Sunday, April 19, 2015

You get what you pay for...

So, as I posted a while back, I got myself a Harley.  She was beautiful when I bought her...


...but I wanted to make a few changes.  The turn signals are gone, replaced by integrated mirror LED lights...


...the barn-door windshield has been replaced by something sportier, the bars are now black T-bars with Avon grips...

...the wimpy Fox shocks were ditched in favor of stouter (and lower) Progressive Suspension units...





...the taillight is now a smoked LED box and the rear signals are smoked red LEDs at the ends of the fender struts...





...and I have forward controls.  Or, I should say, I had forward controls.





I figured they were a great deal.  About $280, and they'd bolt right up to my Dyna.  Yeah, well, they did bolt right up, but that was the best thing about them.

A couple of weeks after I put them on, I was riding to work, went to downshift and...nothing.  The lever went right down and stayed there.  Oh, crap.  I nursed it into the Maverick station with much swearing and clutch abuse, parked it and tried to figure out what happened.

OK, the pinch bolt on the lever worked loose.  No big, I'll just get that sucker tightened up.  I had a set of 4" grip pliers, so I clamped them on the bolt and gave it some muscle.  They did nothing but chew the bolt up.  I couldn't get enough grip to close up the gap properly.  I'd find out why later.

First things first, I had to get to work.  So I grabbed the linkage, put it in second and headed for the hardware store, powershifting by hand all the way and getting there seven minutes before they closed.  My tool bag now has a complete set of allen keys, which I should have had in the first place.  I cranked the bolt down, finally getting enough purchase, and headed to work.

So now the pinch bolt looks like the north end of a southbound dog.  I figured I'd get a new one and replace it.  This was the point where I should have left well enough alone.  Here's what these cheap Chinese pieces of junk ended up looking like.  Not only did the threads inside the lever strip out, but the splines rounded right off the inner lever!!





See all those dents?  That happened when I was desperately trying to close the gap by smacking the lever with the only tool I had:  a cheapo 4" monkey wrench.  I could see scratching the chrome, but flat-out denting the thickest part of the lever??  And now, looking at those splines, it's small wonder I couldn't get the freakin' thing to grip.

This is not metal.  This is chrome-plated cheese.  Until the Chinese get a handle on how to make actual steel, I'm buying American, thanks.  New forwards are on the way, and I'll post an update when they're on.