China Levers vs OEM - Something to think about...

InfiniteReality

InfiniteReality

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I've ran China shorty levers since 2010 and never thought about how soon the levers activate my brake lights. I did a quick search on here and didn't see any mention of this. Recently I've been paying attention to how quickly they hit the switch. Last night I decided to find my powdercoated OEM levers and test both out. While both operated the switch, the OEM I barely had to hit the brakes for it to engage, where as the China levers had to pull further. I believe this is because OEM also has a longer pull vs shorty's. I've been noticing a lot of times when I slow down due to vehicle in front of me turning (or similar), I don't think I'm pulling the lever in far enough to activate it.

I'm sure all China levers have different tolerances, so it may just be the set I have that does this. So I'm back to stock levers, which don't look as nice but do feel more comfortable my brake lights are activating, even when just barely slowing down. I actually like the stock OEM clutch lever feel better, easier to shift. Just something to consider...
 
oldgixxer said:
In addition to that,anyone thinking of buying cheap ebay levers should have a read:
Brakes locking up when riding? New LEVERS? Read here PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!! - Suzuki GSX-R Motorcycle Forums Gixxer.com
Click to expand...

Good link there and good info I didn't know. I tossed them in the busa bin, but now I'll remove and toss them in the trash. :)

Also, something else I noticed that I should have included. I had 2 sets of black levers in my bin and was attempting to determine which one was OEM. 1 set had JY-378 stamped on the bottom of them, when I Googled it apparently it's a Motion Pro stock number for aftermarket levers and discovered they had a recall on them. I'll be tossing them in the trash as well.
 
busafan08 said:
Installed my black short Chinese levers about 5 to 6 months ago so far no problems with them thanks for the thread :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I've been rocking gunmetal Chinese shorties for 5yrs now and no issues I noticed with them riding the brakes. But it bothered me enough about how well they triggered the brake light.
 
u jus don't save that much money buying fleabay stuff. some of its great. some of it isn't. quality control aint there. a name brand quality set is well worth the money but the chances of u havn an issue are prob pretty low but not worth not being able to stop properly at high speeds.
 
The more I use the stock levers the more I regret not putting them on sooner. They're alot smoother operating, especially the clutch, if that makes any sense.
 
Hah, just bought some China levers. I had Pazzo's on my Gen I and I assumed a Chinese company had knocked them off exactly by now.
 
I had a set of the China levers and they kept my brake light on the entire time so, I tried adjusting them with no luck and removed them for some JPA levers. However, my friend has the same Chinese levers on his Busa and they work perfectly so, it seems it is a tolerance issue. I will say that the JPA levers are very nice, high quality and they didn't cost too much either. One piece of advice is with the Chinese levers, they have two sets of bolts that hold them together so, on occasion I would recommend inspecting the bolts to make sure they are adjusted properly. The reason I say this is if you look at how the bolts hold the lever, if either one were to come out, the lever would essentially fall off! That would not be a good day!
 
Another thing that had to be fixed on mine was some small and thin washers (reminds me of RC washers) had to be added to said bolts. They were very wobbly and this solved that issue.

The more I use the OEM levers the more I wish I'd swapped back to them way before now.
 
To each his own,Ive always preferred OEM levers and did not like the feel of aftermarket levers on friends bikes that I have ridden.:dunno:
 
I've had the same set of chazzo levers on 2 hayabusa, I'm not aware of any more travel to activate brake switch. I've heard of some quality issues, the anodizing isnt as good so I went wilth bare aluminium.
 
piratediverjefff said:
I have to agree with you bro,put Pazzos on mine mainly for looks but I think the OEM levers actually feel better on my hands.
Click to expand...

Glad I'm not crazy for really liking the feel of the OEM levers. For whatever reason I kinda like the look since they're powdercoated satin black.. They blend in better and don't stand out like the gray and black China ones. Although the anodizing held up really well
 
I have long Pazzo levers on mine and the fit and finish is great , Black with purple not faded in 6 years, I have China Stuff on my Vmax and they need some more pull then the stockers but they look killer.
 
Good write-up C10.
On the GSXR forum where the link I posted came,I am an Admin. The stupid **** people do to their bikes on a daily basis never cease to amaze me. We have at least 6 Stickies all over the forum concerning chinese knock-off levers(the younger 600/750 owners are the worst offenders)..yet we still get at least one thread per week where a bikes front brakes lock up outta the blue and they crash,hard. The they post: "changed my levers saturday,took bike out sunday and wheel locked up. Im posting from the emergency room. Any idea what caused this?"

People will buy whatever they want,it's their hard earned money not mine. I never have,nor will I ever put any cheap Ebay non-OEM parts on any of my bikes/cars/quads. Same as Id never buy cheap ass Chinese tools. Before I became diasbled,I worked as a professional pipe welder/commercial plumber. Some Contractors would buy cheap tools and they end up breaking and costing more money as all production has now stopped. Would happen all the time with cheap: Sawz-all's,4.5" angle grinders,24v drills,and SDS hammer drills.
Rant over,carry on everyone:whistle:
 
I have the Cheap levers and they work fine but after feeling the AVS levers I'm getting those! Hopefully I won't die before that
 
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