. "" | ||
| Greg_e |
Mine are functionally great, but then again I'm not a twit and machined them enought to be a correct match to the stock based on the pivot point. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
I have them on my Ducati 999S, and they work great. I had CRG's on my XB12SR and they were not any better, and I never could understand why they were so expensive for what you get. These levers are very simple items. Now that I think of it, I had to modify the CRG brake lever to fit the modified, (Shindy), master cylinder. When fitting any but a stock brake lever, if you don't know how to do a little fitting, adjusting, and checking, it is best to leave the job to a pro. | ||
| Trojan |
I had CRG's on my XB12SR and they were not any better, and I never could understand why they were so expensive for what you get Take them to pieces. You'll find that the CRG/Pazzo etc levers have 'proper' bearings inside to make adustment easy and a simple click. All of the cheap Chinese levers Ihave seen have either cheap bushes or nothing at all so that they will wear faster and get sloppy quickly. That is without going into the design costs etc that CRG hade to undergo and the Chinese don't. On the subject of levers this is very important: The 2009 -2010 models are listed by ASV and others as having the same brake lever as the 1125 models (which is the same as the early tube frame bikes). We have found that this is not always the case, and some 2010 bikes have the earlier XB master cylinder fitted. I can only think that when the factory was closing down they fitted what they had available to the 2010 bikes so they are not all the same! If you get a replacement lever for your 2009-2010 bike (from any supplier/manufacturer) you MUST compare it very carefully to the one you are removing. If it is not EXACTLY the same then beware, your front brake may lock up. It is best to fit the lever then jack up the front of the bike and spin the wheel. Apply the lever hard a few times and ensure that you still have free movement of the wheel. If it starts to bind then you have the wrong lever for your bike. | ||
| Javakilla |
Anybody have experience with rideit moto levers? http://www.rideitmoto.com/products_list.php?id=241 RW | ||
| Arctic9r |
+ for pazzo racing levers | ||
| B00stzx3 |
Buy some CRGs (Message edited by b00stzx3 on April 22, 2011) | ||
| Tiltcylinder |
I picked up a pair of the long ones and a pair of the short ones. They worked fine out of the box. Due to all the threads about front brake lock up and such... I built a little jig to hold them at the pivot point so I could measure and make sure they were Ok BEFORE installing them. They were within a few thousandths... perfectly acceptable. The shape of the radius where it contacts the master's piston is a little different, but seemed fine. Installed the set of longs and drove around the neighborhood (a stop sign at every corner) for ten minutes. No problems noticed. Rode back to the garage and immediately raised front wheel off the ground and checked drag... fine. Rode a few hundred miles last Saturday (100 or so in the rain) without issue. The machining and anodizing are good. They don't have bushings (not a concern for me as I lube all the pivoting bits and cables twice a year). (There is no substitute for a decent, hands touching as many bits as possible maintenance program for you bike.) They're a bit floppy up n down (ninety degrees to the intended direction of operation). They're a bit less rounded over on the edges, more squarely shaped... no noticable discomfort after the rides. The clutch lever does brush the plastic hand guard. Can't use the shorty on the clutch side for long, as I tried to remove that middle finger with an alternator fan years ago... still hooked on and looks fine but heavy use provides lots of pains. I'm going to carry the second set as spares, the originals remaining home as spare spares(?). Ever try dropping by the dealer for a Buell lever? Overall a nice set of levers for the price... think both sets cost 65 dollars with shipping... about what two stock levers cost from the dealer (if you can get them). They also come in fancy colors for those who like that sort of thing. | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
I've had a pair of the shorty hong kong levers on my XT for the past 2000 miles. Just did my 10k maintenance yesterday, including taking the clutch cable out of the lever perch to inspect it and lube it really well. It shows zero signs of wear, no fitment issues at all. While I had the cable out, I drilled a small hole in the top of the clutch perch that will allow very easy access to lubricate the cable in the future. IMO, improper cable maintenance is why people have problems with cables fraying and breaking - this can include not lubricating the cable and/or not adjusting it in accordance with the service manual. As for the brake lever, it has never showed any signs of binding. Lever feel also gives me no reason to think that there are any fitment issues that could cause the brakes to lock up. I have a pair of CRG's on my X1 that I ordered from American Sport Bike. While they're aesthetically superior to the hong kong levers, they don't work any better. They're definitely not worth the 5x larger price tag. FYI, I keep the clutch cable lubricated with the following product from American Sport Bike:  http://www.americansportbike.com/shoponline/ccp0-p rodshow/5387.html I keep both lever pivots lubricated with a generous coating of white lithium grease. | ||
| Boliver |
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