As good as Pazzo and ASV are, I think they've been ripping us off for years. They need to get the message that they have some competition, and it's good.
Hope it's not too long before they start churning out quality exhausts copied from Yoshi/Akro!I mean £800 for an Akro slip on before the PCV and dyno set up is taking the p***.I could buy 6 exhausts for my 02 plate Fiesta for that!
This thought has crossed my mind before but maybe you could save cash by going pazzo brake and cheapo clutch? Clutch lever will be under the same pressure as the brake and if it did snap its not dangerous
Before I got a set for the ZZR1400 the quality and durability issue did cross my mind however I think the days of " Made in Hong -cong are well and truly over .What seems to have happened in China is that in the last 15 years they have pumped millions of pounds into new factories with state of the art Engineering tooling this is something our beloved England has clearly not done since the War and the fact they are also the masters of copying anything and everything its not hard to replicate a set of levers although I am no expert on metals perhaps Colin or young Tyke could add to this thread with expertise on the subject but from my point of view " They don't make em out of chocolate so the metals must be either the same or even better" ..
Actual pressure applied on a Brake lever is minimal even in emergency braking! It would take many many more NM of pressure applied before anything happened and even then the worst that could happen is it would bend rather than snap like the scaremongeres would av U believe. Put mine on the ZX10 today and reet good they look too. In fact I was more taken with how shyte the standard Kwak levers felt and looked when removed in comparison to the new one's. Three Tips though! 1) The Clutch uses the greased sleeve from the standard clutch lever so this needs sliding out with a Flat Blade driver and inserting in to the new levers locating hole. 2) The Brake lever doesn't and it's hole is milled perfectly. 3) The Brake lever has a gold coloured insert which spins freely inside the lever assembly, this insert has a drilled recess into which the plunger pin from the master cylinder needs to locate. It is possible to fit them with the pin outside of the recess and just pushing against the round insert which binds the brakes permanently on slightly. This is what some numpties have probably done in the past and then when the brakes are warmed up the pin depresses further and locks up the front wheel! Tiz like all mechanical installs, if you aint got a Scooby leave the job to someone who has! Forgot to take pix soz!
Chinese levers, some research to tink about...... Some research: CNC doesn’t mean anything. Period. It is a machining process. Levers (CNC) are from a piece of billet aluminium (US-EU made) are stronger than a lever made out of CNC'd pot metal (Chinese made). There are also many different grades of aluminium, like aircraft grade aluminium for example. 6061 is the most popular grade of aluminium, but even different 6061 aluminium’s vary greatly depending on their temper. The mechanical properties of 6061 depend greatly on the temper, or heat treatment, of the material. 6061-O: Annealed 6061 (6061-O temper) has maximum tensile strength no more than 18,000 psi (125 MPa), and maximum yield strength no more than 8,000 psi (55 MPa). The material has elongation (stretch before ultimate failure) of 25–30%. 6061-T4: T4 temper 6061 has an ultimate tensile strength of at least 30,000 psi (207 MPa) and yield strength of at least 16,000 psi (110 MPa). It has elongation of 16%. 6061-T6 T6 temper 6061 has an ultimate tensile strength of at least 42,000 psi (300 MPa) and yield strength of at least 35,000 psi (241 MPa). More typical values are 45,000 psi (310 MPa) and 40,000 psi (275 MPa), respectively. In thicknesses of 0.250 inch (6.35 mm) or less, it has elongation of 8% or more; in thicker sections, it has elongation of 10%. T651 temper has similar mechanical properties. The typical value for thermal conductivity for 6061-T6 at 80°C is around 152 W/m K. A material data sheet defines the fatigue limit under cyclic load as 14,000 psi (100 MPa) for 500,000,000 completely reversed cycles using a standard RR Moore test machine and specimen. Note that aluminium does not exhibit a well-defined "knee" on its S-n graph, so there is some debate as to how many cycles equates to "infinite life". Also note the actual value of fatigue limit for an application can be dramatically affected by the conventional de-rating factors of loading, gradient, and surface finish. Info Aluminium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pot metal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billet_...turing)#Billet Aluminium alloy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Manufacturers like ASV, Gilles, Harris, Pazzo etc. have quality control and the Levers are MOT, TUEV, EU tested and approved! Which means that if a product does not meet a minimum standard it is thrown away. Chinese manufacturing facilities do not. As long as it looks like a popularly named US or EU product they put it up on ebay. Unfortunately people buy them. Some people might NEVER have a problem with them, maybe only a handful actually have problems, but I am not willing to take that risk at all. THE most important systems on your bike are the brakes, aren't they? So, it's your risk looking cool with cheap Chinese levers.
I wouldnt worry about them breaking and FYI T6 is the alloy we used for airbus A320/330 and 380 wing ribs so if its good enough for them.and your right about CNC, its just computer numerical control here is what I used to do LiveLeak.com - Airbus parts being cut on 6 axis machines
The Lever Guards are made out of 7075 T6 aluminum construction with hard anodized coating? Spose that's a 'Bag-O-Shyte' too eh BD?
Why try so hard so persuade everyone? Why not just use the cheapest components ypu can find all over your bike, tyres, exhaust, etc. I just don't understand why some of you are so keen to "sell" these levers to everyone else.
less selling them and more giving personal information on them as there is so many myths.suppose it like the Iphone crowd, nothing but the dearest will do no matter how good or bad the product is.
Agree with the first part but not the second part. I think the iphone is made in China. I've read a few reports of manufacturing issues with "Chinese levers". Enough to justify not buying them (or not buying levers from an unknown source anyway). Although the other obvious factor is that they're not all the same.
yes that is true, like anything there is good and bad versions. a friend of mine had his 01 R1 bind the front brakes but then when I asked him if he checked the new levers with the old ones he said no no matter what brand you use I would say that was common sense, they were cheap hong kong ones but one look at them and you could see the piston actuator was about 6mm larger so the brake had no free play. but as I said, his own fault for not checking before fitting.also I remember many moons ago going to fix titex levers to a gixer, was warned on the gixer forums not to fit that cheap czech tat, think most shops stock them now at a nice price tag too lol.
Well I'm not here to 'Sell' to anyone, just giving my first hand opinion that's all! Maybe we could have a first hand opinion/report from someone whose actually crashed after fitting these levers?? Taking the ZX10 Tracker to Darley Moor this coming friday complete with new 'Chinky Jap Crap' levers so if you don't here from me again from Friday night on wards then the rumours may be right!
Have read a few first hand reports and some are down to muppetry but some sound like genuine defects. Luck of the draw and as you say, inspect closely before use
