Budget Chinese Levers Installed

5830 Views 17 Replies 10 Participants Last post by mercer854, Mar 9, 2018

mercer854

Discussion Starter · Aug 17, 2017

Chinese front brake & clutch levers from:

CNC Brake Clutch Ducati SUPERSPORT/S (2017) Adjustable Engrave Short Lever | eBay

Hey, they do say "Ducati" on the levers! They are nicely finished, but probably lack the precision of the high dollar stuff. The clutch lever mounting hole had to be opened up a molecule or two's thickness for the pivot pin to drop in, and it does not have the plastic bushing insert of the Ducati piece. I will open the hole further to accept that bushing when I am at my shop at a future date, but it moves freely as it is with no slop.

The brake lever is working fine, too. The high dollar stuff probably has it own plunger installed, but at this price you take the stock lever apart and re-use the Ducati brake plunger.

So what would have been a 5 minute job with stock levers took 45 minutes, as I proceeded in a leisurely manner with a hand drill for the clutch lever and an improvised drift to drive out the brake pivot bushing.

I like the reach and adjustablilty, but I wish Ducati had reversed the positions of the brake mount and the ignition/kill switch. I'll get around to that before I go to the track again. It usually means either grinding off the locator pin in the controls or drilling a new hole on the bar...normal stuff.

The plunger is missing in the picture of the front brake lever assbly;you'll see it already installed in the new lever in the next picture.

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1 - 18 of 18 Posts

amoslws

· #2 · Aug 17, 2017

Have you experienced any DQS issues yet or haven't you tested it.

se7en

· #3 · Aug 17, 2017

Looks like Pazzo knockoffs.

mercer854

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 17, 2017 (Edited)

amoslws said:
Have you experienced any DQS issues yet or haven't you tested it.

Good question. I disable the DQS on the street so I haven't checked. Stand by for results.

'Splain to me how the clutch switch interacts with the DQS. I really don't know.

mercer854

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 17, 2017

se7en said:
Looks like Pazzo knockoffs.

Pretty generic shorty levers, really.

melba

· #6 · Aug 17, 2017

Hmmm - I think I'll stick with the originals, I really don't mind the standard levers

mercer854

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 17, 2017 (Edited)

amoslws said:
Have you experienced any DQS issues yet or haven't you tested it.

Quick ride through the gears Up & Down shifting. DQS working fine, so far.

Levers feel more natural to me & work well...one/two fingers operate clutch & brake easily w/o changing the hand's location on the grip. Of course, I angle the levers down quite a bit from stock so there is little or no bend at the wrist.

Reactions: 1

Neshotosam

· #8 · Aug 19, 2017

amoslws said:
Have you experienced any DQS issues yet or haven't you tested it.

Yes

I installed these short levers (Ride It forever) that I bought from Amazon for $70

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MR5TTI3/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But I could not get the DQS to work no matter how I adjusted the cable. The indicator panel did not display any malfunction. I liked the feel but ended up switching back to the OME. Guess I'll ship 'em back and not go the cheap route...you get what you pay for.

Reactions: 1

mercer854

Discussion Starter · #9 · Aug 19, 2017

Neshotosam said:
Yes

I installed these short levers (Ride It forever) that I bought from Amazon for $70

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MR5TTI3/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But I could not get the DQS to work no matter how I adjusted the cable. The indicator panel did not display any malfunction. I liked the feel but ended up switching back to the OME. Guess I'll ship 'em back and not go the cheap route...you get what you pay for.

Sucks. My $40 levers and the DQS work fine with no cable adjustment.

Still not clear on how the clutch switch interacts with the DQS. Anybody?

DucatiAngel

· #10 · Aug 19, 2017

mercer854 said:
Chinese front brake & clutch levers from:

CNC Brake Clutch Ducati SUPERSPORT/S (2017) Adjustable Engrave Short Lever | eBay

Hey, they do say "Ducati" on the levers! They are nicely finished, but probably lack the precision of the high dollar stuff. The clutch lever mounting hole had to be opened up a molecule or two's thickness for the pivot pin to drop in, and it does not have the plastic bushing insert of the Ducati piece. I will open the hole further to accept that bushing when I am at my shop at a future date, but it moves freely as it is with no slop.

The brake lever is working fine, too. The high dollar stuff probably has it own plunger installed, but at this price you take the stock lever apart and re-use the Ducati brake plunger.

So what would have been a 5 minute job with stock levers took 45 minutes, as I proceeded in a leisurely manner with a hand drill for the clutch lever and an improvised drift to drive out the brake pivot bushing.

I like the reach and adjustablilty, but I wish Ducati had reversed the positions of the brake mount and the ignition/kill switch. I'll get around to that before I go to the track again. It usually means either grinding off the locator pin in the controls or drilling a new hole on the bar...normal stuff.

The plunger is missing in the picture of the front brake lever assbly;you'll see it already installed in the new lever in the next picture.

My experience with chinese tools and other products has lead me to avoid them like a pestilence. I had to many wrenches, spoons, screwdrivers, drill bits, etc., fail and or break that I would not under any circumstance trust my life to any chinese made product. In my humble opinion the stuff they sell us is junk.

mercer854

Discussion Starter · #11 · Aug 19, 2017

DucatiAngel said:
My experience with chinese tools and other products has lead me to avoid them like a pestilence. I had to many wrenches, spoons, screwdrivers, drill bits, etc., fail and or break that I would not under any circumstance trust my life to any chinese made product. In my humble opinion the stuff they sell us is junk.

