Chinese Imitation Race Levers - Warning | GTAMotorcycle.com

Chinese Imitation Race Levers - Warning

cjbenedict

cjbenedict

Well-known member
I've had a couple R6 bikes and have bought the cheap chinese levers. They were inexpensive and do a great job, however, for both of my bikes bikes the clutch lever came with a bushing for the mounting bolt that is far too big and allows (in my opinion) a dangerous amount of play in the lever. However, this can be fixed by removing the chinese bushing and using the oem bushing from your stock lever.

This may be the same for different bikes, if you have alot of play in your clutch/brake lever (where you can visibly see the lever wiggling around it's mounting bolt) this thread can apply to you.

I took a bunch of photos to document the process of changing the chinese bushing, but the photos are too large. Here's a link to the R6 forum where I posted issue and the fix:

http://www.r6-forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215097
 
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There is an entire sticky on Gixxer.com on this, I've spoken to a few mechanics that refuse to install them AND I've had a guy who bought my old Pazzos off me who told me that the Chinese levers he got for 30 bux wouldn't fit and were hard to shave...

And I'm 100% sure somebody is gonna come into this thread and say we're all wrong =P
 
Eye8Pussies said:
I like that they come in so many colors, but I'm afraid that they'll bend...
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better bend then snap and render un-reuseable until replacement

Eye8Pussies said:
....
And I'm 100% sure somebody is gonna come into this thread and say we're all wrong =P
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....mawhaha this is where I love doing proper research. You just need to find the right manufacturer, even if they look like a knock-off you can still pay a little more in that 'realm' for quality. Here's a link to another forums thread with (as of writing this) 46 pages of supporting reviews.
 
We have had a few crashes at our events regarding these levers causing the brakes to overheat and actually locking the front wheel. Two of the crashes were on the straight! I will discussing this with my tech guys and may be banning non-OEM or a list of accepted brands not sure yet but this is a dangerous situation that needs to stop.
 
Why ban em? All some people need is a little information. Just make sure your lever fully returns. If you have to work hard to force your pads back during a wheel swap, take a good look at your lever.

Similar effect as some of the completely full reservoirs I've seen latel....
 
I got my levers for my SV from 434racer.com

I've been pretty happy with them. They fit very nice. They're probably made in China too.
 
kneedragger88 said:
We have had a few crashes at our events regarding these levers causing the brakes to overheat and actually locking the front wheel. Two of the crashes were on the straight! I will discussing this with my tech guys and may be banning non-OEM or a list of accepted brands not sure yet but this is a dangerous situation that needs to stop.
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Ken, so the issue with those levers is that they don't fit properly (too tight?) and don't return all the way, causing brakes to either overheat or lock up?

My Chinese levers fit perfectly on the F4i, and I didn't notice any problems so far (1.5 seasons)...
 
I understand the mechanics behind the issue (I own a shop and work on bikes everyday) problem here is as an organizer I have to be concerned with liability. If I have a re-occurring problem thats identified and dont act on it then I assume some liability. Can they be fine ? Yes Will all riders check and confirm the proper operation? Not a chance as already proven. Its like some of the cheap Chinese bodywork some fits fine some not even close. Seen different sets from same company go both directions.
 
dricked said:
If they cost you less than $50ea then chances are they're fake.
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Never having owned Pazzos, do real ones have serial numbers hidden on them somewhere? Just curious. Could be an easy way to identify real vs fake.
 
I've used Pazzo's and the China knock-off. Can't really tell the difference and both required you to use OEM bushings.
 
Eye8Pussies said:
I like that they come in so many colors, but I'm afraid that they'll bend...
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If you go down hard, any levers could bend or snap on you, no avoiding it. You could minimize it by buying shortie levers or the fold-up levers, but that's it.

If you're worried about the lever bending from regular use? No, pretty much no chance of that.
 
kneedragger88 said:
We have had a few crashes at our events regarding these levers causing the brakes to overheat and actually locking the front wheel. Two of the crashes were on the straight! I will discussing this with my tech guys and may be banning non-OEM or a list of accepted brands not sure yet but this is a dangerous situation that needs to stop.
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To ban chinese knock-off levers at the track wouldn't really solve anything. You can get cheap brand name knockoffs like Motion pro that should fit properly, but if someone buys a set of Pazzo's that were meant for another bike but are a "really close" fit to your bike, are your tech guys going to notice? Pazzo's are on your list. You will have the same problem as a Chinese knockoff. Or what if the rider buys the $80-$100 Pazzo knockoffs that look identical, how much time are your tech guys going to spend scrutinizing whether the levers on a track bike are real Pazzo's or not?

Making a list of acceptable levers could also relax your tech inspection. "Oh, those are Pazzo levers, no need to look closer, they pass".

The issue for the brake lever isn't whether it is oem or a copy, it is whether or not that specific lever does it's intended purpose properly or not.

I've been to track days with good and tech inspection and pointless tech inspection, none of them bothered to inspect the brake lever for binding where it engages the brake master cylinder.

I had a friend put knockoff levers on his bike and they locked going around a corner from a stop sign, he didn't know the reason why. The next day they locked when he was riding. When I took a look at his brake lever is was extremely obvious that the pin which engages the brake master cylinder was at an irregular angle, putting constant pressure on the brakes.

If you want a safer track day, have your inspection guy spend 5 seconds per bike to inspect the brake lever where it engages the brake master cylinder, rather than ban all knockoff levers.
 
i've used both original pazzo's and the china ones for my ninja 650. and i can confirm that they fit exactly the same as the real ones (at least for my bike) and look wise the real pazzo ones i have are gold and are more of a flat gold color where as the china ones are just more glossy. last time i checked there were no serial numbers on the real pazzo's but they had a pazzo logo on them and they came with a pazzo decal lol.
 
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