Worm gear clamps on bikes just don't look good to me. They can easily be installed too tight or have a long tail hanging out in the breeze....just plain ugly. Sure, you can get covers to go over these things, but they are expensive and you still have that dreaded worm gear clamp lurking down in there. I don't want a clamp of any kind anywhere on my scooters and have gone to great lengths to fit aircraft style hoses and fittings if at all possible. However, I have came to the conclusion that the clamps the MOCO uses on the production line are fairly attractive and can be used as opposed to a worm gear clamp. The old school guys and operating scooter mechanics know this already, so this is for the novice that has removed one of those clamps and is faced with the use of a dreaded worm gear.

Contrary to popular belief, Harley did not invent these clamps. If you go to the dealer to buy an individual clamp, you may think they did. These clamps are called "earless stepless clamps" and the vast majority of them are probably made by Oetiker. You do not have to go give the dealer a dollar or more for these and can purchase them by the bag-full from e-bay and even find them at Lowe's and Home Depot in the plumbing department. You can get a set of crimpers off e-bay for just a few bucks, or CV joint pliers will work just as well. You can get these in various sizes and even in stainless steel. The most common Harley size seems to be the 15.7mm. These things are even used on beer and soda dispensers. The stated pressure rating is something like 50-pounds, but if you don't feel safe with that....put two of them on your connection. You can almost mash the ear down flat for a smooth finish and it will look like it just rolled off the assembly line.

Please....junk the worm gear clamps and start using these earless clamps for a factory look!

 

I agree on this,I hate the look of them and no matter what you try and do there is part of the screw or tail sticking out.

 

My next venture is to fix that same problem on the exhaust shields. Most metric bikes have stand-offs welded to the pipes for professionally installing exhaust shields. Us Harley Guys remain stuck with the dreaded worm gear clamp to hold ours on. I plan to drill a very small hole through my shields at strategic places and scribe the pipe, take them off and weld a standoff on the pipe. Some decorative stainless steel or chrome screws will look a hell-of-a-lot nicer than the worm gear obstacles that tend to loosen, break or rattle. Any welding blemishes on the pipe will be covered by the shield....just like it is on the well thought out and highly engineered metric scooters.