I like to buy quality equipment and tools, but I don't like to spend unnecessarily on brand names if a generic works as well.

Most of the stuff you can buy at Harbor Freight, Northern Tools etc is pretty cheaply made chinese stuff, but every now & then there's something worthwhile. I bought a hydraulic lift at Harbor Freight on sale for $ 249 a couple of years ago, and although it's not a work of art it works fine.

Now parts like steering dampers, shocks, triple clamps, wheels I'd avoid cheap knockoffs, but I've used chinese clutch, brake & shift levers on racebikes with no problem, and so far these are working well in the Supersport. They seem well made, as I said, but at $40 lack the precision and elegance that I assume you'd get with a $220 set.

Rather than assume anything from China is crap and everything from Italy is worth a fortune why don't we note which sellers have junk, and which ones make decent products and share that information?

I gave a link to a decent product that costs 1/5 of the boutique levers for anyone interested. If you feel better knowing you paid top dollar, I certainly won't try to dissuade you.

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JaggerCat

· #12 · Aug 19, 2017

If anybody is interested, I have a set of TWM shorties that MotoMillion sells that I'm looking to sell. Although they are great quality, they just aren't as short as I was hoping so I'm in the process of getting ASV shorties like I had on my previous bike. If interested, message me and we'll talk. In USA shipping please, don't wanna deal with customs bullcrap.

Reactions: 2

Dodjer

· #13 · Oct 16, 2017 (Edited)

Neshotosam said:
Yes

I installed these short levers (Ride It forever) that I bought from Amazon for $70

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MR5TTI3/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But I could not get the DQS to work no matter how I adjusted the cable. The indicator panel did not display any malfunction. I liked the feel but ended up switching back to the OME. Guess I'll ship 'em back and not go the cheap route...you get what you pay for.

Hi guys, used all sorts of aftermarket Asian levers in the past with mostly good results. The set I bought on Ebay are fine except for one thing. The profile of the lever does not interact with the micro switch correctly. Simple way to check this is A: Can you hear the micro switch click when you pull the clutch in? B: does the engine crank in gear without pulling the clutch in with the stand up (hand on front brake and touch the starter with your left hand for this suicide test lol) The attached pic shows how I built up the leaver with plastic metal to the same profile as the OEM lever. Problem solved.

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Derek

· #14 · Oct 16, 2017

I found the same problem with the lever not activating the microswitch. My solution was to drill and tap a hole and fit an M4 grub screw to act against the microswitch lever.

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Reactions: 3

tea2jay

· #15 · Oct 16, 2017

JaggerCat said:
If anybody is interested, I have a set of TWM shorties that MotoMillion sells that I'm looking to sell. Although they are great quality, they just aren't as short as I was hoping so I'm in the process of getting ASV shorties like I had on my previous bike. If interested, message me and we'll talk. In USA shipping please, don't wanna deal with customs bullcrap.

i had ASV levers on my 2006 R6 a whiles back and loved them. did you ever get these installed?

Reactions: 1

se7en

· #16 · Oct 16, 2017

tea2jay said:
i had ASV levers on my 2006 R6 a whiles back and loved them. did you ever get these installed?

I had some on my CBR and loved them as well. However, I will say that my TWM's are really well made. I normally prefer shorties, but I'm enjoying the standard length ones this time around.

amoslws

· #17 · Mar 1, 2018

mercer854 said:
Chinese front brake & clutch levers from:

CNC Brake Clutch Ducati SUPERSPORT/S (2017) Adjustable Engrave Short Lever | eBay

Hey, they do say "Ducati" on the levers! They are nicely finished, but probably lack the precision of the high dollar stuff. The clutch lever mounting hole had to be opened up a molecule or two's thickness for the pivot pin to drop in, and it does not have the plastic bushing insert of the Ducati piece. I will open the hole further to accept that bushing when I am at my shop at a future date, but it moves freely as it is with no slop.

The brake lever is working fine, too. The high dollar stuff probably has it own plunger installed, but at this price you take the stock lever apart and re-use the Ducati brake plunger.

So what would have been a 5 minute job with stock levers took 45 minutes, as I proceeded in a leisurely manner with a hand drill for the clutch lever and an improvised drift to drive out the brake pivot bushing.

I like the reach and adjustablilty, but I wish Ducati had reversed the positions of the brake mount and the ignition/kill switch. I'll get around to that before I go to the track again. It usually means either grinding off the locator pin in the controls or drilling a new hole on the bar...normal stuff.

The plunger is missing in the picture of the front brake lever assbly;you'll see it already installed in the new lever in the next picture.

@mercer854
wondering how you are getting on with these levers you posted. Did you swop the electrics and cylinder over, were there any complications with the brake piping or electrical cable lengths??

mercer854

Discussion Starter · #18 · Mar 9, 2018

amoslws said:
@mercer854
wondering how you are getting on with these levers you posted. Did you swop the electrics and cylinder over, were there any complications with the brake piping or electrical cable lengths??

The levers are working fine, wires/tubing just reach. I did move the lower clutch cable clamp a tiny bit to get enough slack to allow full steering throw, then discovered the 'horn' button just touched the tank at full left lock...Yikes! Moved the steering lock adjuster just enough to keep the button clear of the tank. The difference is not really noticeable riding the bike.

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