SteveD
Grey Hound
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2011
- Messages
- 5,827
- Reaction score
- 42
- Location
- It’s complicated....
- Bike
- BMW G650 X-challenge
I have been looking for two finger levers for my XC for a while now, so when Zebra (www.flyingbrick.co.za) mentioned that he could get some made, I ordered a pair immediately. Slightly risky, because I hadn't even seen pictures of them, but turns out it was worth it.
On Friday I happened to be in Cape Town so I could fetch the levers personally, and meet Chris and his lovely wife. They have a really impressive shop, with loads of stock, and their focus seems to be firmly on the customer. I hope they are massively successful.
So the levers - this is what I was waiting for with such eager anticipation:
Quite simple, but with a shape which is unique to the X-Challenge.
Fitting them was simple, even for me. There is a spacer in one of the existing levers that needs to be moved to the new lever. This thing:
and moved to the new lever. It came out with just a tiny bit of persuasion.
Then it's a matter of just bolting them in. One lever needed a hole to be deburred, which took all of about 2 seconds, other than that they just fit. Interestingly, I can now start the bike in gear with the clutch in, which I could not do beforehand because the clutch switch did not work with the OEM levers. That's handy on uphill recoveries.
I am not sure what the hole half-way up the lever is for. I guess it is a designed-in weak point, so the lever breaks predictably?
The levers are a bit more rectangular than the round OEM levers, and I had to adjust the angle a bit until they were comfortable. My initial impression is that I like them, a lot!
On Friday I happened to be in Cape Town so I could fetch the levers personally, and meet Chris and his lovely wife. They have a really impressive shop, with loads of stock, and their focus seems to be firmly on the customer. I hope they are massively successful.
So the levers - this is what I was waiting for with such eager anticipation:
Quite simple, but with a shape which is unique to the X-Challenge.
Fitting them was simple, even for me. There is a spacer in one of the existing levers that needs to be moved to the new lever. This thing:
and moved to the new lever. It came out with just a tiny bit of persuasion.
Then it's a matter of just bolting them in. One lever needed a hole to be deburred, which took all of about 2 seconds, other than that they just fit. Interestingly, I can now start the bike in gear with the clutch in, which I could not do beforehand because the clutch switch did not work with the OEM levers. That's handy on uphill recoveries.
I am not sure what the hole half-way up the lever is for. I guess it is a designed-in weak point, so the lever breaks predictably?
The levers are a bit more rectangular than the round OEM levers, and I had to adjust the angle a bit until they were comfortable. My initial impression is that I like them, a lot!
