Fings wot I 'ave learned about pattern parts.

[garynortheast]

...about buying cheap pattern parts.
Don't!

When I bought my SV the end was broken off the front brake lever and the clutch lever was bent so I bought a pair of shiny looking levers from a shop in the states. When they arrived the clutch lever didn't fit as it had no provision for the clutch switch. A friend of mine who has spent many years gently straightening alloy parts for his sons who are both into trials riding, applied a spot of heat and restored the lever to it's correct shape. The front brake lever fitted but was difficult to use as it didn't have a sufficient range of span adjustment and when I tried to use the brake with just two fingers it was too close to the bar and pinched my other two fingers. The lever I've just bought from Daz (scrappyracer) is a proper Suzuki item and has plenty of adjustment. I can use the brake with two fingers again and still have plenty of clearance.

I'll stick to either better quality proprietary parts or Suzuki item in future.

I'll give it two hours.....

you get what you pay for i guess

do americans know what an SV is? thought they'd only sell Harley levers :P

I wouldn't touch pattern levers with a bargepole.

A guy I race with fitted a new pattern brake lever to his GSXR. On the first practice lap coming down the back straight, his front brakes lock on, almost throwing over the bars.

Get back to the pits and we try all sorts- stripping and cleaning the calipers, pistons, checking seals and everytime, after a few heavy pulls of the lever, the calipers start to bind again. Turns out the the recess in the pattern lever for the master cylinder pin was too shallow so when it was bolted onto the perch, it applied pressure to the master cylinder. Not enough to notice at first, but enough to lock the brakes as soon as the were used harder.

Originally Posted by lukemillar

I wouldn't touch pattern levers with a bargepole.

A guy I race with fitted a new pattern brake lever to his GSXR. On the first practice lap coming down the back straight, his front brakes lock on, almost throwing over the bars.

Get back to the pits and we try all sorts- stripping and cleaning the calipers, pistons, checking seals and everytime, after a few heavy pulls of the lever, the calipers start to bind again. Turns out the the recess in the pattern lever for the master cylinder pin was too shallow so when it was bolted onto the perch, it applied pressure to the master cylinder. Not enough to notice at first, but enough to lock the brakes as soon as the were used harder.

Sadly ive seen and heard of this happening quite a few times. The pattern levers can be horrendous fit sometimes and when it comes to brakes..dont mess about!..the bike has them for a reason.

[garynortheast]

And bingo! Took a bit more than the two hours I anticipated but it got doctored. Now the title and the first line of the post no longer make sense so perhaps whoever added the unnecessary part to the title would like to take responsibility for editing the post as well so that it scans properly.
Then perhaps you could come and show me how to tie my laces and wipe my ****.

eh?

This is getting pathetic now Sid.

[dizzyblonde]

Not all pattern parts are naff.
Things like brake dust seals, or exhaust gaskets for instance, that I've used for instance have never been problematic.( I've bought lots of things from Wemoto when rebuilding one of my SVs, as the real ones were mega bucks)
I have heard of many cheapo levers breaking or bending, and personally for those items I would certainly only ever buy the OE ones.

Depends what you're buying & who you're buying it from I guess. I buy OE Fork seals but other than that...