Fragile levers

Snakeoil · Post by **Snakeoil** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 9:47 am

Yesterday, I fired up my CL77 to test a new exhaust mod and when I was pushing the bike out int the driveway I grabbled a handful of brake and the lever snapped like a twig. Could have been nasty because the edges were like a razor. Both clutch and brake levers were replaced over the winter and I thought I had bought NOS levers. Vendor does not know about this yet because it is Sunday so I'm not going to mention their name until we have had a chance to work this out.

I suspect these are aftermarket levers, although they look excellent. I had a friend launch his Harley thru his workbench when a Taiwan clutch lever snapped.

I'm going to call my usual sources tomorrow in search of a pair of matching NOS levers. Does anyone here no of a good source? Or does anyone here have a used '67 clutch lever they will sell? My brake lever was fine, but my clutch ever broke when the bike fell off the sidestand last summer. I'll post an Wanted Ad in the parts section along with photos if somebody has one they want to part with.

regards,
Rob

cyclon36 · Post by **cyclon36** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 9:55 am

Wow, good thing it happened while you were pushing it and not when you were trying to stop at an intersection or something.

Dana01 · Post by **Dana01** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 10:50 pm

These say NOS, but I would take it with a bit of Malaysian salt. Price is right.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HONDA-CB ... ccessories

Snakeoil · Post by **Snakeoil** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:18 am

Thanks Dana, but I don't trust those parts. The bag is probably a repro as well as the levers. Those black ended levers are for sale all over the place. But they are not Honda items. The ball end is smaller and the rubber sock is longer.

regards,
Rob

Snakeoil · Post by **Snakeoil** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 10:55 am

As a follow up, I got my replacement lever in the mail from the supplier and a day later got my NOS levers from Fast Fred. I put the repro brake lever on to give it the acid test. With a welding glove on to protect my hand, I applied my vise-like grip (eat your heart out, Arnold) and the lever did not snap. But it did yield and bend a bit. I pulled on it and straightened it out and did it again and of course, it bent again. Not much, but then again it should not bend at all.

So my conclusion is the material properties of these repro levers are iffy at best with variation from glass hard to somewhat soft. The NOS levers from Fred did not yield a bit and there is a lot more meat to them than those repro levers. They were dirt cheap, about 3 bucks each so I'll just toss them in my emergency spares box should I need one one day in a pinch, which I hope will never happen.

Another thing I noticed with the NOS levers is when they changed the part number on the levers, they also changed the perch at the same frame number point. When I installed Fred's levers, they fit, but not perfectly and leave a small gap at the joint with the perch and are a bit proud of the perch at the end. Not a big deal for me. They work fine and I'm happy. But if you are doing a 100 point restoration, keep in mind that the old levers need the old perches to look perfect.

Thanks for sending those levers so quickly Fred.

regards,
Rob